The book we’re looking for is about two brothers. The younger brother joins the older brother who is a trapper because the parents die of some sickness. The story is about them during the fur trapping days and their struggles to survive. They fight Blackfoot (I think) Indians. The younger brother really wants to get a Hawkins rifle like his older brother. They get trapped in a snowstorm and they get ready to eat their moccasins. I think the younger brother is like 12 or 13 or 14 and he wants to be like his big brother, who is in his early 20’s. The book was light brown with a hardbound cover.
‘Beaver Water’ by Rutherford G Montgomery, 1955. The brothers were Jode and Andre, and the Blackfeet tribe.
This sounds like something from William O. Steele, Cateau De Leeuw, or John Beatty. I can’t think of a specific title, but these authors would be worth looking at.