Mari Sandoz (1896–1966) is the noted author of The Buffalo Hunters, The Cattlemen, and The Battle of the Little Bighorn (all available in Bison Books editions). Andrew R. Graybill is an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the author of Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875–1910 (Nebraska 2007).

"This book is not so much a historical study as a careful and intelligently drawn portrait of a world . . . that of the Great Plains during the period 1630–1834. [Sandoz's] point of focus is the hunting of the beaver, but the cumulative effect of the study is much broader than the conventional historical examination. Her essential concern is ecological: the relations of living creatures with each other and with their physical world. It is this perspective, unique among chroniclers of the fur trade, that gives the book its very considerable value. . . . Miss Sandoz's treatment of the Indian role is a good deal more complete than most studies; her sources include Indian documentation as well as the more conventional white man's documentation."—Colorado Magazine "Mari Sandoz has brought into focus the materials, written down with power and clarity, of a mighty movement."—J. Frank Dobie, New York Herald Tribune "A brilliant, dioramic narrative, as vast in scope as the far-flung Great Plains."—Saturday Review of Literature

• IntroductionAcknowledgmentsForewordBOOK I. SOFT GOLD1. Bearded Men and Summer Fairs2. Castor, Guardian of Hospitality3. Paddle and Portage4. Still Ponds and War WhoopsBOOK II. THE RISE OF THE COMPANY1. River to the "Vermillion Sea"2. The Romantic Explorations3. The Gentlemen Adventurers4. A Daring Race of Scots5. The Five Villages--International PreyBOOK III. THE FIERCER RIVALRIES1. Voyageurs of the Plains2. Americans to the Western Sea3. Winter of the Explorers4. Fur Fair and Blackfeet Wall5. Pursuit of the Eternal Remnant6. Romantic Buckskin to the Last Boisson7. "Gone" Rendezvous and Foppish SilkNotesBibliographyIndexKey to Map on Pages ii-iii