Life in the Far West

American Exploration and Travel Series

by George Frederick Augustus Ruxton

"Away to the head waters of the Platte, where several small streams run into the south fork of that river, and head in the broken ridges of the “Divide” which separates the valleys of the Platte and Arkansas, were camped a band of trappers on a creek called Bijou. It was the month of October, when the early frosts of the coming winter had crisped and dyed with sober brown the leaves of the cherry and quaking ash belting the brooks; and the ridges and peaks of the Rocky Mountains were already covered with a glittering mantle of snow, sparkling in the still powerful rays of the autumn sun. The camp had all the appearance of permanency; for not only did it comprise one or two unusually comfortable shanties, but the numerous stages on which huge stripes of buffalo meat were hanging in process of cure, showed that the party had settled themselves here in order to lay in a store of provisions, or, as it is termed in the language of the mountains, “to make meat.” Round the camp fed twelve or fifteen mules and horses, their forelegs confined by hobbles of raw hide; and, guarding these animals, two men paced backward and forward, driving in the stragglers, ascending ever and anon the bluffs which overhung the river, and leaning on their long rifles, while they swept with their eyes the surrounding prairie. Three or four fires burned in the encampment, at some of which Indian women carefully tended sundry steaming pots; while round one, which was in the center of it, four or five stalwart hunters, clad in buckskin, sat cross-legged, pipe in mouth ..."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Adventure, Westerns

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

British explorer and travel writer. He was a lieutenant in the British Army, received a medal for gallantry from Queen Isabella II of Spain, was a hunter and explorer and published papers and books about his travels to Africa, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

He observed the westward expansion of the United States in the 1840s during the period when the country's government was pursuing its policy of manifest destiny.[1] He was the first author to write "extensively" of the mountain men of the Rocky Mountains.

Reviews

[Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fur trappers were the superheroes of their time. Considered to be intrepid & incredibly agile, they were the prototypical supermen who knew what was required to survive the fierce frontier. George Ruxton’s Life in the Far West introduces Killbuck, main trapper extraordinaire, as a man worthy of literary entitlement; the reader’s overriding cause in following closely the narrative. Here, the beginnings of the All-American Hero. And, I mean, how cool is it that “the trapper dressed in what is perhaps the only original American costume—the fringed buckskin suit.” Take that Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren! But really the story here is of La Bonte, a trapper whose maturity is gauged precisely as he survives Indian raids, scalps the enemy, takes on two wives (“as by mountain law allowed”), and coolly smokes his pipe instead of stressing out when his “property” is taken from him, “’at one fell swoop’.”

According to Ruxton, trappers “possess a great advantage over the vacillating Indian, whose superstitious mind in a great degree paralyzes the physical energy of his active body; and in waiting for propitious signs and seasons before he undertakes an enterprise, he loses the opportunity which his white and more civilized enemy knows so well to profit by.” Again, tainted ever-so with racist commentary, Ruxton, like Lippard, uses the fantastic fountainhead that is the Far West in the 1850s for a perpetual playground, where “the Pawnees know, to their cost, that a mountaineer seldom pulls his trigger without sending a bullet to the mark.” The first chapter is fantastic, rife with excitement and adventure: campfire talk interrupted by hideous weather followed by an attack of “Injuns,” catapulting a daring rescue of the losses, death to the enemy, and a gracious visit to the Yutas (Utes). In Life in the Far West, again, “under the demoralizing influence of the liquor” Indians become savages. This, alcohol abuse, seems to be a trend with most of our readings. And then there are scenes of apocalypse (to contrast ever so perfectly with the deeds of the super mountaineers): a game of cards played for scalps, cannibalization (“…his horror to see the yet quivering body of one of the Indian squaws, with a large portion of flesh butchered from it, and part of which Forey was already greedily devouring.") and the cruel half-assed killing of Indians (“The savage, who received wounds sufficiently for twenty deaths, suddenly rose to a sitting posture, the fire shedding a glowing light upon the horrid spectacle. The face was a mass of clotted blood, which flowed from the lacerated and naked scalp, whilst gouts of blood streamed from eight gaping wounds in the naked breast.”)

Then there’s more trivia to be acquired, for it isn’t true that it is dog’s meat which is more flavorful (Wah-to-Yah), but, rather, that of mountain lion. Also, horse blood can create “eyes bloodshot, and a giddy sickness,” “’Meat’s meat’”, & buffalo are tricky shots.

