A BRIDE GOES WEST. by Nannie T. Alderson and Helena Huntington Smith.
Experiences of an Eastern woman who relocated to Montana to start a cattle ranch with her husband: learning that took place in order to manage in log houses that had dirt floors, poor water, and cowboys and Indians. 281 pages.
ISBN: 0-8032-5001-0. Order #: UNNE6903 paper$8.95.

 

 

CALIFORNIA TRAIL: the story behind the scenery--voyage of discovery. by Charles H. Dodd.
Follow the gold seekers from the Missouri River to California, land of opportunity. Share their trials and experience their joys through excerpts from emigrant diaries. 9x12, 64 pages, 59 color photos & 28 maps/ diagrams. 1996.
ISBN: 0-88714-112-9. 1996. Order #: KCPU4621 paper12.95.

 

 

CHRISTMAS IN THE OLD WEST: a historical scrapbook. by Sam Travers.
Far away from the tinsel, eggnog, and colorfully wrapped packages of civilized life in the East, explorers, mountain men, and pioneers usually celebrated Christmas with homemade gifts and humble fare. As the West became settled, affluent westerners could order by mail virtually all the trimmings of Christmas, from toy trains to canned oysters. Christmas in the Old West: A Historical Scrapbook, a mosaic of stories, reminiscences, recipes, photographs, newspaper clippings, magazine advertisements, and more, brings alive the spirit of Christmas on the American frontier.
Through diary quotes, letters, and stories we can feel the icy December wind as a lone trapper sips rum by his campfire, hear the gruff caroling of soldiers at their remote outpost, see candlelight flicker as a pioneer mother pieces together a rag doll for her little girl, and smell the venison roasting over an open hearth. Newspaper clippings announce town celebrations where “a glorious time is assured.” From the Corps of Discovery’s hungry, lonely Christmas at Fort Clatsop to mining-camp turkey shoots to ranchers’ Christmas dances, Sam Travers show us the joys and challenges of “keeping Christmas” in a rough frontier setting. Color illustrations keep the mood merry. 252 pages.
ISBN: 0-87842-460-1. Order #: MOPR1363 paper$28.00.

DOC SUSIE: mountain doctor. Griffith.
Country doctor in Grand County,, Colorado, for more than 40 years beginning in 1909. For grades 3-5.
ISBN: 978-0-86541-108-1. Order #: FILT8577 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

FORT LARAMIE and the pageant of the West, 1834-1890. Hafen and Young.
Role of Army's Wyoming Territory fort on Oregon Trail in settling the West. 427 pages.
Inventory =1. ISBN: 0-8032-7223-5. Order #: UNNE6844 paper$8.95. SOLDOUT.

 

 

 

FRYINGPANS WEST COOKBOOK. Arnold.
Frontier food and drinks gleaned from some 1600 books of the period, many served in Colorado's The Fort restaurant, replica of fur-trading post. Illustrated, 55 pages.
Inventory =4. ISBN: 0-914454-03-X. Order #: ARNO0512 paper$6.95.

 

 

#GOING ALONG THE EMIGRANT TRAILS. Fifer.
ISBN: 978-1-56037-354-4. Order #: FARC6595 paper$12.95.

#JOSE DARIO GALLEGOS: Merchant of the Santa Fe Trail (1830-1883). Emerita Romero-Anderson.
Settler and store owner in Colorado's oldest town, San Luis. Jose Dario Gallegos was born near Taos in 1830, the son of a merchant. He moved north into Colorado, leading the establishment of settlement of San Luis de Culebra in 1851. The town of San Luis is Colorado's oldest.
ISBN: 978-0-86541-08486-0. Order #: FILT4787 paper$8.95.

LETTERS OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER. Elinore Pruitt Stewart.
Widow and mother proved up her own homestead near Burnt Fork, Wyoming, after marring her rancher employer. Delightful letters , written 1909-1913 authentically depict an Old West. These are little stories of people, events, holidays, filing claims, a funeral back in the day. 1980 film Heartland based on these letters.
ISBN: 978-0-8032-5193-9. 1961, reprinted 1989. University of New Mexico Press Bison Book. Order #: UNNE1807 paper$14.95.

 

MORMON TRAIL VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY: the story behind the scenery. Kimballs.
Mormon migration to Salt Lake City, Utah. 64 large-format pages, color illustrations.
ISBN: 0-887174-092-0. 1998. Out of print. Order #: KCPU8091 paper$12.95.

