Across the Great Divide - by Laton McCartney (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Resurrecting a pivotal moment in American history, Across the Great Divide tells the triumphant never-before-told story of the young Scottish fur trader and explorer who discovered the way West, changing the face of the country forever.
In the heroic tradition of Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage comes the story of Robert Stuart and his trailblazing discovery of the Oregon Trail. Lewis and Clark had struggled across the high Rockies in present-day Montana and Idaho, but their route had been too perilous for wagon trains to follow. Then, six years after the Corps of Discovery returned from the Pacific, Stuart found the route that would make westward migration possible.
Setting out in 1812 on the return trip from establishing John Jacob Astor's fur trading post at Astoria on the Oregon Coast, Stuart and six companions traveled from west to east for more than 3,000 grueling miles by canoe, horseback, and ultimately by foot, following the mountains south until they came upon the one gap in the 3,000-mile-long Rocky Mountain chain that was passable by wagon.
Situated in southwest Wyoming between the southern extremes of the Wind River Range and the Antelope Hills, South Pass was a direct route with access to water leading from the Missouri River to the Rockies. Stuart and his traveling party were the first white men to traverse what would become the gateway to the Far West and the Oregon Trail. In the decades to come, an estimated 300,000 emigrants followed the corridor Stuart blazed on their way to the fertile farmlands of the Willamette Valley and the goldfields of California.
Across the Great Divide brings to life Stuart's ten-month journey and the remarkable courage, perseverance, and resourcefulness these seven men displayed in overcoming unimaginable hardships. Stuart had come to the Pacific Northwest to make his fortune in the fur trade, but during his stay in the wilderness he emerged as a pioneering western naturalist of the first rank, a perceptive student of Native American cultures, and one of America's most important, if least-known, explorers. Today Stuart's expedition has largely been forgotten, but it ranks as one of the great adventure odysseys of the nineteenth century.
A direct descendant of Stuart, award-winning journalist Laton McCartney has obtained unique access to Stuart's letters and diaries from the expedition, lending depth and unparalleled insight to a story that is at once an important account of a pivotal time in American history and a gripping, page-turning adventure.

Review Quotes

Douglas Brinkley Director, The Eisenhower Center for American Studies, and Professor of History, University of New Orleans What a truly wonderful book. Historian Laton McCartney brings to life the extraordinary -- and largely neglected -- story of how fur trader Robert Stuart discovered the trail that would lead 300,000 immigrants over the Rocky Mountains to the fertile valleys of Oregon. Brimming with lively anecdotes, fresh insights, and clear prose, this landmark study is a major new contribution to our understanding of the phenomenon known as "Western Expansionism." "Across the Great Divide" belongs next to "Undaunted Courage" on everybody's bookshelf.

Howard R. Lamar Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University A splendidly written biography of Robert Stuart, a key but long-neglected transcontinental explorer who discovered the most famous gateway to the American West in the nineteenth century. His entire life was a fascinating, action-packed adventure story. Laton McCartney's "Across the Great Divide" deserves high praise.

Page Stegner Author of "Winning the Wild West: The Epic Saga of the American Frontier, 1800-1899" How fitting that in the bicentennial year of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Robert Stuart, the man who first pioneered the Oregon Trail that 300,000 emigrants would cross on their way to the Pacific Coast, would finally get his due. Laton McCartney's "Across the Great Divide" is a superb narrative of that historic adventure.

Ted Morgan Author of "Wilderness at Dawn: The Settling of the American Continent" This thrilling account of the discovery of the Oregon Trail, which made possible the settling of the American West, ranks with the finest books on the continent's explorers.

About the Author

Laton Mccartney grew up on cattle ranches in Colorado and Wyoming and is a graduate of Yale University. Winner of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award, McCartney has written for numerous publications including The Washington Post, Upside, Fortune, Manhattan Inc., [More], Catalyst, Town & Country, and Newsweek International. He is the author of the national bestselling Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story and lives in Manhattan and Wyoming with his wife, Nancy.