Such an account of the Lewis and Clark exploration as will avail to get the spirit and salient incidents of that achievement into the consciousness of this generation of Americans was greatly desired. Mr. Wheeler's work has in it the qualities that promise much toward the accomplishment of that end. Considerable previous experience with surveying parties in the far west gave him acquaintance with the plains, mountains, and cañons and gave him also zest for just the line of investigation that the preparation of these volumes demanded. Because of his long connection with the Northern Pacific Railway he had unusual facilities for thorough field work.
Passages from the texts of the Lewis and Clark Journals and from the literature of the later exploration and development of the region traversed by the expedition are most skilfully chosen to bring out pictures of the scenes and the development of the important and critical incidents in the progress of the exploration. The author's narrative giving the setting and connection of the events upon which the attention is arrested is lively and effective. The text is strongly reinforced with a wealth of fine illustrations, including facsimiles of manuscript documents, reproductions of old cuts and drawings, and maps and photographs of the sites of incidents as they appear at the present time. The reader is thus enabled to see the successive stages of the historical process through which present-day conditions along the line of the trail were developed. The historical pilgrim or tourist with these books in his hands can with equal facility trace conditions back and see the difficulties encountered by Lewis and Clark and their party. We are made to see not only the topography of the country, but also the Indian life, and the animals and plants upon which the party depended for subsistence. This thoroughness of treatment is, however, confined to the part from Fort Mandan to the Pacific. Mr. Wheeler makes us not only see the party as it moves along its toilsome and sometimes dangerous route, but also enter into their life. This be accomplishes by going carefully into the organization and personnel of the expedition. In this manner he contributes much new material to sources of the history of the exploration. Having acquainted us with the characteristics of the separate individuals, he is easily able to take us into their daily struggles and privations because of having had experiences himself somewhat similar to those of the explorers. Although the author is on the whole sympathetic with the
- ↑ From the American Historical Review, January, 1905.
