Book review: Pierre's Hole

[Rod]

Just finished up Jim Hardee's new book, Pierre's Hole!, The Fur Trade History of Teton Valley, Idaho. I'll highly recommend this one. Jim starts with the beginning of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, detailing the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, Andrew Henry's winter camp on Henry's fork after fleeing the ill-fated fort at Three forks. He goes on to cover the travels of John Colter, the Astorians, the HBC Snake country brigades, Ashley & Henry, Smith, Jackson, & Sublette, the RMFC, and the AFC. Since so much of the fur trade crossed through Pierre's Hole and around the Tetons, this book almost amounts to a history of the fur trade of the northern Rockies. Jim obviously knows the geography of the area extensively, and plots the courses of the various parties right down to his best idea of which passes they used to and from the valley. There's full-color relief maps included, along with a number of period maps.

He spends a fair bit of time on the Battle of Pierre's Hole, and reproduces all known historical accounts of the battle. He also pinpoints the battle site, and then discusses the various accounts of Pierre's Hole in the later years, with Osbourne Russel figuring prominently

Hardcover, 389 pages, with very extensive footnotes and bibliography. Available from the Museum of the Mountain Man, www.MMMuseum.com

Rod