"Uncle Dick" Wootton, the Pioneer Frontiersman of the Rocky Mountain Region. An Account of the Adventures and Thrilling
Chicago: W. E. Dibble, 1890.
Experiences of the Most Noted American Hunter, Trapper, Guide, Scout, and Indian Fighter Now Living. Many Illus. 473pp. + publisher's ad on last page. 8vo, original brown cloth with gilt and black decorations, text pages age-toned throughout, previous owner's ink inscription on front flyleaf and following blank page, old newspaper article on Dick Wootton pasted on blank page at end. Chicago: W. E. Dibble, 1890. First Edition. Very good
Starting at Bent's Fort, Colorado in 1836, Dick Wootten traded and fur trapped throughout Colorado for the next four years. In 1841, he moved to the area of what is now Pueblo, Colorado and established a ranch raising buffalo calves. In 1847 he served in the Mexican War. In 1852, Wootton herded almost 9000 sheep to California. In 1865, "...in partnership with George C. McBride, he began the enterprise for which he is perhaps best known. Over the roughest portion of the mountain division of the Santa Fe Trail, a stretch of twenty-seven miles from Trinidad, Colo., across Raton Pass and down to the Canadian River, he built a substantial road, and near the crest erected a residence and an inn and set up a tollgate. The road was opened in 1866 and proved highly profitable, but in 1879 it was paralleled by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and the collection of tolls was discontinued...Few, if any, of the frontiersmen had so varied a career, He had many combats with the savages, and as an Indian fighter he was, according to Inman, (post) second only to (Kit) Carson." Dictionary of American Biography volume XX, pages 525-526. Howes C-659. Graff 846. Dobie p. 72.
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: First
Language: English
Price: $750.00
Item #281010