Tough Trip Through Paradise by Andrew Garcia

[406LIFE]

This is the autobiography of the last mountain man in Montana. He came to MT in the last days of the 1800s and saw the change from furtrapping days to the extinction of the buffalo and removal of the Indians to reservations. He had squaw wives, tangled with some of the most notorious outlaws (Big Nose George) and best of all this is his autobiography. If you want to get some details, understand the culture of the time a bit better, and just generally read a first hand account of a time that I think many of us would rather have lived in than now, this is the book read.
https://www.amazon.com/Tough-Trip-Through-Paradise-1878-1879/dp/0893012505

 

[Irrelevant]

I just reread it this summer, good book for sure. It feels like it provides one of the best descriptions (non-bias) of the location, era, and culture/s.

 

[dcopas78]

Thanks for the recommendation, just ordered a copy.

 

[Nameless Range]

I loved that book growing up. Interestingly, and convincingly in my opinion, a lot of Garcia's tale may be very fictional. It's a great Montana read anyway.

 

[406LIFE]

This photo of him popped up in my feed today. Thought I'd add it to this thread.

 

[Nameless Range]

Something I think about often from that book:

He wrote about a trip he took in 1879 where he intended to travel over the Sapphire Range and enter the Bitterroot Valley via Gibbons Pass. He and his Nez Perce wife rode up Trail Creek, and faced with a fork in the trail and a choice -The White Man’s Road or The Indian Road, chose the latter. The timber became so thick that they got lost for multiple days. They finally came out on what is upper Rock Creek.

I remember reading that and wondering how one could get lost in trees for days. Now that was a forest of yesteryear, and I don’t know what that country is like today. The last couple years I have spent time hunting a forest I imagine it was like though. Tens of thousands of acres of contiguous lodgepole forest of varying density and age. It’s claustrophobic and soothing at the same time, and I wonder if it was like the forest he got lost in.

 

[44hunter45]

I love that he honestly described every culture he encountered, the good and the bad.

 

[406LIFE]

Something I think about often from that book:

He wrote about a trip he took in 1879 where he intended to travel over the Sapphire Range and enter the Bitterroot Valley via Gibbons Pass. He and his Nez Perce wife rode up Trail Creek, and faced with a fork in the trail and a choice -The White Man’s Road or The Indian Road, chose the latter. The timber became so thick that they got lost for multiple days. They finally came out on what is upper Rock Creek.

I remember reading that and wondering how one could get lost in trees for days. Now that was a forest of yesteryear, and I don’t know what that country is like today. The last couple years I have spent time hunting a forest I imagine it was like though. Tens of thousands of acres of contiguous lodgepole forest of varying density and age. It’s claustrophobic and soothing at the same time, and I wonder if it was like the forest he got lost in.

My favorite part of the book is him describing the same areas I have been to and thinking he trekked them a hundred years before me.

 

[bullbugle307]

I see you mentioned he tangled with Big Nose George. Fun fact for those who may not know. Big Nose Georges skin was harvested after he was lynched, along with other body parts, and was made into a pair of shoes by an early Wyoming Governor who later wore those to his inauguration.

 

[geetar]

This is the autobiography of the last mountain man in Montana. He came to MT in the last days of the 1800s and saw the change from furtrapping days to the extinction of the buffalo and removal of the Indians to reservations. He had squaw wives, tangled with some of the most notorious outlaws (Big Nose George) and best of all this is his autobiography. If you want to get some details, understand the culture of the time a bit better, and just generally read a first hand account of a time that I think many of us would rather have lived in than now, this is the book read.
https://www.amazon.com/Tough-Trip-Through-Paradise-1878-1879/dp/0893012505

Squaw wives and outlaws sounds more entertaining than a whole society being stuck in house because of a Chinese virus.

 

[406LIFE]

Squaw wives and outlaws sounds more entertaining than a whole society being stuck in house because of a Chinese virus.

I read books like this and it makes me wish I was born in a different time.

 

[JTHOMP]

Was looking for a new book and about to scroll through the threads of the review section. Got it on Amazon for $10. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Wildabeest]

I read books like this and it makes me wish I was born in a different time.

I tell my wife the same thing. Her response is “there’s a divine reason I (meaning her) was not born before air conditioning was invented”. We’re all wired differently!

 

[TAHMT2021]

I just picked up a copy of this for 10cents at garage sale in Stevensville, MT. Read the first couple chapters. Pretty fascinating so far.

 

[diamond hitch]

Nameless Range : Trying to get a packhorse through a curtain of peckerpoles is a challenge of immense proportions. I walked for an hour 2 days ago. The average size was 1-2 inches and so dense that you had to go through sideways between the trees.

Getting a horse through that would have required a lot of tree trimming. The elk build trails through those jungles for a while. Certainly a formidable task in the 1800s as well as now.

Glad you are hunting the more "open" stands. After 4 weeks of steady hunting I have had to take a day off to rest my stock and my legs. There were no days off in the 1800s.

 

[MNElkNut]

Just bought the book! This better be good as I just dropped $6.50 on it! Kidding, I have been wanting to read it for a long time, but it is not in our library system.