As the tourist trade developed in Banff and Jasper in the late 1800s, a special breed of men emerged to lead wealthy, latter-day explorers into the Canadian Rockies wilderness. These guides and outfitters were often as undisciplined and unkempt as their clients were refined and polished. But together this unlikely alliance forged the last chapter in the history of exploration of the Canadian Rockies. Hart’s book Diamond Hitch describes the colourful lives and times of such men as Tom Wilson, Bill Peyto, Jimmy Simpson, the Brewster brothers, Fred Stephens, and Curly Phillips—the true mountain men of the Canadian west.