Background
Osborne Russell was born probably in Hallowell, Me. Of his parents nothing is recorded.
(Journal of a Trapper is one of the most important first h...)
Journal of a Trapper is one of the most important first hand accounts of the mountain man era. In it, Russell provides a detailed narrative describing the day-to-day life of an ordinary trapper in the Rocky Mountains. The Journal begins when Russell hired on with Nathaniel Wyeth's second expedition to the west. He participated in the establishment of Fort Hall, and later became a free trapper. He trapped for nine years in the greater Yellowstone region before leaving the mountains to settle in Oregon. Osborne Russell (1814 – August 2, 1892) was a mountain man and politician who helped form the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Maine. Russell first came to the Oregon Country in 1834 as a member of Nathaniel J. Wyeth's second expedition. He returned to the country in 1842 with the Elijah White party. He participated in the May 2, 1843 Champoeg Meeting, voting in favor of forming a government. In October of that year he was selected by the First Executive Committee to serve as the supreme judge for the Provisional Government of Oregon and served until May 14, 1844. In 1844, he was elected to the second Executive Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon. He was allied with the group that planned to create an independent Republic of the Pacific and thus was unsuccessful in his run for governor of the Provisional Government in 1845, losing to George Abernethy. Russell eventually went to California. Although not published until well after the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, Osborne's Journal of a Trapper contains an early description of the Lamar Valley or Osborne's Secluded Valley in Yellowstone.
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Osborne Russell was born probably in Hallowell, Me. Of his parents nothing is recorded.
He had little schooling but his studious and observant turn of mind gave him in time a practical education.
At sixteen Russell ran away to sea but at New York, with the remainder of the crew, deserted his vessel; he then engaged with a fur company operating in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he remained for nearly three years. At Independence, Mo. , in April 1834 he joined Nathaniel J. Wyeth in his second expedition for the mountains, took part in the building of Fort Hall, Idaho, which was begun in July, and later served as a trapper and hunter.
For the next six or seven years, part of the time under James Bridger and at other times with two or three companions or alone, he trapped over a wide region, experiencing rather more than his share of desperate adventures. In 1842 he went to Oregon with Dr. Elijah White's emigrant party, reaching the falls of the Willamette in September.
He took an active part in political affairs; on May 14, 1844, he was chosen one of the three executive committeemen of the Provisional Government, and in the following year he was a candidate for governor, but toward the close of the campaign apparently threw his influence to George Abernethy, who was elected.
In 1848, hearing of the gold discoveries in California, he started for the placers and in September arrived in Hangtown (which his Journal of a Trapper calls Gallowstown), later Placerville. For a time he panned gold; later with a partner, Gilliam, he kept a provision store and boarding house, and still later operated two trading vessels between Sacramento and Portland. When his partner absconded with all the firm's money and one of the vessels, he was financially ruined, and he spent the remainder of his life in trying to pay off his creditors. He died in the county hospital at Placerville.
Through all his wanderings in the beaver country he kept a journal. At some time between 1843 and 1848 he sent it to New York for publication, but it did not appear until 1914 at Boise, Idaho, under the title, Journal of a Trapper Or Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains, 1834-1843. Russell is characterized by Burnett, who knew him well, as a man of education, refined feelings, and virtuous habits, and as one who "always remained true to his principles. " Burnett gives him the title of judge, a distinction apparently won by the part he took in a vigilance court at Placerville, which sentenced three murderers to be hanged.
(Journal of a Trapper is one of the most important first h...)