Bloody Beaver

In the year 1842, a sickly 19-year-old named William T. Hamilton embarked on a journey to the Rocky Mountains accompanied by famed frontiersman Old Bill Williams. Over the course of the next several decades, Hamilton worked as a fur trapper, trader, lawman, guide, hunter, and scout. He’d ride with other notable figures such as George Armstrong Custer and General George Crook, take part in numerous engagements with hostiles, travel the west extensively, and finally – as a very old man – write a book titled My Sixty Years On The Plains: Trapping, Trading, and Indian Fighting. It's not too often on The Wild West Extravaganza that we hear from first-hand accounts but that’s exactly what we’re going to do today. Join me as Mr. Hamilton talks of leaving St. Louis and falling in with the fur trappers, of their encounters with Kiowa and Cheyenne and he describes, in glorious detail, taking part in a buffalo hunt. And, just as a bonus, if you’ve ever thought about making pemmican, Hamilton gives a pretty detailed reci