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(More customer reviews)"At home in either the latest fashions of the day or the greasy buckskins of a mountain trapper...within four years of first entering Santa Fe he had become a Mexican citizen, married the governor's daughter and been granted the right to control trade in what would someday become western Colorado and eastern Utah." "...the original which was a collection of log buildings with dirt roofs surrounded by a flimsy perimeter fence of wooded pickets." With these descriptions of Antoine Robidoux and Fort Uncompahgre historian and author Ken Reyher sets the stage for a remarkable journey in the history of the pioneer fur trapper Antoine Roibidoux. This is a remarkable book. While the literature is replete with stories of miners and settlers of western Colorado there is scant information on the life and times of a fur trapper that inhabited the area before the moners, ranchers, and settlers. Reyher has corrected this oversight in a historically factual manner that is a delight to read. Robidoux was a most remarkable man. He was a charmer, visionary astute businessman, politician, and accomplished mountain man. He is described as a paradox in that he could mingle with the high society,French or Mexican, of Santa Fe but was equally at home in a pair of greasy buckskings leading a trapping party or playing cards with Ute Indians. He was the first white man to expand trade routes north from Santa Fe, ultimately establishing three commercial trading posts in what is now western Colorado and eastern Utah. Fort Uncompahgre was the first such post established, in 1828. Reyher not only has written an excellent history of Robidoux and his forts be he includes a section on the present day Fort Uncompahgre. The city of Delta, CO, has reconstructed the fort into a living history museum open to the public. This is the only one of Robidoux's three forts to receive such treatment. It is quite a feat considering the exact location of the fort is unknown. It is generally believed by historians that the original fort was located some two miles below the confluence of what is now the Uncompahgre and Gunnison rivers. Even late 20th century excavation work has failed to conslusively locate the site. Many of the artifacts located in such searches could have belonged to mountain men, fur trappers, and indians and discarded at camp sites. Any one could have been part of the original Fort. The book is a must read for those interested in the history of the opening of trade routes in present day western Colorado and eastern Utah and the development of such trade by those true pioneers, mountain men and trappers. The descriptions of daily life in the early 1800's and the impact of the declinging beaver trade are historically factual and, combined withe the fascinating history of Robidoux and his trading posts, make the book required reading and a welcome, and necessary, addition to any well stocked library.
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Antoine Robidoux, equally at home in the wilderness or agovernor's mansion, carved a vast fur trading empire that coveredmodern day western Colorado and eastern Utah out of the wilderness.He opened up new trading routes and was one of the first white men tobefriend the Ute Indians living there.Ken Reyher gives details ofdaily life in the early 1800's and how the declining beaver trade ledto a decline of the forts but prepared the way for settlers.Learnabout the reconstruction of Robidoux's Fort Uncompahgre, now a livinghistory museum which you can visit in Delta, Colorado.Put this bookon your "must read" list!It's interesting, informative and factual.
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