From the first account of "Colter's Run," published in 1810, fascination with John Colter, one of America's most famous and yet least known frontiersmen and discoverer of Yellowstone Park, has never waned. Unlike other legends of the era like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson, Colter has remained elusive because he left not a single letter, diary, or reminiscence. Gathering the available evidence and guiding readers through a labyrinth of hearsay, rumor, and myth, two Colter experts for the first time tell the whole story of Colter and his legend.

By Ronald M. Anglin and Larry E. Morris

Acknowledgments

1 "Off He Started with the Speed of the Wind": Colter's Run
2 "One of the Survivors, of the Name of Coulter": Searching for Colter's Roots
3 "In Quest of the Country of Kentucke": John Colter and the Legacy of Daniel Boone
4 "Colter Came Running Along the Shore": The Encounter with the Lakota Sioux
5 Colter Had Just Arrived with a Letter from Capt. Clark.": Perilous Rivers and Mountains
6 "Colter Expressed a Desire To Join Some Trappers": The Partnership with Dickson and Hancock
7 "Unruly Hands to Manage": Up the Missouri with LIsa
8 "Lonely Wanderings": The Riddle of Colter's Route
9 "In the Midst of an Unbounded Wilderness": Washington Irving and the Legend of Colter's Run
10 "We All Now Became Blind": West with Menard and Henry
11 "He Reluctantly Took Leave of Us": Surviving in Civilization
12 "As Fine a Body of Hardy Woodsmen as Ever Took the Field": Colter's Final Days

Epilogue
Chronology
Appendix A: Accounts of Colter's Run
Appendix B: The Documentary History of John Colter, 1803-1846
Appendix C: The Colter Stone and Other Graffiti
Notes
Sources Cited
Index
About the Authors