Book cover of Rude Pursuits and Rugged Peaks: Schoolcraft's Ozark Journal, 1818-1819

Book description

In the winter of 1818, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft set out from Potosi, Missouri, to document lead mines in the interior of the Ozarks. Intending only to make his fortune by publishing an account of the area's mineral resources, he became the first skilled observer to witness and record frontier life…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Rude Pursuits and Rugged Peaks as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft may have been a condescending, greenhorn Easterner when he ventured through the sparsely settled Ozarks more than two centuries ago, but his descriptions of the terrain he traversed and the frontier settlements he saw are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history and geography of the region. Cultural geographer Milt Rafferty’s maps and annotations put us in the woods and on the streams with Schoolcraft every step of the way. 

From Brooks' list on the Ozarks.

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