Fifty Years On The Trail: The True Story of John Y. Nelson, Frontiersman, Scout, and Guide

The simple honesty in this book makes it a must read for western expansion history buffs. Be ready to be going from book to map to follow his ever changing adventures.

I found descriptions of locations, dates of events very enjoyable. Nelson was an accomplished writer. But, no mention of his education. I enjoyed the book thus 4 stars.

The author lived through the fur trade, Oregon trail era, Mormon expansion, gold mining towns, Indian wars and the Reservations. His story is told in an almost modern narrative and different than other people of his era that also left accounts. Well worth reading. It added to my understanding of the western frontier.

That Nelson lived into his 60's is miracle. His account is not sophisticated, but I found it fascinating. I hated to see it and. While it undoubtedly contains exaggeration, I don,t believe most of the events are fictitious.

I don't believe for a minute that everything in this book was true but if even half of it is, it is worth the read. I honestly didn't like Mr Nelson but he was quite an interesting man. And the history of the time period is informative. I think I paid .99 for it so if the price is right, it's worth the read.

A little slow, didn't reall grab my interest.

Always ready to read a version of what the west was really like. Nothing was easy and every day became a struggle to survive. A very nice read.

Rough time in American history. Times that were hard to witness I imagine. He had adventures around every corner. But I can’t help think he embellished quite a bit here and definitely peacocks about.

Epitomizes a great favorite theme

I really enjoyed John Y. Nelson's autobiography, which describes life in the Wild West with all its dangers.This man did all sorts of jobs for a living and was able to survive in this very hostile world.Some of the Mormons he met during his tribulations were sometimes violent and did not correspond to the idea we have of these followers.It is a miracle that he survived for so long and I can only recommend reading this book.

The early memories of John Y. Nelson are fresh and believable, but the later ones are muddled and sometimes mixed up with other "popular" memories of the time. These were probably told time and again around the fire to different travelers. I found the book interesting and well worth the read.

Well written overall. Treat it as series of tales and you should find it entertaining even if tad gruesome at times.