Colter's Run

ISBN: 1931291713

Author: Stephen T. Gough

Condition: Used

The legend of John Colter is one of the most fascinating elements of the history of the American West, elevating far beyond the mystery and drama imbedded in the story of his famous "run" - his escape from the Blackfeet Indians in what is known as the fabled Three Forks area of Montana. Member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, explorer and trapper par excellence, first known white man to "discover" the fantasies now known as Yellowstone National Park - "Colter's Hell" as it came to be called after word of his find reached civilization - lead guide for a number of American fur trapping brigades that invaded the remote wilderness at the headwaters of the Missouri River, survivor of one after another encounters with dreaded Blackfeet warriors, and on and on. John Colter remains the first and most significant of America's folk heroes out of the era of the American West in the years immediately following completion of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. What isn't as well-known about Colter is his persistent struggle with a power within him that both kept him in this dangerous Three Forks country, even after his encounter with the Blackfeet that included his famous run and escape, and his refusal to lead a life dictated by fear - themes that author Stephen T. Gough pursues stridently in his new novel, "COLTER'S RUN" to give us minute insight into not only what was it about John Colter that made him return, time after time, to this dangerous country but some understanding of why! He was often quoted as saying he had to leave the infernal Three Forks country before the Blackfeet claimed his scalp, but he even with that understanding he returned time after time. He knew he should leave, but couldn't force himself to go. Thus, Colter's life on the run wasn't limited to a single episode in his life, as overwhelming significant as that incident was.

This huge 392-page novel has been 12 years in the making.