Life in the Rocky Mountains: A Diary of Wanderings on the Sources of the Rivers Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado from February, 1830, to November, 1835 — authored originally as a firsthand journal by Warren Angus Ferris during his time as a trapper and explorer for the American Fur Company, this book offers a rich, detailed account of life, travel, and survival across the American West in the early 1830s. Ferris’s diary chronicles his nearly six‑year journey from Missouri into the vast Rocky Mountain wilderness, following the great rivers and interacting with Indigenous groups, mountain men, and the natural world in its unaltered state.
The narrative was later edited and supplemented by Paul C. Phillips, who provides broader historical context, a biographical introduction to Ferris, and insights into early exploration and the fur trade. The book combines vivid descriptions of rugged terrain, wildlife, weather, hardship, and the daily life of trappers with observations that bring the era’s frontier realities to life. It remains a valuable primary source for understanding early American Western expansion, the fur trade, and frontier experiences during a formative period of U.S. history.