The Prairie Traveler - PDF free download eBook

Introduction

There were a lot of things you packed into your saddlebags or the wagon before setting off to cross the North American wilderness in the 1850s. A gun and an axe were obvious necessities. Yet many...

Some brief overview of this book

There were a lot of things you packed into your saddlebags or the wagon before setting off to cross the North American wilderness in the 1850s. A gun and an axe were obvious necessities. Yet many pioneers were just as adamant about placing a copy of Captain Randolph Marcy's The Prairie Traveler close at hand.

Next to the family Bible, it was considered an absolute necessit There were a lot of things you packed into your saddlebags or the wagon before setting off to cross the North American wilderness in the 1850s. A gun and an axe were obvious necessities. Yet many pioneers were just as adamant about placing a copy of Captain Randolph Marcy's The Prairie Traveler close at hand.

Next to the family Bible, it was considered an absolute necessity for anyone planning to venture through the hazards of trans-continental travel. Though Marcy eventually became a brigadier general in the United States army, he made his reputation as one of America s early experts on frontier travel after tracing the Red River to its source. Soldier, trailblazer and mapmaker, Marcy conducted five major expeditions across the wilderness that was once the American West, then submitted a series of reports to the War Office describing the country, its vast resources, and the hazards involved in crossing it.

It was from these original reports that the legendary frontiersman drew when he wrote what was to become an encyclopedic work on frontier life. Packed with practical advice for travelers heading West, The Prairie Traveler issues advice on such diverse subjects as how to organize a wagon train, march with loose horses, choose proper pack saddles, ford rivers, administer rudimentary first aid, or avoid Indian attack. In addition he dispensed detailed notes on thirty-four of the most important overland trails used by American pioneers.

Legendary English explorer, Sir Richard Francis Burton, was one of the many explorers to use this famous travel book when he traveled from Texas to Utah in the late 1850s. Amply illustrated with pen and ink drawings of the time, this rediscovered classic remains fascinating reading for students of the horse or history.