In his own homey words, James Clyman relates his experiences in the heyday of the American fur trade and during the peak of immigration to Oregon and California. Clyman was a member of Jedediah Smith"s first brigade, which discovered South Pass and opened the inter-mountain West to the beaver hunters. Crossing the country during the great migration of 1846, Clyman encountered the Donner party and gave them sound advice, which they tragically ignored. A "keen, thorough, and precise observer."