The Discovery Of The Oregon Trail, Robert Stuart's Narratives Of His Overland Trip Eastward From Astoria In 1812-13. To Which Is Added: An Account Of The Tonquin's Voyage And Of Events At Fort Astoria [1811-12] And Wilson Price Hunt's Diary Of His Overland Trip Westward To Astoria In 1811-12

ROLLINS, PHILIP ASHTON [EDITOR].

Publication: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935, New York

First Edition. TEG. Cloth, ix-cxxxvii, 391pp., 4 Plates, 6 Maps, Preface. Abbreviations used in footnotes. Biographical notes on Robert Stuart and other Stuart family members. Lengthy Foreword and Appendices. Index. The rear panel of dust jacket provides an excellent description of this important work: "Robert Stuart, born in Scotland, came to the United States at the age of 25. Becoming associated with John Jacob Astor, he shared in the founding of Astoria, Oregon, which he reached by sail around Cape Horn. When it became necessary to establish communication with New York, Stuart volunteered to attempt to cross overland. With 5 companions, he set out eastward in June, 1812, and after a journey of incredible hardship and heroic effort, reached St. Louis on April 30, 1813. His was the third party to cross the continent, inside the United States, and his route was to become known as the "Oregon Trail". The story of the journey was told by Washington Irving in his Astoria. Until now, however, Stuart's own journal, a detailed, day-by-day record of the traverse, has not been published. He left 2 manuscripts: the original journal and a later revision, incomplete, which has acquired the designation of Stuart's Traveling Memoranda. Both are given their first English publication here in an edition carefully prepared by Philip Ashton Rollins, who has made repeated and thorough study of the country of the route. The editor has written a biographical note on Robert Stuart, an introduction to the Journal and to the Traveling Memoranda, and has thoroughly annotated both manuscripts. The result is a notable addition to American journals of exploration." The lengthy appendices include the first English translations printed of "An account of the Tonquin's voyage and of events at Fort Astoria, 1811-12," and, "Wilson Price Hunt's diary of his overland trip westward to Astoria in 1811-12," both of which originally appeared in Nouvelles Annales. "First English publication of this diary of a trip from Astoria to St. Louis, in 1812-13, on which South Pass was discovered and the Oregon Trail established."--Wright Howes. A fine, bright copy in the rare dust jacket. Dust jacket is fine, with the slightest of wear to corners. Laid-in are original reviews of this work in the New York Herald Tribune in October 20, 1935 and the review in the New York Times Book Review, October 6, 1935. An outstanding and truly important work.