Drawing from letters, diaries, expedition reports, business records, newspaper stories, and firsthand reminiscences, Dary fleshes out the story of the men who opened commerce with Spanish America. There are Indians and mountain men, traders and trappers, merchants, surveyors, government commissioners, Spanish people, Americans, Frenchmen, and people of almost every other nationality. A splendid recreation of an important part of American history, fully illustrated with photographs and woodcuts of the period. 110 photos, maps, drawings.