Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men: A Guide to the Equipment of the Trappers and Fur Traders Who Opened the Old West

by Carl P. Russell

This classic, scholarly history of the fur trappers and traders of the early nineteenth century focuses on the devices that enabled the opening of the untracked American west. Sprinkled with interesting facts and old western lore, this guide to traps and tools is also a lively history. The era of the mountain man is distinct in American history, and Russell’s exhaustive coverage on the guns, traps, knives, axes, and other iron tools of this era, along with meticulous appendices, is astonishing. The result of thirty-five years of painstaking research, this is the definitive guide to the tools of the mountain men.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Westerns

680 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1977

About the author

Carl Parcher Russell was a historian, ecologist, and administrator. He joined the National Park Service (NPS) in 1923 as a Naturalist in Yosemite National Park. In 1931 he received a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Michigan. He served as an officer for the NPS for 34 years, from 1923 until his retirement in 1957. He was the Chief Naturalist of Yosemite from 1923 to 1929. He specialized in frontier history, studying its material culture in minute detail, and documented pioneer life for the NPS and others.

Dr. Russell served in several regional positions in the NPS, including NPS Chief Naturalist of Yosemite (1923–1929), regional director, and Yosemite National Park Superintendent. Dr. Russell retired from the park service in 1957.

Reviews

[Cubinator]

The illustrations provided in the book are immensely helpful in understanding what the author describes in most sections.

There is a lot of focus on trade economy: prices, companies, craftsmen's salaries, etc.—but those sections can be easily skipped if you are a beginner in studying the 19th-century American frontier, like myself.



The book contains a great deal of information on various axes, guns, and traps, covering their appearance, uses, popularity, and origins. It's definitely worth a read if you’re interested in these items.

[Greg Strandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a great book! You get tons of illustrations of the weapons, tools, traps, boats, and even forts that Russell talks about. I for one could not believe the number of axes.

I liked the section on frontier blacksmiths and there are good illustrations of this too. The depictions of beaver traps, float sticks, and how it all happened is great.

If you're interested in the nitty-gritty details of the fur trade, this book is for you. Also has a wonderful introduction that profiles the whole trade in about 40 pages or so.

[Eric Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very technical and deep but good. Not a starter book into the fur trade.

[Mark Jackson]

Reading for research on my book.