This, then, is an outdoor book. The breath of the prairie, the mountain, the desert, the lake, the sea blows through its pages. It describes for the most part an outdoor life,--a life that in its main aspects and features is the most stirring and eventful chapter in the history of any new civilization. All the elements of romance were crowded into the making of our great West; not a single one is lacking. It was the last great scene in the history of world-pioneering, and contains episodes, like the discovery of gold in California, that are epic. The tale in its infinite variety has been told by many writers; some of whom have passed into oblivion, but have left us living pages; others of them belong to our best literary tradition; a few are among our immortals. It is impossible in a volume of this size to give more than a vivid glance at the scope and importance of this vast literature. The compiler has endeavored to convey an impression of the general scene inspired by the men who were themselves its living actors. “All of which I saw, and part of which I was” has been his motto in gathering his material. He has therefore some hope that he has presented, at least in degree, a living picture of a great drama, now vanished forever, and which undoubtedly can never be paralleled in the annals of world civilization. JOSEPH LEWIS FRENCH CONTENTS PAGE VITAL PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY vii PREFACE ix THE UNBROKEN WILD (1804) 1 From Lewis and Clark’s Journals JIM BECKWOURTH’S NARRATIVE (1824) 15 From “Autobiography of James P. Beckwourth” THE PATHFINDER: IN THE HIGH ROCKIES (1842), _By John C. Frémont_ 37 From Frémont’s Journal of the First Expedition THE WILDERNESS HUNTER (1845), _By J. B. Ruxton_ 56 From “Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains” AT FORT LARAMIE (1846), _By Francis Parkman_ 72 From “The Oregon Trail” GOLD! GOLD! SUTTER’S FORT (1848-1849), _By Charles Pettigrew_ 86 From the _Caledonian_ A FRONTIER DUEL (1848), _By Emerson Hough_ 115 From “The Covered Wagon” EL DORADO, _By Bayard Taylor_ 124 From “Eldorado” FRÉMONT’S GREAT RIDE (1849), _By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh_ 158 From “Frémont and ’49” THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, _By Bret Harte_ 161 From “The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches” THE CITY OF THE SAINTS, _By Sir Richard Burton_ 174 From “The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California”