Journal of a Mountain Man Book

These journals preserve, in his own homey words, James Clyman's experiences on the plains and in the mountains during the heyday of the American fur trade and during the peak of emigration to Oregon and California. The events Clyman recorded were momentous. He was a member of Jedediah Smith's first brigade, which discovered the South Pass and opened the Intermountain West to the beaver hunters. Crossing the country during the great migration of 1846, he encountered the Donner party, and gave them sound advice they tragically ignored.