With original primary source documents, this anthology brings readers into the vast unknown 19th-century American West—through the eyes of the explorers who saw it for the first time.
This volume brings together book excerpts, maps, and illustrations from 12 explorers from the 19th century, highlighting their lives and contributions. Arranged chronologically, the 10 chapters focus on individual explorers, with biographies and background information about and document excerpts from each person. The chapters offer analyses of each document's relevance to the historical period, geographic knowledge, and cultural perspective.
This guide shares the important contributions from explorers like Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, Jedediah Smith, James P. Beckwourth, John C. Fremont, Susan Magoffin, and John Wesley Powell. It also nurtures readers' historical literacy by modeling historians' methods of analyzing primary sources. Readers will see new and familiar events from different perspectives, including that of a woman traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, one of the most famous African American mountain men, and a Civil War veteran, among many others.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Selected Chronology
Chapter 1: Lewis and Clark Expedition, October 1803–September 1806
Biography of Meriwether Lewis
Biography of William Clark
1. Jefferson's Instructions to Lewis, 1803
2. Clark's Servant York, October 1804 and January 1805
3. The Grizzly Bear, April–May 1805
4. Sacagawea, November 1804, February 1805, and August 1805
5. Lewis Encounters the Great Falls and a Grizzly Bear, June 1805
6. Horse Trading with Shoshones, August 1805
7. Crossing the Bitterroot Mountains, September 1805 and June 1806
8. The Nez Perce, September–October 1805
9. "Ocian in View," November 1805
10. Lewis's Woodpecker, May 1806
11. Clark's Speech He Prepared for the Crow Indians, July 1806
Chapter 2: Zebulon Pike's Expeditions, 1805–1807, and Pike's "Dissertation of Louisiana," 1808
Biography of Zebulon Montgomery Pike
12. Wilkinson's Instructions to Pike, June 1806
13. Osage Encampment, September 1806
14. Pawnee Village, September 1806
15. Prairie Dogs, October 1806
16. Buffalo Encounter, November 1806
17. Confrontation with a Pawnee War Party, November 1806
18. Pikes Peak, November 1806
19. Landscape of the Louisiana Territory, 1806–1807
20. A Colorado Winter, January 1807
21. Detained by the Spanish, February 1807
22. New Mexican Towns of Ojo Caliente and San Juan, March 1807
Chapter 3: David Thompson's Travels, 1797–1812
Biography of David Thompson
23. The Beaver, 1797
24. Mandan Villages, Winter 1797–1798
25. The Upper Missouri River, February 1798
26. Trading Guns for Furs, September 1809
27. Enforcing the Moral Code, March 1810
28. Kalispel War Preparations, June 1811
29. Where the Columbia Meets the Pacific, July 1811
30. Heading Home to Montreal, July 1811
31. The Rattlesnake, August 1811
32. Native Spirituality, 1812
Chapter 4: Travels of Wilson Price Hunt, 1811–1812, and Robert Stuart, 1812–1813
Biography of Wilson Price Hunt
Biography of Robert Stuart
33. The Crow Indians, August–September 1811
34. Traveling the Snake River, October 1811
35. Role of American Indian Guides and Assistance in Exploration, December 1811
36. The Cayuse Indians, January 1812
37. The Columbia River, January–February 1812
38. Astoria's Flora and Fauna, June 1812
39. Salmon Fishing, August 1812
40. The Snake River, August 1812
41. Harvesting an Elk, September 1812
42. The Discovery of the South Pass, October 1812
Chapter 5: Stephen H. Long's Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, 1819–1820
Biography of Stephen H. Long
43. Duties for the 1820 Expedition, March 1819
44. The Platte River, June 1820
45. Hoop Game, June 1820
46. Pawnee Village, June 1820
47. Bison, June 1820
48. A Desert Mirage, July 1820
49. Snake Indian War Party, August 1820
50. Big Elk's Speech, October 1820
51. Uninhabitable Region, 1820
52. Vocabulary of Indian Languages, 1823
Chapter 6: Jedediah Smith's Southwest Expedition, 1826–1827, and Second Expedition, 1827–1828
Biography of Jedediah Smith
53. The Ute Nation, August 1826
54. Mojave/Mohave Nation, October 1826
55. Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, November 1826
56. The Vaqueros, December 1826
57. The Mission Indians, January 1827
58. Observations of a Precarious Life, April 1827
59. California Indians, February 1827, May 1827, and March 1828
60. Crossing the Great Basin, June 1827
61. Salt Lake Valley, June 1827
62. San Francisco Bay, December 1828
Chapter 7: Susan Shelby Magoffin on the Santa Fe Trail, 1846–1847
Biography of Susan Shelby Magoffin
63. Among the Wildflowers, June 1846
64. Mosquitoes, June 1846
65. Prairie Rainstorms, Late June and Early July, 1846
66. Bent's Fort, July 1846
67. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, August 1846
68. The Raton Pass, August 1846
69. Culture Shock, August 1846
70. General Stephen Kearny, September 1846
71. New Foods, November 1846
72. Escaping the Mexican War, June 1847
Chapter 8: James P. Beckwourth's Travels, 1820s–1850s
Biography of James P. Beckwourth
73. Dangerous Encounters with Indians, June 1828
74. Crow Culture, 1829–1831
75. Indian Warfare, Early 1830s
76. Inaugural Address as Chief of the Crow Nation, Summer 1834
77. Constructing a Fort, Summer 1839
78. Smallpox among the Pawnees, 1840s
79. Beckwourth Pass, Spring 1850
80. Eyes of an American Capitalist, Early 1850s
81. California Gold Rush, Early 1850s
82. The Fate of the Plains Indians, Early 1850s
Chapter 9: John C. Frémont's First and Second Expeditions, June 1842–July 1844
Biography of John C. Frémont
83. Exploration Party, May–June 1842
84. Life on the Trail, June 1842
85. Buffalo Encounters, June 1842 and July 1842
86. Wolves, July 1842
87. Arapaho Village and a Buffalo Hunt, July 1842
88. Great Salt Lake, September 1843
89. Trading for Fish, October 1843
90. Advice from the Washoe, January 1844
91. Crossing the Sierra Nevada, February 1844
92. Colorado Landscape, July 1844
Chapter 10: John Wesley Powell's Travels, 1875–1881
Biography of John Wesley Powell
93. Overview of the Colorado River, 1875
94. Geology of the Grand Canyon, 1875
95. "A Wild Music" in the Canyons, 1875
96. "The Most Sublime Spectacle on the Earth," 1875
97. Desert Natives, 1875
98. Assessment of Water Resources in Utah Territory, 1879
99. Classifying the Arid Region, 1879
100. Organizing the Arid Region, 1879
101. "Savage" versus "Civilized," 1881
102. Origin of the Echo, 1881
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Jay H. Buckley, PhD, is associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
Jeffery D. Nokes, PhD, is associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
Review :
Top Community College Resource, November 2016
Altogether, Explorers of the American West is a user-friendly collection of documentation that shares the experience of the explorer or traveler in the westward expansion in the 19th-century United States. The primary sources are engaging and bring the reader in to the experience. Sourcing information is well organized and clear. This collection of written documentation and analysis will be extremely useful for scholars, researchers, and historians seeking primary source information on United States westward exploration. Highly recommended.
Although excerpts and full-text transcripts of many of these documents can be found online, the inclusion of all of them in a single volume with accompanying analysis and imagery make this resource particularly useful for students of the American West, the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, and the exploration of North America. Summing Up: Recommended. High school through undergraduate students; general readers.
