Keywords

Fred R. Gowans, Rocky Mountain Fur Trade, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous

Abstract

Fred R. Gowans is the proverbial American original – or, better yet, Western American original. Fred talked and wrote convincingly about the American West and the fur trade because he spent so much time in it, exploring or retracing old trails. Fred made no pretenses. He dressed for class, public talks, or academic presentations the same way he dressed for working with his horses: Western hat, Western shirt, Levis, cowboy boots, and on the rare occasion a sport coat and bolo tie. He lived with his wife Gloria in a log home that he and his father Floyd had built together; he took as much pride in that as he did in anything he ever wrote.

Original Publication Citation

Buckley, Jay H. “In Memoriam: Fred R. Gowans (1936-2023), Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Historian.” Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal 18 (2024): 173-79.