 

 

NAVAJO TRADER. by Gladwell Richardson.
Author was part of a family of Indian traders and himself spent 40 years on the Navajo Reservation managing posts. Here he describes numerous incidents in the region, including some at Kaibeto, Red Lake, Cameron, and others. Ways of the Indians and of the traders are revealed, as well as the economy of the region, involving sheep-raising, jewelry-making, weaving of rugs, trapping. There are mentions of burial customs and taboos, first hearing of a radio, witchcraft, petroglyphs, government Indian agents, and the scenic desert landscape with its storms and aridity. Photographs, 217 pages.
ISBN: 0-8165-1262-0. 2003. Order #:UARI4440 paper$22.95.

 

OLD JULES. by Mari Sandoz.
Portrait of pioneer in the upper Niobrara country of Nebraska in the period of 1890 to 1929, written by his daughter: stories of the Old West overheard: fights between cattlemen and sheepmen, scarcity of women, droughts, storms, wind, isolation.
Inventory =1. ISBN: 0-8032-5173-4. Order #: UNNE6830 paper$7.95.

 

 

OREGON TRAIL CENTER: the story behind the scenery (OR). by Joyce Badgley Hunsaker.
Interpretive center at Flagstaff Hill at Baker, OR, tells of westward emigrants--who they were, how they traveled, the marks they left that sill remain. 1995.
ISBN: 0-88714-089-0 1995. First printing. Order #: KCPU3574 paper$12.95.

 

 

OREGON TRAIL, yesterday and today. by William E. Hill.
Presents a blend of maps, guides, emigrant diaries and journals, old drawings and paintings together with recent photographs of the trail from  Missouri to California and Oregon. Learn not only about the trail but also the people and events that brought so many people west in its developmental years. Photographs, drawings, maps, 179 pages, index.
Inventory =1. ISBN: 978-0-87004-319-6. 1986. Order #: CAXT2802 paper$12.95.

 

 

PIONEER BEAUTY SECRETS: "old and new cosmetics from the kitchen" plus "garden and insect control". by Ferne Shelton.
Early beauty aids in America were made in settlements and frontier kitchens using herbs, honey, juices, vinegar, or other supplies on hand. Some came down from grandmothers; others came from new experiments. Before 1900 few commercially mixed cosmetics were available to the public but kitchen supplies were always plentiful enough to spare for the magic of beauty. As time passed store-bought items were added to improve older mixtures such as glycerine, oils, etc. and later ready-to-use products became widely available However some of the earlier grooming aids are still enjoyed for various reasons--surprisingly simple mixtures. Today's woman can wisely choose the best of old and new. Try Kitchen Wrinkle Cream, Herbal Tonic Bath, Tonic for Red Noses, Calamity Cream, Mary's Foot Cream, and many more. Drawings, 24 pages.
ISBN: None. 1970. by Hutcraft. Order #: HUTC0630 paper$3.95.

PIONEER COMFORTS AND KITCHEN REMEDIES: old-timey highland secrets from the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. by Ferne Shelton.
America's first settlers were able from their Old World lives able to recognize and use many coastal plants. In the Appalachians they found great variety of plants some of which could be used for food, medicine, and comforts. Much has bee learned about medieval herb lore but the old-timey remedies listed here are neither suggested nor recommended. Chapters include beverages and wines, coughs and colds, aches and pains, miscellaneous miseries, perfumes, dyeing with natural colors, plants as insecticides, and lucky charms. Carrots were said to make strong eyes, horseradish was for dropsy, sage was good for loose teeth. Drawings, 24 pages.
ISBN: None. 1965. by Hutcraft. DAMAGED--1" x 1" of upper left corner of book (covers and all pages--see image) is missing, but contents are intact. Order #: HUTC2834 paper$3.95.

PIONEER COOKBOOK: favorite campfire and kitchen recipes from early America. by Ferne Shelton.
Includes many traditional recipes made from roots, barks, leaves, and plants gathered from the woods--as well as meats such as rabbits, 'possums, birds, venison, bear, elk, etc.--depending on the skill of the gatherer or the luck of the hunter or fisher. There is blackberry nectar, locust beer, Indian pumpkin bread, hoarhound candy, long johns, roast duck, chuck wagon chops, fish cakes,, campfire corn roast, rhubarb pie, fisherman's muddle, homesteader;s beef stew--all arranged in categories of beverages and wines, breads, candy, cookies, desserts and puddings, meats, vegetables, pickles/preserves/relishes, pies and pastries, soups and stews. There are also wagon train remedies for foot corns, insect stings, sunburn, colic, and more. Drawings, 32 pages.
ISBN: None. 1973. Order #: HUTC0625 paper$3.95.

