"Belden was born in Ohio, ran away from home and lived for some time with the Indians in the West, acquiring two squaws and doing many extraordinary deeds. He later joined the U.S. Army, but in 1870 found he could no longer stand army life and returned to the trapping and hunting grounds. He left his diaries and manuscripts with General James S. Brisbin. According to the latter, Belden's career was Ômore varied and remarkable than that of any paleface west of the Missouri.'" Eberstadt, Modern Narratives of the Plains and the Rockies