A Majority Of Scoundrels

"An informal history of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 'the greatest name in the mountains,' celebrating the trapper-traders, the mountain men of legend, during the peak years of the American fur trade"--Dust jacket.

This classic history of the early 19th-century commercial forays into the Mountain West describes the Rocky Mountain Fur Company following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark with the unabashed intent to exploit the region. The leading spirit of the Company was Bill Sublette, who contended with the Missouri Fur Company, Astor's American Fur Company, and Hudson's Bay Company. Despite rough competition, the Company became the "greatest name in the mountains" at the peak of the fur trade, 18221834.

A Seattle Times selection for one of Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010 Winner of the New England Historial Association's 2010 James P. Hanlan Award Winner of the Outdoor Writers Association of America 2011 Excellence in Craft Award, Book Division, First Place "A compelling and well-annotated tale of greed, slaughter and geopolitics." —Los Angeles Times As Henry Hudson sailed up the broad river that would one day bear his name, he grew concerned that his Dutch patrons would be disappointed in his failure to find the fabled route to the Orient. What became immediately apparent, however, from the Indians clad in deer skins and "good furs" was that Hudson had discovered something just as tantalizing. The news of Hudson's 1609 voyage to America ignited a fierce competition to lay claim to this uncharted continent, teeming with untapped natural resources. The result was the creation of an American fur trade, which fostered economic rivalries and fueled wars among the European powers, and later between the United States and Great Britain, as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. In Fur, Fortune, and Empire, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin chronicles the rise and fall of the fur trade of old, when the rallying cry was "get the furs while they last." Beavers, sea otters, and buffalos were slaughtered, used for their precious pelts that were tailored into extravagant hats, coats, and sleigh blankets. To read Fur, Fortune, and Empire then is to understand how North America was explored, exploited, and settled, while its native Indians were alternately enriched and exploited by the trade. As Dolin demonstrates, fur, both an economic elixir and an agent of destruction, became inextricably linked to many key events in American history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, as well as to the relentless pull of Manifest Destiny and the opening of the West. This work provides an international cast beyond the scope of any Hollywood epic, including Thomas Morton, the rabble-rouser who infuriated the Pilgrims by trading guns with the Indians; British explorer Captain James Cook, whose discovery in the Pacific Northwest helped launch America's China trade; Thomas Jefferson who dreamed of expanding the fur trade beyond the Mississippi; America's first multimillionaire John Jacob Astor, who built a fortune on a foundation of fur; and intrepid mountain men such as Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith, who sliced their way through an awe inspiring and unforgiving landscape, leaving behind a mythic legacy still resonates today. Concluding with the virtual extinction of the buffalo in the late 1800s, Fur, Fortune, and Empire is an epic history that brings to vivid life three hundred years of the American experience, conclusively demonstrating that the fur trade played a seminal role in creating the nation we are today.

The legendary mountain men—the fur traders and trappers who penetrated the Rocky Mountains and explored the Far West in the first half on the nineteenth century—formed the vanguard of the American empire and became the heroes of American adventure. This volume brings to the general reader brief biographies of eighteen representative mountain men, selected from among the essay assembled by LeRoy R. Hafen in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (ten volumes, 1965-72). The subjects and authors are: Manuel Lisa (Richard E. Oglesby); Pierre Chouteau Jr. (Janet Lecompte); Wilson Price Hunt (William Brandon); William H. Ashley (Harvey L. Carter); Jedediah Smith (Harvey L. Carter); John McLoughlin (Kenneth L. Holmes); Peter Skene Ogden (Ted J. Warner); Ceran St. Vrain (Harold H. Dunham); Kit Carson (Harvey L. Carter); Old Bill Williams (Frederic E. Voelker); William Sublette (John E. Sunder);Thomas Fitzpatrick (LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen); James Bridger (Cornelius M. Ismert); Benjamin L. E. Bonneville (Edgeley W. Todd); Joseph R. Walker (Ardis M. Walker); Nathaniel Wyeth (William R. Sampson); Andrew Drips (Harvey L. Carter); and Joseph L. Meek (Harvey E. Tobie).

Capt. Max Hardberger uses every trick, tool and tactic at his disposal to right wrongs and out-pirate pirates in this action-packed exposé of the seedy underworld of international shipping. As a professional ship extractor, he risks death and imprisonment in dangerous third-world ports to steal ships from modern buccaneers and corrupt governments and deliver them back to their rightful owners. In the course of his adventures, he's had to outwit resourceful crime families, subdue armed soldiers, and turn the tables on clever con artists. He's escaped imprisonment in Venezuela and avoided death at the hands of the Russian mafia. Because Max shuns the use of force, the ingenious methods he must use to accomplish his missions are the stuff of legend he's employed a witch doctor in Haiti, tricked armed guards off a ship in Honduras, and rented a brothel in Mexico, all to thwart the designs of ship-thieves. Seized! is an intense, fast-paced window on the underbelly of ocean shipping, where all power comes from the barrel of a gun, and the only law is the law of survival.

The Lesson of Scoundrels is one of crime and punishment. The author tells the story of a number of men, some of them probably were great men, most were well educated and all had driving ambition far above that of most. The book focuses on elected scoundrels, as it is those placed in high office by the people who then betray that trust whom we most abhor. The individuals described can all be characterized by a monumental and unrealistic sense of self-worth, outrageous hubris and a mile-wide streak of pure greed so powerful that they risked all to grab the golden ring whenever it came into their reach- that the proverbial ring belonged to the people meant absolutely nothing! Greed drives the elected white collar criminal who learns to steal, lie and defraud the people he serves, believing that because he is who he is, he can act with impunity. In almost every case, the characters described in this book were not entirely bad men- each and every one of them did some good or tried to and were loyal to their friends and family. After all, even Hitler loved his dog! What exactly led them to throw it all away for money you will have to decide for yourselves. Scoundrels tells you who they were, what they did and what it eventually cost them at the bar of justice. In most cases, the law finally did catch up with them- mostly by the opposing party dropping a dime. A few have so far remained free from the clutches of the law but, with reputations so tarnished that, in most cases, they are beyond salvage. For you students of the law, give some serious thought to how these bad guys were caught, the laws they broke and how the courts dealt with them. Most of them were lawyers themselves but likely forgot their lessons in ethics. None of these mendacious rascals cared a whit about morals or ethics when they might get in the way of some easy money. All of the men in this book were and are successful politicians, outgoing, gregarious and, when in top from, bursting with a magnetic enthusiasm (charisma) that draws voters to them like flies to honey. Their powerful personalities and determined energy brought them to high office- many were state governors and all were in positions to get their sticky fingers into the people's cookie jar. The book presents only a small sampling of the vast number of crooked public servants. It's highly likely that the percentage of elected officials, in any capacity, who have not misappropriated public funds, in one way or another, is very small- I would venture to guess the percentage of truly honest politicians (oxymoron) is well under twenty percent. The only difference between the vast majority of elected public servants and those identified in this book is that the former haven't yet been caught. There is a discernible and tragic flaw in many, if not most, of those we choose to represent us. Perhaps, it is because honest, reasonable and intelligent men do not care to run for public office, preferring to retain the peace and happiness of private life. Given the unscrupulous nature of the modern media, I don't blame anyone for avoiding public office. Whatever the reasons, we, the people, are the losers.