Provides a vivid look into the life of the trapper and trader, the dangers they faced, and the fortunes that a few lucky ones were able to amass. Butler uses his role as an archaeologist to present floor plans of many of the posts and unknown drawings that are just now coming to light. Attention has also been given to the five of twenty-four trading posts that have been reconstructed. Rendezvous in Colorado are also covered, as well as shipping methods...

In this illuminating book, the Plains Indians come to life as shrewd traders. The Cheyennes played a vital role in an intricate and expanding barter system that connected tribes with each other and with whites. Joseph Jablow follows the Cheyennes, who by the beginning of the nineteenth century had migrated westward from their villages in present-day Minnesota into the heart of the Great Plains. Formerly horticulturists, they became nomadic hunters...