Zenas Leonard (March 19, 1809 – July 14, 1857) was an American

mountain man A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...

, explorer and trader, known for his journal ''Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard''. Leonard was born in

Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Clearfield County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,562. The county seat is Clearfield, and the largest city is DuBois. The county was created in 1804 and later organized in 1822. ...

. As a young adult, he worked for his uncle in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

before moving to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

and working as a clerk for the fur company, Gannt and Blackwell. In 1831 he went with Gannt and Blackwell's company of about 70 men on a trapping and trading expedition. Living off the land (Leonard reported that ''"The flesh of the Buffaloe is the wholesomest and most palatable of meat kind"''), Leonard and his associates endured great privation while amassing a fortune in furs; the horses died in the harsh winter and the party was at times near starvation. They survived, in part, by trading with Native Americans. Among the more helpful tribal members he reported encountering was a negro who claimed to have been on Lewis & Clark's expedition, and who may have been the explorer-slave

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. In 1835 Leonard returned to

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro ...

, with enough wealth in furs to establish a store and trading post at

Fort Osage Fort Osage (also known as Fort Clark or Fort Sibley) was an early 19th-century factory trading post run by the United States Government in western Missouri on the American frontier; it was located in present-day Sibley, Missouri. The Treaty of ...

. He continued to trade along the river for the rest of his life. Leonard's journal was published in book form by D.W. Moore of

Clearfield, Pennsylvania Clearfield is a borough and the county seat of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 5,962 people, making it the second most populous community in Clearfield County, behind DuBois. The borough ...

, in 1839, after being serialized in the ''Clearfield Republican''. It includes many details of the different tribes with which his parties interacted. As it is in the public domain, there are numerous reprints.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Zenas 1809 births 1857 deaths People from Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Mountain men 18th-century American non-fiction writers Autobiographers American fur traders

See also

References