"Uncle Dick" Wootton. The Pioneer Frontiersman Of The Rocky Mountain Region. An Account Of The Adventures And Thrilling Experiences Of The Most Noted American Hunter, Trapper, Guide, Scout, And Indian Fighter Now Living

HOWARD LOUIS CONARD

Publication: Long's College Book Co, 1950, Columbus, Ohio

First Edition thus. Pictorial bright red cloth, pictorial device on front cover and titles on front cover and spine stamped in gilt, 472 pp., preface, introduction, frontispiece [portrait], illustrated, plus 39 plates. This copy is from the library of noted bookseller and Western Americana dealer Bill Kelleher of Cliffside Park, NJ who mailed this copy in 1952 to Fred Lambert (1887-1972), who at 16 was the youngest Territorial Marshall in New Mexico, and later managed the hotel and inn founded by their father, Lambert's Inn, or St. James Hotel which hosted Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Jesse James, Black Jack Ketchum, Clay Allison, and others. Included are TLS as thank-you letter to William Kelleher for his copy, and writes "in later years I went to school in Trinidad and while there met many members of his [Wooton's] family. . . in my new book. . . Uncle Dick is prominently mentioned," and the bookplate on the front pastedown sheet with the caption "Bill Kelleher's copy, one of ten done in red." "Uncle Dick" hired on with Bent and St. Vrain in 1836 and was sent to Bent's Fort. In 1837 he began to trapping the Rockies then moved on to the Columbia, then on to California, and eventually trapping his way through Arizona and back to Bent's Fort. His Indian fighting experiences during this time period included fights with the Pawnees and Snake Indians. He guided military operations against the Navajo. He settled in Taos for a while, claiming to have driven 9000 sheep from New Mexico to California in 1852. In 1865, in partnership with George C. McBride, he began the enterprise for which he is best known. Over the roughest portion of the Santa Fe Trail, a stretch of 27 miles from Trinidad, Colorado, across the 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 opened in 1866 and proved highly profitable until the railroad paralleled his route in 1879. Facsimile edition reproducing the 1890 first edition, 1 of 10 copies published in red cloth for Western authors & collectors. This work was considered one of the most valuable books in the 19th Century published on frontier life and border warfare, including the Taos massacre, stagecoach days, overland to California in 1852, Brigham Young, Mexico, Native American peoples, and more. Trivial wear to edges and corners. A handsome copy, clean, tight, with bright gilt on the front and the spine. Near fine bright copy.

Inventory Number: 53319