ML Archives and Special Collections

[Peter Skene Ogden], Traits of American-Indian Life and Character. By a Fur Trader. London, 1853. (Call #: SpColl-Phillips, 970.00497 O345t)

and

James Marsh, Four Years in the Rockies. New Castle, PA: W.B. Thomas, 1884. (Call #: SpColl-Phillips, 978 M365f)

These two new acquisitions illustrate the role of the fur trade in early history of what is now Montana.

Peter Skene Ogden was a fur trader with the Northwest Company, and he traveled throughout the northwest extensively during the 1820s. In late 1824 or early 1825 he passed through the area that is now Missoula. Traits of American-Indian Life provides sketches of life in the area, the fur trade, and the Native American inhabitants of the region. This particular copy is interesting for two other reasons: first, it has an ownership stamp of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Northwest Company’s rival, on the title page (image). Second, most of the book is unopened (image), meaning that the leaves haven’t been separated into individual pages, an indication that this particular copy was never actually read. This new addition joins other Special Collections materials relating to Ogden, including his Snake Country Journals and biographical works such as T.C. Elliot’s Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader.

Four Years in the Rockies narrates the adventures of Isaac Rose, a trapper who explored the west with notable characters such as Jim Bridger and Kit Carson. The title page describes it as “ONE OF THE MOST THRILLING NARRATIVES EVER PUBLISHED,” and it includes many descriptions of Native Americans, especially the Blackfeet.

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This colored lithograph gives an idea of what Missoula looked like in the 1850s. The image appears in volume 12 of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, which documented an expedition to determine the route for what would eventually become the Northern Pacific Railway. The expedition was led by Isaac Stevens, governor of the Washington Territory, of which present-day Montana was then a part. You can find more pictures of early Missoula in our collection of online photos.

Call number: SpColl-MTColl, 978 U58rmi