These trappers are Viking-like. They get in fights and survive, or die. They trap and trade, and talk of trading. Superhero status is achieved, while the enemy is often butchered, and the reader is intrigued in the vivid travelogue of the frontier.

Perhaps it's this which encapsulates Ruxton’s narrative, serving as a metaphor for the wild American frontier: “A cayeute, attracted by the scent of blood, drew near, unwitting of the canine feast in progress, and was likewise soon made dog of, and thrust into the boiling kettle with the rest.”

[Donna Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author, from England, traveled in the United States in the 1840s. In 1847 he traveled from Mexico into the U.S., going 2000 miles with mountain men trapping beaver and rounding up cattle. Upon his return to England, he wrote articles about his travels for Blackwood’s magazine which were collected into book form and released in 1849, the year after his death. His stories tell of harrowing accounts with fierce Indians and trading furs which often took place at Fort Bent (La Junta, Colorado) on the Santa Fe Trail. Pacing is fast. Descriptions of characters and settings are entertaining. Plot resolutions are satisfying. He even includes a chapter on Mormon history and a bit of romance!

[Leslie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Published in 1849 as one man's account of his life in the American Wilderness. My problem with the work is that it's too real for my taste at this time. Probably an astute depiction of how life was lived. If on your reading list,be aware the realities of what we now deem offensive in the 21st Century are a big part of our human history. It's there. It cannot be erased. We learn from it.

[wyclif · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd forgotten about this classic of the old West for a long time; I think the last time I read it was in childhood. A salty bird's eye view of the life and times of the cowboys, the ranchers, the Indian-fighters, the trappers, the pioneers, and the rogues of the wild west in the 19th century.

As an interesting footnote, this book is mentioned favourably by one of Sal Paradise's friends from Denver in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."

[Rari Marks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fur traders sound pretty awful. The whole book is fur traders murdering Indians and Indians murdering them back with a few cool not-murder details scattered throughout. Over and over with the repetitive stories of Indians stole our horses and we stole them back, massacring each other in the process.

[Benny Kjaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read about the life of the mountain men. A true story, and reads like a well-written novel.

[Benny Kjaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I have read about the mountain men and their lives. A true story, it reads like
a novel.

[Alex Wiseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rambles A LOT, but some good anecdotes here and there throughout.

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing style difficult.The constant quotation marks around words were distracting. The quality of the printing on the copy I had was not very good. Some pages were blurry.

[Julie Richert-Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recall how I stumbled across this little gem . . . the details he recounts and the things he witnessed are extraordinary beyond belief. To absorb all of this from a pre-Revisionist point of view actually leaves one quite astonished at how sanitized our own version of American history continues to be IN SPITE of much effort to reveal it as it actually was experienced.
Also, many of these sketches are simply charming, and even funny.
An eye-opening perspective paragraph:
"These, nevertheless, were the men whose hardy enterprise opened to commerce and the plough the vast and fertile regions of the West. Rough and savage though they were, they were the true pioneers of that extraordinary tide of civilisation which has poured its resistless current through tracts large enough for kings to govern, over a country now teeming with cultivation, where, a few short years ago, countless herds of buffalo roamed unmolested, where the bear and deer abounded, and the savage Indian skulked through the woods and prairies, lord of the unappreciated soil that now yields its prolific treasures to the spade and plough of civilised man. To the wild and half-savage trapper, who may be said to exemplify the energy, enterprise, and hardihood characteristic of the American people, divested of all the false and vicious glare with which a high state of civilisation, too rapidly attained, has obscured their real and genuine character, in which the above traits are eminently prominent — to these men alone is due the empire of the West, destined in a few short years to become the most important of those confederate States composing the mighty union of North America.

Ruxton, George. Life in the Far West (pp. 45-46). Edinburgh Blackwood. Kindle Edition.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Englishman's tale of the Mountaineers' adventures.

An astounding account of the lives of the men who lived and traveled in the mountains of the West. Fur trappers all, they suffered incredible privations while following their trade.
George Frederick Ruston was a young man who joined them and chronicled their deeds in the mid 1800's. He was from an upper class English family and well traveled on the continent, and elsewhere, before making his way West. He too loved the mountaineers way of life and had a wonderful gift of making himself at home in whatever circumstances he found himself.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

On National Geographic's list of 100 Greatest Adventure Books. Interesting history.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the era of the opening of the west and Indian skirmishing and authentic-seeming renditions of trappers and mountain men then this book will fit the bill nicely.