Reviews for Recollections of a Life of Adventure: Volume 1

The average rating for Recollections of a Life of Adventure: Volume 1 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-12 00:00:00 Ivan Alarcon A travelogue and adventure diary written by Washington Irving on behalf of Captain Bonneville. Bonneville's expedition across the continent in 1832-1834 to Oregon was largely in the name of fur trapping. He started out with 120 men and nearly all the men returned east some two years later. He was a revered leader. There are constant interactions with Native Americans and first hand reports detailed in the book. The Nez Perce were revered by the trappers. The Blackfeet were scorned. Despite the death of famed trapper Jedidiah Smith at the hands of the Comanche just a year earlier, it is extraordinary how intertwined the trappers were with many Native American tribes of the American West. Much better written history than I was anticipating. It is said that by 1830 there were already more than 3,000 trappers in the American West. Many Native American tribes also were trapping for trade purposes. Beaver pelts were the primary focus. Not surprisingly the beaver trade was finished a few decades later. In large part because the beaver was now near extinction and in small part because beaver pelts were no longer fashionable. 4 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-03-13 00:00:00 John Voss I read this and totally missed that Captain Bonneville and a Rutherford were the first white men to visit Yosemite as is mentioned in the summary. Bonneville was pretty decent though his men became brutal in Cali to the natives to his shame and shock. Bonneville experienced the beauty of the West in the rawest sort if way, but still took time out to observe the beaver from behind a bush to see for himself if their legendary intelligence was true. This is a nice look at the early west though I doubt any reader would not feel a bit of shame over what we lost so quickly with mans carelessness and lack of foresight. I chose to read this book because L. Ron Hubbard mentioned in a personal remark that Washington Irving wrote well because he wrote what he saw, admiring objective observation. This title I chose due to having enjoyed other writings of mountain men and the fur trading days, such as AB Guthrie"s The Big Sky. Mr Hubbard wrote his own first novel, Buckskin Brigades during this era, a story spun off an entry in Lewis and Clark's diary where a Blackfoot was killing with no provocation. Irving also mentions this incident in the Lewis and Clark's journal, but passes it over really without writing that it might have been the injustice done which created the Blackfoot hostility. Capt Bonneville crossed a lot of harsh territory, waterless in areas, Utah & Nevada, and weathered snowy mountain passes with provisions depleted. Wagon wheels bursting apart due to all the moisture being sucked out of them in arid deserts was but one of the difficulties to be solved on his scouting trip of the west in which he had hoped to discover how to reestablish the US fur market which has been taken over by the Canadians. There is an extraordinary scene of a Blackfoot shooting arrows while riding a horse and insight as to attitudes of other native nations in their relations with the white Americans heading west. Two Years Before The Mast by Dana has interesting portraits of early California as well.