The West Old & New Vol. III Issue I January 2014 | 页面 10

Tough Trip Through Paradise
One man’s experiences in Montana between the
years of 1878 - 1879

Tough Trip Through Paradise 1878-1879 is the autobiography of Andrew
Garcia, a man of Hispanic descent who was born in El Paso, but moved
north to Montana in 1876. He wrote down his story in his later years, but
never seriously sought publication due to a combination of disapproval
from family members and fear of his story being exploited by dime novelists. The book covers 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 1876-1878. He was present
during the Nez Perce War. The book begins in 1878, when Garcia left his
job with the army to go into business with a man named Beaver Tom,
trapping beaver and trading for buffalo robes. While trading with members of the Pend d'Oreilles tribe, Garcia met and married a Nez Perce
woman known among the Pend d’Oreille as In-who-lise ('Broken Tooth';
The first book cover with Andrew Garcia as the focal her original name, Kot-kot-hy-hih, means White Feather), who had been
point.
with Chief Joseph's tribe when they ran from the U.S. Cavalry. The book
includes Garcia’s reproduction of her firsthand account of the final engagement with 7th Infantry at the Battle of the Bi