Author Description

Randolph Marcy wrote this text for fellow travelers wanting to brave the wilderness of North America, at a time when the western reaches of the continent were barely settled. A captain in the U.S. military, Marcy wrote this guide partly to allay the many myths and fears of the Western frontier, and partly to offer guidance to the dangers which were actually manifest. The information within takes readers across two popular trails - northerly, ending in Oregon, and southerly, ending in Santa Fe. Written in 1859, this book is both a guidebook and an authentic history of the Wild West era. Various anecdotes are interspersed through the text - Marcy is careful to differentiate between friendly Indian tribes such as the Delawares and Shawnees, whom he admires. The Plains Indians however are considered to have hostile tendencies; Marcy instructs on how to sign, and gives a detailed account of how to safely sleep with a gun cocked and loaded. Much of the advice offered by Marcy remains very useful today for campers and wilderness explorers; camping in wet weather and improvising a fire in those conditions; finding clean water; dealing with snake bikes; and using red willow bark as a substitute for cigarettes; crossing a stream with or without a horse, and so on. Despite its age, this book is written in plain language, but has an eloquent and readable simplicity. The publisher is proud to include all of the original illustrations, many of which are crucial to Marcy's instructions. These many pictures for instance depict various items of collapsible camp furniture, which can be built, folded and carried along or attached to a pack.