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Classics of the Old West "UNCLE DICK" WOOTTON The Pioneer Frontiersman of the Rocky Mountain Region by HOWARD L. CONARD With an introduction by MAJ. JOSEPH KIRKLAND Illustrated ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hardcover, Leather Binding; 472 pages; Size Approx. 5 3/4 X 8 1/2. Published by Time-Life Books, Inc; Reprinted 1980 from the 1890 edition. Details : "'Uncle Dick' Wootton was always on the move. Born in 1816 in southside Virginia, he was taken in infancy to southern Kentucky, where his parents raised tobacco. At 17, he joined an uncle in cotton farming in Mississippi. After two years, he headed for Independence, Mo., the great jumping-off point for the West. There is signed on as a wagoner, sure of his qualifications: 'I could use a gun as well as anybody, knew how to handle a team, and while I was never particularly in love with hard work I wasn't afraid of it...I got along first-rate.' Dropping from the wagon train near Fort Dent in southeast Colorado, he took charge of a fur-trading expedition. It was not long before he realized that the profits would go to the man who had put up the money, not the trappers, and he decided to start his own operation. He recruited a crew and led them into the mountains, where they laid out traps and brought in the 'peltry.' He sold the pelts for what, in 1837, seemed a fabulous sum -- $15 a skin. Dick Wootton, venture capitalist, was on his way. In all his business endeavors, aprt of his capital consisted of his knowledge of the country, his instinct for an opportunity and plenty of that hard work, which, despite his disclaimer, he probably loved. He ranched, he raised buffalo, he traded. He became a successful freighter, a stage-coach contractor, an innkeeper and provisioner for westering homesteaders. He built his own toll road and made it pay. His life was filled with adventures: battles with Indians (whom most frontiersmen, including Wootton, found savages), attacks by highwaymen, encounters with grizzlies. He tells about them all in this book, but in the end what counts is not so much his adventures as the advice he gives. In his detailed accounts of how to trade with Indians, how to survive in a blizzard in the Rockies, how to keep wolves from eating your slain buffalo, we learn the margins that gave the insider like Wootton an edge in that earliest of great American enterprises, the winning of the West." The Editors Nicely bound with leather, gilt lettering on the front cover and spine; marbled endpapers; gilt text block; ribbon marker; illustrated with black and white photographs. A fine addition for your bookshelf! Condition : There is very faint foxing on the pages where they ribbon lays between; otherwise the book is in very good condition with a firm binding and clean pages. * * * * * * * * Note: The letter/number at the end of the title line for this listing is just an inventory code for locating the book. ______________________________________ Payment and Shipping Information Payment Options: Paypal Accepted Shipping: Free Domestic Economy Shipping! Please contact me with any questions. Thanks for looking!