The Prairie Traveller

This work by Randolph B. Marcy (1812-87), who retired from the US Army as a brigadier general in 1881, was first published in 1859. Reissued here is the 1863 edition, edited with notes by the British explorer Sir Richard Burton (1821-90). The subtitle of the original edition describes it as A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, with Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and it was hugely influential, as an official US Government publication, in encouraging the great overland migrations which took European settlers to the American west. The book, based on Marcy's own experience of western travel, covers the routes to Oregon and California, the equipment needed, the treatment of animals, and the possibility of encounters with Native American tribes. This is a fascinating account of the practical steps necessary to enable emigrants to be self-reliant and to survive.