Book Review: Backbone of the World and Free Men by Edward Louis Henry

I will have a really hard time expressing just how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a historical novel of the fur trade, published in two volumes. Anyone who enjoys rendezvous and buck skinning would get a kick out of these volumes. The book jacket tells this about the author: Edward Louis Henry (a.k.a. Pore devil) has been a working cowhand, rodeo contestant, and Wild West performer, WWII infantry sergeant, a newspaper reporter, a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and an executive speechwriter. A lifelong horseman and outdoorsman, Henry is active in mountain man rendezvous. Western history is his abiding passion. He and his wife, Gloria, reside in Bozeman, MT.

These two volumes follow the fictional life of young Temple Buck for four years, 1822 to 1826. We first find him on the family farm in Ohio, where he lives with his beloved mother and his worthless Pap, who sells corn whiskey and preaches the gospel, but is otherwise lazy as sin. He learns to hunt with his uncle, and befriends a local Indian band of Shawnee. Then a surprise turn of events finds him on a keel boat on the Ohio River bound for St. Louis. Temple ends up enlisting in Ashley and Henry first expedition up the Missouri River to trap beaver. The story is told in Temple Buck own words, and follows him as he crosses paths with the likes of Hugh Glass and Jim Bridger. From what I can tell, these books are historically accurate. The book jacket says in part: his painstakingly researched tale blends historical and fictional characters in a colorful tapestry of actual events spiced with bloody battles, Indian customs and characters, homespun humor, and earthy romance!

The author is so very good at describing everything, the reader really feels as if he can see, hear and smell the action. These volumes are so much fun; I was sorry they had to end. I would love to see this story made into a movie. I really think you can get a feel for what the trappers really experienced during the great fur trade, which is what we try to replicate during our rendezvous. The author uses dialogue skillfully, using trapperspeak to convey the character thoughts. I laughed out loud very often while reading this story.

An excerpt from the first volume: One early morning I was waist-deep in a beaver pond, rifle slung across my shoulders to keep it dry, searching under finger-freezing water, reaching for the chain on my floatstick, sure that I had a drowned beaver in the trap at the end of it, when that particular beaver became substantially unimportant. The first inkling I had of other, more pressing, concerns was an arrow clanging off my rifle and a second one slicing through my capote, nicking my shoulder, which naturally got hold of my undivided attention. A quick glance behind me revealed what looked like the whole Blackfoot nation, little dabs of paint smeared on the faces, single eagle feathers in their hair, smoky buckskins and all. Fact is, it turned out there was only four of them, but it looked like a mob to me at the time. I let out a screech, as you might suppose, and I kept on yelling as I splashed and floundered across the pond, hoping that Tuttle and Rose and Muskrat would hear me and come running. (due to space constraints, editor had to shorten the excerpt)

You will have to read the books to learn the end of that particular episode, Temple has quite the adventures, none of which are so impossible or improbable that they ruin the story. He has a number of close calls, a lot of fun, love, happiness and some grief. I have a hard time believing any buck skinner wouldn’t really enjoy this story.