Glenn D. Bradley (1884-1930) was the author of such books as The Story Of the Pony Express, The Story Of the Santa Fe, and Winning the Southwest.
William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams (1787 - 1849) was a noted mountain man and frontiersman. He served as an interpreter for the government, and led several expeditions in the West. Fluent in several languages, he lived with the Osage, where he married the daughter of a chief, and with the Ute.
Bradley writes:
"While everybody knows that Bill was famous, nobody seems to know very much about him, and ambitious writers who have sought to glorify the old mountainman's deeds—and misdeeds—have fussed around a great deal in trying to discover a few "alleged facts," for Bill, unlike most great men, never kept a diary, nor did he ever write a hefty "Story of My Life" to be shoved through the front door by book agents. Perhaps he was too busy scouting and scalping Indians to take time to write; perhaps he couldn't write; and perhaps— which is more than likely—he didn't give a rap for the warm zephyr-like "fame" that comes from "gilt embossed halfmorocco" biographies. At any rate he didn't write.
"It is at least known that Bill Williams was one of the earliest of the old-timers to acquire fame in the West, and his reputation as an expert mountaineer was established firmly when Kit Carson, Jim Baker and Dick Wootton all were young men. Probably no scout or guide, save perhaps Jim Bridger, ever surpassed Williams in practical knowledge of the mountains—as to the location of passes and river sources, the best trapping grounds and the like. Numerous peaks and streams still bear his name."
This book originally published in 1912 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams (1787 - 1849) was a noted mountain man and frontiersman. He served as an interpreter for the government, and led several expeditions in the West. Fluent in several languages, he lived with the Osage, where he married the daughter of a chief, and with the Ute.
Bradley writes:
"While everybody knows that Bill was famous, nobody seems to know very much about him, and ambitious writers who have sought to glorify the old mountainman's deeds—and misdeeds—have fussed around a great deal in trying to discover a few "alleged facts," for Bill, unlike most great men, never kept a diary, nor did he ever write a hefty "Story of My Life" to be shoved through the front door by book agents. Perhaps he was too busy scouting and scalping Indians to take time to write; perhaps he couldn't write; and perhaps— which is more than likely—he didn't give a rap for the warm zephyr-like "fame" that comes from "gilt embossed halfmorocco" biographies. At any rate he didn't write.
"It is at least known that Bill Williams was one of the earliest of the old-timers to acquire fame in the West, and his reputation as an expert mountaineer was established firmly when Kit Carson, Jim Baker and Dick Wootton all were young men. Probably no scout or guide, save perhaps Jim Bridger, ever surpassed Williams in practical knowledge of the mountains—as to the location of passes and river sources, the best trapping grounds and the like. Numerous peaks and streams still bear his name."
This book originally published in 1912 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