 

PIONEER LUCKY STONES: gem and mineral lore. by Ferne Shelton.
For centuries legends and myths told the special significance of different stones. We now classify many of those early beliefs as superstitions and folklore and today jewels are enjoyed more for their personal and sentimental value. But for anybody who wears gems and jewelry, the legends and lore of earlier times might still entertain and awaken the sense of wonder. Includes gem customs, shapes and symbols, lucky stones, days-of-the-week stones, color superstitions, gems for names, state stones, birth and anniversary stones. Drawings, 24 pages.
ISBN: None. 1974. Order #: HUTC2833 paper$3.95.

 

PIONEER PROVERBS: wit and wisdom from early America. by Mary Turner.
Some of the old sayings in this collection may already be familiar to you, for whether serious or saucy, hundreds of proverbs have endured for generations and were a prominent part of life in early America. Contents include friendship, relationships, money, luck, pleasures, simple communication, love and marriage, and more: "pick your friends, but not to pieces"; "three may keep a secret if two of them are dead; "a little nothing will get you nowhere"'; 'mix a little folly with your serious thoughts"; "nothing is so new as has long been forgotten". Drawings, 24 pages.
ISBN: None. 1971. Order #: HUTC2836 paper$3.95.

 

 

PIONEER SUPERSTITIONS: old-timey signs and sayings. by Ferne Shelton.
The first American settlers from Europe came from many different countries, each bringing their own native folklore and legends, reflecting the handed down customs, omens, and wisdom of centuries. There was often a saying or rhyme to fit or explain almost any occasion. These sayings were an important part of life in early America. Superstitions are presented in chapters of weather signs, healers, garden crops, love and marriage, weddings, for housewives, New Year's signs, childrens' sayings, lucky charms: "It is a sign of rain if tree leaves show undersides"; "Severe weather ahead if there is a big crop of walnuts"; a horseshoe hung props up keeps witches away; wedding good luck comes if the couple stands with their feet parallel to cracks in the floor; seeing a white cat on the road is good luck; to have good luck for a new year, wear red garters. Drawings, 24 pages.
ISBN: None. 1969. Order #: HUTC2837 paper$3.95.

 

 

PIONEERS in PETTICOATS: Yosemite's early women, 1856–1900: schoolmarms, hikers homesteaders, ranchers, side-saddle riders. by Shirley Sargent. Introduction by Francis P. Farquhar. Cover photograph: Kitty Tatch and friend on the Overhanging Rock at Glacier Point, 1901. 80 large-format pages, 60 illustrations, index.
ISBN: 1-8783450-1-X. Order #: GRWE7467paper$9.95.

 

SANTA FE TRAIL--Voyage of Discovery the story behind the scenery. Murphy.
History of wagon route from Kansas City, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico--ruts still visible on the trail, ruins of posts, the restored Bent's Fort, wagons, and travelers. 64 large-format pages, color illustrations.
ISBN:0-88714-086-6. 1994. Order #: KCPU4869 paper$8.95.

 

SCOTTS BLUFF NATIONAL MONUMENT. by Merrill J. Mattes.
National Park Service Handbook #28 to exploration by fur traders, role in overland migrations of Nebraska site. Includes discovery of the overland route, fur trade, missionaries, emigrants, 49ers, Pony Express, Plains wars, cowboys and homesteaders. Also covers natural history of the region and prehistory plus a guide to the area and related areas. Historical photographs and drawings, maps, 68 pages.
ISBN: 024-005-0891-8. 1983/ May have loose signature pages. Order #: USGB4625 paper$4.95.

 

 

SCOTTS BLUFF NATIONAL MONUMENT, Nebraska. by Merrill J. Mattes.
National Park Service Handbook #28 to exploration by fur traders, role in overland migrations of Nebraska site. Includes discovery of the overland route, fur trade, missionaries, emigrants, 49ers, Pony Express, Plains wars, cowboys and homesteaders. Also covers natural history of the region and prehistory plus a guide to the area and related areas. Historical photographs and drawings, maps, 68 pages.
ISBN: None. 1961. Order #: USGB2482 paper$4.95.

 

 

SEVEN TRAILS WEST. by Arthur King Peters.
Explores the major routes that linked the eastern United States to the Far West: Lewis & Clark's route, Santa Fe Trail, Oregon/California Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express, Transcontinental Telegraph and Transcontinental Railroad. Portrays personalities involved, locating the routes, developing the trails and lines, and using them by emigrants, mail carriers, and travelers. Historical and  modern photographs and maps, chronology, 252 pages, index.
Inventory= 1. ISBN: 0-7892-0678-1. 2000. Order #: MISC2709 paper$29.95.

