Tough Trip Through Paradise

       As a now old guy, two principles come up. One is to never ever let the truth interfere with a good story.  Second is the corollary, which goes something like nothing screws up a good story like an eyewitness.

            I myself enjoyed one story about being around a campfire with one of his Indian wives. Well, in the story, a local bear was coming in, and the yard dogs ran between his legs getting away from the bear, and tried to hide behind him and his wife. Last, as the story goes, he pretty much just kissed his tail good bye.

            So here follows is a wiki article about a book from an old guy.

                    Tough Trip Through Paradise 1878-1879 is the autobiography of Andrew Garcia, a man of Hispanic descent who moved north to Montana in 1876 and became a mountain man. He wrote down his story in his later years, but was so afraid that it would be turned into a dime novel that he hid his papers in a dynamite box. The papers were discovered years after his death and edited by Bennett H Stein into Tough Trip Through Paradise. The book covers Garcia's time in Montana from 1878 through 1879.

Garcia served as a herder and packer for the U.S. Army in Montana, in the Yellowstone and Musselshell country, working for Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis' "Boys in Blue" out of Fort Ellis from 1876-1877. He was there during the Nez Perce War. In 1878, he left his job with the army to join a man named Beaver Tom, going into business with him, trapping and trading for beaver pelts. While trading with the Pend d'Oreilles tribe, Garcia met and married a Nez Perce woman, In-who-lise (White Feather), who had been with Chief Joseph's tribe when they ran from the U.S. Cavalry. The book gives her perspective on the final engagement with 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Bear Paw, as Garcia and she travel through the battleground area.

                        Andrew Garcia's sitting down to write out his story came out of his awareness that members of his family did not want to hear his story, but that others did. He met historian L.V. McWhorter, who was researching the Nez Perce Indians.The two corresponded by letter, and Garcia began to write out his story. He worked late at night, after working on his ranch all day. The manuscript which Garcia wrote was several thousand pages long. Andrew Garcia packed the pages away in dynamite boxes for safekeeping.

One of the biggest dangers to their survival was family. According to one of Andrew Garcia's great-grandsons, Doug Garcia, the manuscript telling his story was not welcomed by them. Andrew Garcia's wife did not want to know about who had come before her. There were objections to the course language Garcia used. Andrew's grandsons were punished for trying to sneak and read it. Doug himself has come to regret the loss of the papers to his generation. The papers were sold to Bennet H. Stein, who ultimately edited some of them into the book. The manuscript was kept by the Rock Foundation (founded by Stein to keep the papers safe), and then went to the Park County Museum after Stein's death. In 2004 a decision was made to transfer the papers to the Montana Historical Society in Helena, where Doug Garcia and others should be able to access them.

Online Article in Montana Pioneer magazine. The article's author read Garcia's original handwritten manuscripts and came to doubt Garcia's memoir. Discusses the man Andrew Garcia and the editing of his written manuscripts into a story with a strong element of love. He talks about the possibility that Garcia lied about the women in his life. He also talks about the quest for Garcia's Native American children and wives and brings up disturbing questions about what might really have happened to Garcia's first wife.