From the time of Coronado?s discovery to the era of modern ski resorts and sport climbing routes, adventurers have been lured irresistibly to the Rocky Mountains. In this book distinguished writer David Lavender traces the colorful history of the Rockies, focusing on the period that began in 1859 with the first gold strikes. The real and fabled attractions of gold, silver, furs, lumber, and lead brought swarms of people into the mountains, eagerly seeking wealth. A get-rich-quick spirit pervaded the Rockies, leading to lawlessness, violence, vigilantism, and political expediency. The Rockies is particularly revealing about the struggles which resulted in codes peculiar to the mountainous West. Duane A. Smith provides a new introduction to this Bison Books edition of The Rockies.

To know how the West was really won, start with the exploits of these unsung mountain men who, like the legendary Jeremiah Johnson, were real buckskin survivalists. Preceded only by Lewis and Clark, beaver fur trappers roamed the river valleys and mountain ranges of the West, living on fish and game, fighting or trading with the Native Americans, and forever heading toward the untamed wilderness. In this story of rough, heroic men and their worlds, Laycock weaves historical facts and practical instruction with profiles of individual trappers, including harrowing escapes, feats of supreme courage and endurance, and sometimes violent encounters with grizzly bears and Native Americans.

Ruxton, George F.

In this ambitious book that ranges across the Great Basin, Blackhawk places Native peoples at the center of a dynamic story as he chronicles two centuries of Indian and imperial history that shaped the American West. This book is a passionate reminder of the high costs that the making of American history occasioned for many indigenous peoples.

West -- Description and travel to 1848.