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[Illustration: With eye and ear alert the man paddles silently on. (_See
page 105._)]




_THE STORY OF THE WEST SERIES_

_EDITED BY RIPLEY HITCHCOCK_

THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER

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The Story of the West Series.

EDITED BY RIPLEY HITCHCOCK.

Each Illustrated, 12mo, Cloth.


+The Story of the Railroad.+

By CY WARMAN, Author of "The Express Messenger." $1.50.

+The Story of the Cowboy.+

By E. HOUGH. Illustrated by William L. Wells and C. M. Russell. $1.50.

+The Story of the Mine.+

Illustrated by the Great Comstock Lode of Nevada.

By CHARLES HOWARD SHINN. $1.50.

+The Story of the Indian.+

By GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, Author of "Pawnee Hero Stories," "Blackfoot
Lodge Tales," etc. $1.50.

+The Story of the Soldier.+

By Brevet Brigadier-General GEORGE A. FORSYTH, U. S. A. (retired).
Illustrated by R. F. Zogbaum. $1.50.

+The Story of the Trapper.+

By A. C. LAUT, Author of "Heralds of Empire." Illustrated by Hemment.
$1.25 net; postage, 12 cents additional.


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.


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  THE STORY
  OF THE TRAPPER

  BY

  A. C. LAUT

  AUTHOR OF HERALDS OF EMPIRE
  AND LORDS OF THE NORTH

  _ILLUSTRATED BY ARTHUR HEMING
  AND OTHERS_

  [Illustration]

  NEW YORK AND LONDON

  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

  1916


  COPYRIGHT, 1902

  BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

  Printed in the United States of America


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TO ALL WHO KNOW

THE GIPSY YEARNING FOR THE WILDS


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EDITOR'S PREFACE


The picturesque figure of the trapper follows close behind the Indian in
the unfolding of the panorama of the West. There is the explorer, but
the trapper himself preceded the explorers--witness Lewis's and Clark's
meetings with trappers on their journey. The trapper's hard-earned
knowledge of the vast empire lying beyond the Missouri was utilized by
later comers, or in a large part died with him, leaving occasional
records in the documents of fur companies, or reports of military
expeditions, or here and there in the name of a pass, a stream, a
mountain, or a fort. His adventurous warfare upon the wild things of the
woods and streams was the expression of a primitive instinct old as the
history of mankind. The development of the motives which led the first
pioneer trappers afield from the days of the first Eastern settlements,
the industrial organizations which followed, the commanding commercial
results which were evolved from the trafficking of Radisson and
Groseillers in the North, the rise of the great Hudson's Bay Company,
and the American enterprise which led, among other results, to the
foundation of the Astor fortunes, would form no inconsiderable part of a
history of North America. The present volume aims simply to show the
type-character of the Western trapper, and to sketch in a series of
pictures the checkered life of this adventurer of the wilderness.

The trapper of the early West was a composite figure. From the Northeast
came a splendid succession of French explorers like La Verendrye, with
_coureurs des bois_, and a multitude of daring trappers and traders
pushing west and south. From the south the Spaniard, illustrated in
figures like Garces and others, held out hands which rarely grasped the
waiting commerce. From the north and northeast there was the steady
advance of the sturdy Scotch and English, typified in the deeds of the
Henrys, Thompson, MacKenzie, and the leaders of the organized fur trade,
explorers, traders, captains of industry, carrying the flags of the
Hudson's Bay and North-West Fur companies across Northern America to the
Pacific. On the