The Story of the Trapper

The volume traces the rise and fall of the North American fur trade through portraits of the trapper, outlining corporate rivalries among major fur companies, the ventures of French, Spanish, Russian, and American frontiersmen, and regional types such as canoe voyageurs, buffalo hunters, and mountain trappers. In chapter-length sketches it depicts wilderness skills, routines of trapping and transport, encounters and conflicts with competitors and indigenous peoples, and the role of trappers in exploration and commerce, while acknowledging lawlessness and moral ambiguities. The work emphasizes woodcraft and adventure and concludes with the gradual eclipse of the solitary trapper by organized markets and industry.