Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson—these are names that shine brightly among those of the trappers, scouts and Indian fighters who opened up the wilderness of America for the men, women and children who came after them to settle it. One of the most remarkable of these frontiersman was Kit Carson.
Kit's was a frontier family, moving to new settlements as civilization moved in on the old. As a boy Kit dreamed of going west of his Missouri home to the Shining Mountains, which we now know as the Rockies. His dream came true sooner than he expected for he was only seventeen when he rode over the hills of the Southwest toward Santa Fe and glimpsed at last the blue line on the horizon that was the Shinies. From then on he lived in and around these great mountains, trapping beaver and going after marauding Indians.
When the beaver trade died out, Kit went to work for an old friend, Captain Bent, hunting buffalo and guarding the Santa Fe Trail. Then the name "Carson's Men" became famous throughout the West to describe Kit's band of fearless and loyal men, and stories and legends grew up about Kit himself. It was not long before he was known in the East as well as the West for his help in winning California for the United States.
Edmund Collier has written a thrilling biography of Kit Carson who through his love of the West helped make it a safer place for Indian and white man alike.
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