Four Years in the Rockies

Or, The Adventures of Isaac P. Rose, of Shenango Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

By: James B. Marsh

Narrated by: Traber Burns

James Marsh's Four Years in the Rockies gives brilliant insight into the life of Isaac P. Rose, a man who forged his own path in the wilderness of the far west.

This thrilling account of one mountain man's life at the height of the 19th-century fur industry follows Rose as he overcomes adversity, learns from those around him, and becomes one of the most successful trappers of the Rockies.

During the course of these years, Rose survives perilous weather conditions, fends off some of the most dangerous animals in North America, and nearly loses an arm during a skirmish with a group of Native Americans.

Four Years in the Rockies is essential listening for anyone interested in the 19th-century fur trade and the adventurers who risked their lives to be part of it.

Public Domain (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great story

What a wild ride he had. This is a very entertaining book. Would recommend this.

Excellent individual stories.

There are many excellent stories in this book. Some are sad and some are funny but all of them are interesting.
The narrator does a good job.
I felt sad to finish the book and would have liked more time with these interesting characters.

Entertaining to say the least

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The reader is excellent. I actually read books based on this reader. Thank you.

Loved it

Being a history buff, I loved this book. I liked learning the grammar they used back then as compared to what we use today.

Dby a bygone style

The narrative follows the penny western brochures of long ago. The devoted biographer chronicles the adventures in an almost juvenile style. And the stories are clearly anecdotal, so we are not sure whether it is reliable history or not… And it is written in a way to excite the imaginations of a more innocent age when people were less educated and certainly less informed. Not a terrible listen when one has an afternoon of gardening ahead of them, but certainly nothing that grabs the imagination

Great book, great man

This man was amazing. We need to teach our sons to be more like this man and go out and explore and have adventures. No more teaching our sons to feel guilt for all of the great things our ancestors have accomplished. This book is testament to how things really were back then. Indians were not the peace loving “noble savages” we’ve since branded them. They were a diverse people with diverse ways and some of them were absolutely violent and brutal and terrible.

Interesting glimpse into frontier life

Pretty interesting, an opportunity to learn about someone I'd never heard of. It was written in a fast moving pace. It covered the four years relatively well. The language used was just the right mix of simple words and some "50 centers". It was so written one could pretty well picture what was going on.

Of course there is racism, historical.

I gave the three stars because I didn’t think it was that interesting. I did not give it three stars because of the racism. Of course the racism is terrible, but this book was not written recently. It’s not like I enjoy that part of things, but it’s historical. I don’t think you should take off ratings for that because it would not have been written in the mindset that we use now.

Analysis of the Whitman Massacre

At the end of the book there are Interesting details regarding the reasons for the 1847 massacre of the Whitmans.

A Long-forgotten memoir of a young mountain man

I found the story of Isaac Rose fascinating. He and another teenager travel to the home of the Blackfeet and the Crow, in search of beaver pelts. The become camp hands for a group of trappers led by Jim Bridget ; and including a young hunter named Kit Carson. Young Rose and his friend’s skill with a gun soon elevate the men to true trapper status. Rose has many amazing adventures, fighting hostile, celebrating his 20th birthday at the annual mountain man rendezvous, and even being captured and adopted into the Crow tribe. Although the narrator occasionally sounds like Gabby Hayes as he tackles the unique accents of the mountain men, I found it sorta charming and fit well with the 19th Century style of narration. All in all, this is a great (and probably mostly true) adventure of a young man in the mid-1830’s.