Branches West — Jack MacLean

Branches West depicts the adventures of three young men as they leave their homes in Nova Scotia and New England in the early 1800s traveling with fur traders by canoe and by ship to the far reaches of the Northwest Their adventures in the west over the next seventy years include exploration of the upper Columbia River the founding of Astoria and Fort Vancouver the fur rendezvous in Wyoming the first travelers on the Oregon Trail and taking part in the gold rushes in California British Columbia Idaho and Montana Along the way they visit Hawaii Alaska the Russian fur traders at Sitka and Fort Ross as well as Yerba Buena and Sutter s Fort in California The stories provide life and color to western history in the period 1810 1877