 

 

THE SOD HOUSE. by Cass G. Barns.
Personal narrative of the settlement and frontier years (1867-1897) of the Nebraska prairie country lying between the Elkhorn and Loup rivers, which includes the counties of Nance, Boone, Antelope, and Madison. Stories of the settlers and how they lived--including schools, preachers, doctors, courts, homesteaders, trading. 287 pages.
ISBN: 0-8032-5700-7. 1970. Covers scuffed. Order #: UNNE102 paper$7.95.

 

 

THE STORY OF THE HOMESTEAD ACT. by Conrad Stein.
Children's history of how the opening of land to settlement encouraged Americans to move into new areas and develop new ways of living. Securing and developing a a homestead, sod houses, travel by wagon, frontier farming and ranching. Illustrated, 31 pages.
ISBN: 0-516-04616-9. Order #: CHIL2057 paper$3.95.

 

 

STORIES OF YOUNG PIONEERS: in their own words. Violet T. Kimball.
"This lengthy, thorough book relies on diaries and memoirs to bring to life the experience of traveling westward in the mid-nineteenth century." —Booklist. Most people know about the hardships and dangers the pioneers encountered on the Emigrant Trail in the mid-nineteenth century. What they may not consider, however, is the strength and courage of pioneer children in the face of these difficulties. In Stories of Young Pioneers: In Their Own Words, Violet Kimball has collected memoirs, letters, and journal entries of children who were ages six to nineteen when they made the overland journey. Readers ages twelve to sixteen will discover in these pages a window into the lives of emigrant children on the trail. The book is organized by topic--including romance, animals, fun, and recreation, as well as danger, disease, and death--and peppered with detailed profiles of individual youngsters. Feel the mixed emotions of thirteen-year-old Kate Scott as she and her family leave the comforts of their home and friends in Illinois in search of a new life in the untamed Oregon Territory. Sit in the driver's seat with thirteen-year-old teamster John Stoughton as he drives his oxen across rocks, water, sand, and icy mountain passes. Unwind after a long, arduous day by joining in a hand of cards or, better yet, a night of music and dancing. Young historians will find Stories of Young Pioneers not only exciting reading but also a thorough and well-researched tool to learn more about life on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Pioneer Trail. For ages 10 and up. 240 pages.
ISBN: 0-87842-423-7. Order #: MOPR1221 paper$14.00.

 

 

TRACKING DOWN OREGON. by Ralph Friedman.
Oregon's people, past and present, history, legend, and folklore. Dozens of stories about episodes in early Oregon involving people, laces, romance, grave markers, gunslingers, ghost towns. Photos, 306 pages, index.
ISBN: 0-87004-257-2. 1984. Order #: CAXT5889 paper$7.95.

 

 

WHITMAN MISSION NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE: here they labored among the Cayuse Indians (WA). by Erwin N. Thompson.
Describes early travel west on Oregon Trail of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, their missionary activities with local Indians and the life and culture of the natives including the mission they built in Washington, efforts made to secure assistance from  church including trips to the east, layout and functions of rooms and outbuildings, artifacts recovered. Reports the effect of measles epidemic that killed half the tribe, arrival of emigrants who became settlers and the resultant dissatisfaction with Whitmans who were in part blamed for these ills, and the resultant massacre by the Indians of the Whitmans. Photographs and drawings (some historical), maps, suggested readings, 92 pages,
Inventory =2; otherwise out of print. ISBN: 024-005-00186-7. 1964. Slight soiling of covers. Order #: USGB2454 paper$6.95.

WILKESON'S NOTES ON PUGET SOUND. by Samuel Wilkeson.
Being extracts from notes by Samuel Wilkeson of a reconnaissance of the proposed route of the Northern Pacific Railroad made in the summer of 1869. As occurred elsewhere in the west, early surveys of a railroad across the continent were intended not only to determine the most favorable route based on terrain and climate but also population projections and therefore the resources that might be available for a population to grow and therefore not only need a railroad to move goods and people, but also so the railroad in doing so could be financially successful. And so Wilkeson considers ports for railroad connections and timber, fish, and crop resources--giving an insight today into the character and economy of this region long ago. 47 pages.
ISBN:0-8466-45-5. 1973. Order #: SHOR1110 paper$4.95.

