
Fifty Years on the Trail
The True Story of John Y. Nelson, Frontiersman, Scout, and Guide
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Narrated by:
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Matthew Erwin
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By:
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John Y. Nelson
About this listen
Fifty Years on the Trail is the true story of John Young Nelson (1826-1903), an early frontiersman, military scout, interpreter, guide, and saloon owner. Nelson ran away from home as a young teenager to adventure in the west. He worked on farms, served as a cabin boy on a Mississippi steamer, and became an apprentice with a group of traders traveling west from Missouri.
After meeting a band of Sioux, he got himself adopted into the tribe, learned how to live off the land and became a Sioux warrior. It was Nelson who guided Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Nelson later worked with Buffalo Bill fought and served as a sheriff in North Dakota. His exiting story provides fascinating insight into the early American west.
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What listeners say about Fifty Years on the Trail
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- Hóčhoka
- 10-13-22
straight forward history
love the history and John's no nonsense approach to talking about his life and his experience
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- Edward A. Scoville Jr.
- 05-03-21
Loved the book
I loved this book. The readers voice fit well with the picture of John Y. Nelson for me.
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- toni
- 10-27-23
How a white man lived in the West
This memoir is a wonderful accounting of the transient nature of a white man’s non conformist life west of the Mississippi in the 1800’s. Living amongst the Native Americans and scouting for the Army.
Speed the telling up a little and the reader becomes a little more lively.
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