My Sixty Years on the Plains

"For sixty years I lived the life of the frontiersman-hunter, trapper, scout, and guide." - W. T. Hamilton First published in 1905, My Sixty Years on the Plains is the vivid autobiography of William Thomas Hamilton (1822-1908), a legendary frontiersman, trapper, scout, and Indian fighter whose life spanned the closing of the American frontier. Hamilton recounts his extraordinary experiences in the Rocky Mountains and across the Great Plains, where he lived among Native American tribes, hunted and trapped for survival, and served as a scout during conflicts between settlers and Native peoples. His narrative captures both the hardships and adventures of frontier life-buffalo hunts, skirmishes, encounters with outlaws, and the relentless struggle against nature itself. As both personal memoir and historical document, Hamilton's book provides a rare first-hand perspective on the fur trade, westward expansion, and the transformation of the American West in the nineteenth century. Essential for readers of Western history, frontier memoirs, and Native American studies, My Sixty Years on the Plains remains a classic in the literature of the Old West.