In October 1849, a trader named James White, his wife Ann and their infant daughter were traveling on the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico when they...
Kit Carson: History and the Myth
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mountain men
Grizzlies of the Far West
Before the legendary bear was nearly driven to extinction, Ursus horribilis ruled the forests and plains of the Pacific Coast. The American Indians...
The Highest Peak
Best of the Mountain Man Movies On the eve of the release of The Revenant, inspired by the true story of Hugh Glass’s fight for life, the film...
Mountain Men, Grizzlies and Christmas
For 70 years, stories about legendary fur trappers have been editorial mainstays, but on the cover, they’re a rare gift to readers. Since 1953, True...
Kit Carson: Larger-Than-Life American Hero
At the age of sixteen, Carson ran away from his job as an apprentice at a saddlery in Missouri and joined a party of traders heading down the Santa...
A Pioneer Lost His Land
Charles Autobees’ homestead didn’t fit the rules. Charles Autobees was a mountain man and trapper, who plied that trade starting at age 16. He...
Kit Carson and the Conquest of California
The true story of how the trailblazer became the spearpoint of empire All Images Courtesy True West Archives Unless Otherwise Noted Kit Carson...
The Iron Horse and Kit Carson
While innumerable stories about trains, train robberies and the famed trailblazer appeared in True West during its 70-year history, they were rarely...
James P. Beckwourth and His Trail
The legendary mountain man left a legacy of truth and fiction about his larger-than-life experiences as a trapper and trailblazer of the American...
Mountain Men
The first white men to venture “across the wide Missouri” were awed by the breathtaking sight of the majestic Rocky Mountains that loomed on the...
Surviving Winter
Artist David Wright’s decades of field research in all seasons reveal the beauty of the coldest season and the tenacity of the mountain men who made...
Daniel Boone’s Yellowstone Hunt
Fact or Fiction? Did America’s first frontier hero reach the Big Sky land of geysers, scalding springs and “putrefied” trees that John Colter saw...