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Western Americana: Emigrants/Settlers
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ACROSS THE PLAINS IN THE DONNER PARTY: a personal narrative of the overland trip to California, 1846-47. by Virginia Reed Murphy.
Virginia was 12 years old when her family left Springfield, Illinois to trek across the plains to California, their intended new home, along with 25 fellow emigrants. Along the way, her grandmother died, her pony had to be left, her family lost their oxen and had to abandon a wagon with their possessions, her stepfather killed a man and was banished from the train, and then she and her group were trapped in snows at the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada crest at and near what is now Donner Lake and Truckee, California. As a result, 13 of those who started with her in Springfield, and 29 more who joined her along the way, never did cross those mountains. Here is the little girl's story, written by her later as an adult, now a part of the American epic of winning the West. Reprinted from Century Magazine with illustrations added from Frederic Remington and others. 64 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
Inventory = in stock. ISBN: 978-0-89646-099-7. Order #: VIST0099 paper$7.95.

DIARY OF PATRICK BREEN: one of the Donner Party. by Frederick J. Teggart.
Diary kept by 1846-47 Donner Party emigrant who survived over-winter entrapment in Sierra snow near Truckee, California. Breen and his family all survived the ordeal, but many from other groups perished. The diary records days of snowfall, the experiences of others who were marooned with them, and the scant food available, plus delayed attempts from outside to rescue them. 7 photos, 16 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
Inventory = in stock. ISBN: 978-0-89646-102-4. Order #VIST0102 paper$3.95.

KAIBETO MEMORIES: a trader's daughter remembers growing up on the Navajo Reservation at Kaibeto Trading Post in remote northern Arizona 1936-1960.
by Elizabeth Anne Jones Dewveall.
Even today Kaibeto does not appear as a place on many modern maps. When Elizabeth Anne was growing up in this remote desert region of northeastern Arizona roads were still evolving from dirt tracks and passage was not infrequently blocked by drifting sand, unpredictable floods in otherwise dry washes, or snowstorms, with pavement dozens and dozens of miles away in all directions and little development of any kind along the routes. The trading post, however, had already been a hub for supplies for the local population for 22 years when Elizabeth Anne started her life there as daughter of traders Ralph and Julia Jones. Elizabeth Anne grew up as a single child at this remote outpost, with Navajo Indian children as playmates and an occasional visit by relatives from distant places. In time she would learn some Navajo words, how to trade the post's goods in an economy with little cash, and something of a culture not her own. The post took in hides, wool, silver and turquoise jewelry, woven blankets as items of exchange and often relied on a pawn system, storing native treasures as collateral. Much of her account, however, is of stories of the native people who came to the post and of their joys, trials, and tribulations as they managed their lives with ingenuity and perseverance. The stories Elizabetn Anne tells provide a glimpse of life at this trading post, of which little has been written before, and by extension of what life might have been like at the many other trading post throughout the West that linked populations through an economic setting. 120 pages, illustrations, map. See sample pages, illustrations.
Paper edition: ISBN: 978-0-8946-103-1. Order #: VIST0103 paper$14.95.
(Paper edition also available at Amazon.com, eBay.com, ebid.net, IngramSpark.com.)
Cloth edition: ISBN: 978-0-8946-105-5. Order #: VIST0105 cloth $25.00.
(Cloth edition also available at Amazon.com and eBay.com.)
(Electronic edition available from Amazon.com: ISBN: 978-0-89646-104-8.)

RANCH LIFE IN THE FAR WEST (SD). by Theodore Roosevelt.
After being president, Roosevelt stated "I would not have been president had it not been for my experience in North Dakota" And so here are his experiences, as he wrote about them, of cattle, ranching, sheriff's work, hunting game, and frontier types. Tales of round-ups, breaking broncos, and arresting thieves are included, as well as the harshness of the winters on his Elkhorn Ranch, much of which is now in the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park. Foreword is by park naturalist Gerard T. Altoff. Reprinted from 1888 and 1893. Illustrated primarily with engravings done by Frederic Remington for the original publication. 96 large-format pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
. ISBN-10: 0-89646-034-7. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-034-8. Order #: VIST0034 paper$9.95.

THE YOSEMITE IN WINTER: an 1892 account. by James M. Carson, with extracts from John Muir's writings.
An appreciation of Yosemite Valley's winter character and an early history of the first winter residents, with plenty of quoted passages from John Muir, who also was a year-round valley resident in the early days. Reports of floods, in which trees were swept over the waterfalls, of the ice-cone at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall, snow-banners flying off rangecrest peaks, use of "snowshoes" (skis, today) to bring in the mail, winter-time climatic differences between north and south sides of this deep east-west trending valley due to shadows. Foreword by former Yosemite Chief Park Naturalist William R. Jones. Period engravings. 16 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
. ISBN-10: 0-89646-053-3. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-053-9. Order #: VIST0053 paper$3.95.

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