Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri

Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri immerses the reader in the life of a merchant in the Missouri River from the 1830s to the early 1870s. An autobiographical chronicle which sheds a light into a period and profession of history often ignored in the modern day Forty Years a Fur Trader is an illuminating and lively chronicle of Charles Larpenteur's career as a fur seller. A man of tough resolve and hardy constitution Larpenteur condenses his many years traversing the Missouri wilderness and trading posts into a series of episodic highlights chronologically arranged. The Missouri River and Rocky Mountains were at the time dangerous but potentially lucrative proposition for a trader to undertake. Rough terrain numerous wild animals and the presence of Native American tribes made life as a fur trader unpredictable and fraught with danger. Yet a good set of high quality pelts would fetch high sums demand being high especially for animals whose fur had scarcely before seen market.