The Warlock's Way — Robert M. Johnson

It is 1840 and the Oregon Trail continues to be a problem for those wanting to migrate to the rich lands of the West, beyond the Rockies. The Pathfinder, John Charles Fremont has funding for an expedition to map the way west. He needs a guide and his previous experience tells him that Jeremiah Warner, known as the Mountain Man, would be his best choice. It seems as though this might be a perfect reprieve from the vendetta of the Crow Bear Clan Warriors who have sworn to kill the man they call the Warlock, Jeremiah Warner. The high mountain adventures continue unabated in this ninth volume of the Mountain Man Series. Jeremiah Warner, the Wolf Man Warlock, has slowly garnered more attention than he ever expected or wanted, from the Native American tribes of the Rocky Mountains, making both fast friends and fierce enemies. But standing at a pivotal point in American history, he has even been sought after by the white population of the young American Colonies. In 1839 he had befriended a man who was just then becoming the leading force behind the Manifest Destiny, the expansion of the United Colonies through the Rocky Mountain Territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The young engineer's name was John Fremont. In this ninth volume of the Mountain Man Series, “The Warlock's Way,” Jeremiah has been called upon to scout for the Fremont Expedition, a group led by John Charles Fremont with a mission of mapping the route west. Their first objective, the year is now 1840, is to make sure that the route through to the eastern edge of the Oregon Territory is passable. Up to that point, wagon trains had been advised to abandon their heavy wagons near South Pass and proceed on the final leg of their journey by horseback and pack animals. Fremont and his cartographer were determined to provide an accurate guideline for the travelers who would follow the trail, using readings of longitude, latitude and altitude to guide them. Previous expeditions, starting with Lewis and Clarke in 1805, had provided many crude maps as efforts were made to use waterways like the Columbia River to get through. Eventually it became clear that a land route would be needed as families migrated by the thousands toward the verdant farmlands of the west coast. Everything they owned was in those Conestoga Wagons and somehow they had to get through. This mission would find Jeremiah Warner at a difficult and confusing period of his life, struggling with the defense of his Blackfoot wives and his two small children against the threat of the Crow Indian Nation. The Crow Bear Clan had targeted the Mountain Man for death and committed dozens of their warriors to the pursuit. So far, they had all died at his hand, causing the Crow to consider him an enemy of “great medicine,” a Warlock.