Benjamin Bonneville spent the years 1832 to 1835 on the adventure of a lifetime, leading an expedition of trapping, trading, and exploring in the wilds of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and California. Here is Washington Irving's colorful summary of the world that Bonneville observed, experienced, and cherished: the gay free trapper and his steed, decked out in wild array, and tinkling with bells and trinketry; the savage war chief, plumed and painted and ever on the prowl; the traders' cavalcade, winding through defiles or over naked plains, with the stealthy war party lurking on its trail; the buffalo chase, the hunting camp, the mad carouse in the midst of danger, the night attack, the stampede, the scamper, the fierce skirmish among rocks and cliffs--all this romance of savage life, which exists among the mountains. . .
Regarding Washington Irving's use of the term "savage", which can be very disconcerting to modern ears, it may be helpful to consider that he used it to refer to people who lived in the wilderness, away from cities or settlements; he applied the word mostly to Indians and sometimes to trappers, since their modes of life were very similar. If you can overlook such a bothersome word, there is a lot here to learn about the lives of trappers and Indians, including Blackfeet, Crows, Snakes, Shoshones, Shoshokoes or Root Diggers, Nez Perce, Flatheads, and Skynses.
This is a book for those who love and long for the wild mountain West; a time and place that was free of laws and limits, where life was constrained only by the harsh but beautiful natural world, and by the fierce or friendly human wanderers who shared that world.- Summary by Carol Pelster