CONTENTS

Introduction

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PART I Furs Settle the New World

1. “As Fine a River as Can Be Found”

2. The Precious Beaver

3. New Amsterdam Rising

4. “The Bible and the Beaver”

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PART II Clash of Empires

5. Competition, Conflict, and Chicanery

6. “Many Hounds Are the Hare’s Death”

7. Adieu to the French

8. Americans Oust the British

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PART III America Heads West

9. “A Perfect Golden Round of Profits

10. Up the Missouri

11. Astoria

12. Mountain Men

13. Taos Trappers and Astor’s Empire

14. Fall of the Beaver

15. The Last Robe

Epilogue: End of an Era

Notes

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Illustration Credits