A Most Desperate Situation: Frontier Adventures of a Young Scout,1858-1864

Rating:
Summary: Heart-stopping adventure
Review: This book is a fast-moving adventure story and will appeal to those who may have read the Dover book "Captured by the Indians," one of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A Legendary Character
Review: Walter Cooper was a real legendary character around Bozeman, Montana. At one time or another he was the owner of gold mines and coal fields, a railroad woodtie company, and a fur business. He also was the holder of several patents on the Montana Sharps rifle.

_A Most Desperate Situation_ is an epic adventure based upon 1500 pages of notes written by Cooper between 1900 and 1910. The book tells the story of young Walter Cooper (who is sometimes called McGilvra, Cooper's mother's maiden name, in the notes) beginning in 1858, when Cooper was 15, until 1864. Cooper's adventures are more action-packed than a James Bond novel. He traps beaver with Jim Bridger, pans gold in Colorado, visits Kit Carson in New Mexico, and finds himself in more than one desperate situation with Indians and Mexicans. No doubt many of the adventures in the book are based upon Walter Cooper's own life.

One shortcoming of the book is that it is uneven. By uneven I mean that portions of the book move rapidly from one adventure to the next whereas, e.g., the trial by the Apaches contains long pages of oratory by some of the characters who sometimes repeat each other. Another shortcoming of the book is that the adventures are not concluded. However _A Most Desperate Situation_ is a grand story. Too bad it took so long for it to find its way into print.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping action and adventure
Review: Walter Cooper's years in the West are recounted by him in a very modest manner, yet his adventures are thrilling in every way. I could not stop reading until the narrative ended suddenly. The young scout seems to be up to every encounter, whether it is with a mountain lion or an Indian. Highly recommended.