Ben, the Trapper

This Beadle and Adams dime novel, Tale of the Black Hills by Major Lewis W. Carson, concerns three frontier trappers—Ben Miffin (an American), Jules Damand (a Frenchman), and Jan (a Dutchman)—encamped in a mountain pass during the era of intense competition between the American Fur Company and the Hudson Bay Company. The narrative opens with character sketches establishing these men as rugged, armed frontiersmen and proceeds through extended dialogue showcasing their contrasting personalities and national stereotypes. The bulk of the excerpt consists of banter among the three regarding German wine, food preferences, smoking methods, and Jan's tall tale about witnessing an enormous iceberg at sea that he theorizes was tipped over by a whale. Ben reveals his past captivity among the Crows and his adoption of their smoking customs. The story frames trappers as the unsung developers of the western frontier.