In 1838 and 1839 French scientist Joseph N. Nicollet led two U.S. government-sponsored expeditions into the land between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. His findings, published in 1843 in the first authentic map of the region, influenced the future of cartography in the United States for generations.

This book contains the translations of Nicollet's journals, letters, and notes written during those expeditions, which visited such familiar landmarks as Fort Pierre, the Coteau des Prairies, and Devil's Lake in the Dakotas and the Pipestone Quarry in Minnesota. Nicollet came into contact with many Dakota people in the region, and his detailed observations are a valuable record of their way of life.