[Gutenberg 58568] • Tales of the Trail: Short Stories of Western Life

This book was published in 1898.

PREFACE.

THESE "Tales of the Trail" are based upon

actual facts which came under the personal ob-

servation of the author, whose reputation as a

writer of the frontier is national. His other

works have met with phenomenal success, and

these sketches, which have appeared from time

to time in the current literature of the United

States, are now compiled, and will form another

interesting series of stories of that era of great

adventures, when the country west of the Mis-

souri was unknown except to the trappers,

hunters, and army officers.

Some of the characters around which are

woven the thrilling incidents of these "Tales"

were men of world -wide reputation; they have

long since joined the "choir invisible," but their

names as pioneers in the genesis of great States

which then formed the theater of their exploits

will live as long as the United States exists as

a great nation.

However improbable to the uninitiated the

thrilling experiences of the individuals who

were actors in the scenes depicted, may seem,

they are a proof that "truth is stranger than

fiction."

It is fortunate that Colonel Inman during his

forty years on the extreme frontier was such a

close observer, and noted from time to time these

stories of the frontier which form such an inter-

esting part of our Americana.