Before Lewis and Clark

Excerpts from the author's Preface
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> The vast territory of the
> Trans-Mississippi West has intrigued
> me ever since I began to study history
> ... My attention was attracted by the
> fact that very little was known or had
> been printed about the Upper
> Mississippi, the Missouri, and the
> Arkansas valleys before the Louisiana
> Purchase ... My researches in the
> archives of Spain and elsewhere,
> however, have resulted in the
> unfolding of a long history of
> attempts to discover a route to the
> Pacific, of expansion to Santa Fe.
> Lewis and Clark were but the ones who
> fulfilled the dreams of the French and
> Spanish fur traders ... The entire
> documentary record of the Missouri
> from 1673 to 1804 would require a good
> many volumes ... In the present work I
> have chosen to give in detail the
> story of the Missouri during the last
> decade and a half before Lewis and
> Clark ... To make this story complete
> ... I have included all documents
> whether they have been previously
> published or not ... the bulk of the
> documents are now translated and
> published for the first time.
>
> To introduce these documents
> effectively I have written a short
> history (the first such account, I
> believe) of the Missouri River from
> its discovery ... Five maps have been
> chosen to illustrate this narrative
> and documents; of these [two] are
> published for the first time.