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"FLATBOATING ON THE YELLOWSTONE, 1877" by Fred G. Bond

"FLATBOATING ON THE YELLOWSTONE, 1877"

By

Pub Date: Oct. 15th, 1998
Publisher: "Ward Hill (P.O. Box 04-0424, Staten Island, NY 10304)"

Yates has edited a fascinating personal account of one chapter in the devastation that occurred during the takeover of Native American lands. Bond was one of the boatmen who shuttled the captured Nez Perce people from Oregon to North Dakota in 1877. He was an intelligent and empathetic leader and writer; although his journal entries aren't ""politically correct"" by modern standards, he looked out for the people entrusted to his care, and respected them as individuals. The Nez Perce, in return, respected Bond, although it is clear from the entries that the farther they were from their homeland, the more fearful they became. Black-and-white photographs and maps have been carefully selected to provide windows back to the places and people of this history. For those studying the American West or Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, this journal personalizes events of other historical texts, while also demonstrating the lasting value of chronicling the events in one's own life.