The Snake Country Expedition of 1830-1831: John Work's Field Journal

by John Work

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806109475
• ISBN13: 9780806109473
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Of great interest

This journal from John Work is a wonderful and intriguing look into the hardships, sacrifices and perseverences of fur trapper life in 1830-31. The Hudson's Bay Company's policy to strip the Snake River Country of beaver to make the lands less attractive to American trappers and thus eventually to American settlement, was the purpose of Work's mission. Work's trapping party of 115 men, women and children, 272 horses and mules and 337 traps departed from Fort Nez Perce for parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. What unfolds is a fascinating, enthralling adventure of suffering through one of the worse winters on record, along with dodging and combatting the ever persistent Blackfeet Indians. Due to the severity of the winter, the party lost over 80 horses from the cold. We read of daily journal entries how grass was almost non-existent for the horses as the buffalo had already devoured most of it. As the winter dragged on, eventually the buffalo became so lean that there was hardly any meat to be taken from them. Horses were so jaded and fatigued from lack of food, blistered feet and traveling, that at times it wasn't even worth the effort to pursue the buffalo for what food there was on them. The Blackfeet were a constant menace, in fact killing a few of Work's party. He had to take many preventative measures to thwart these Indian hostilities and attacks. The introduction and footnote editing by Dr. Haines, Jr. is extremely well done.