This work is an account of the personal adventures of the author during a long and wild life in the far West. He belongs to that class of pioneers and trappers, now become nearly extinct, of which the famed Kit Carson, who was for many years the companion of the author, has been considered the most perfect type.
In addition to his experiences as a hunter and trapper, we have an account of his life as a prisoner among the powerful and warlike Comanches, his adventures as a trader in Mexico, his services as interpreter and guide, under Doniphan, in our war with Mexico, and with the Liberals in the Franco-Mexican war as Captain of artillery, as well as his experience in mining in the days of the “forty-niners” in California, and elsewhere.
Probably no man living has passed through so varied and exciting a life as this one. At times he has seemed on the high road to fortune, when by a turn of the wheel he would find himself penniless. But in what ever condition he was, he was always ready to respond to any call for aid from the famishing emigrant train who were lost on the great plains, or the settlers who were in peril from the remorseless cruelty of the savages.