Bounty of Nature

The abundance of fur-bearing animals in the wilderness that would become Oklahoma lured explorers and traders in the seventeenth century. Europeans wanted furs for hats and coats, and the forests of Oklahoma and other regions of French Louisiana provided them.

This book tells of the earliest exchanges of furs for Great Lakes copper utensils and jewelry, European trinkets, guns, food, and clothing. There are stories of fur traders carving trading posts from the wilderness and surviving attacks from roving bands of Native American warriors. It is a unique glimpse into Oklahoma's bold and exciting past.