The Lost Trappers

“Immense, therefore, as the herds of buffalo may have been, from the above statements, it will not be difficult to see that the day is not far distant when the race of that animal will be almost if not quite extinct on the plains and prairies of the far west.” Written in 1847, David Coyner would prove a prophet. By 1875, a substantial portion of the buffalo herds were decimated, mostly by a policy of the U.S. government to deny Plains Indians a central feature of their roving lives.

At a time when only a handful of white Americans had seen the far west, Coyner gleaned from extensive talks with adventurers and explorers their true stories of a new world. He has much more of value to tell us as well about the early days of adventurers and trappers in the far West. He describes a specific expedition of lost trappers, all with a keen eye and occasional humor.