Contents Include The Texas State House By Frederick W. Rathjen; The Diary Of Eliza Johnston Edited By Charles P. Roland And Richard C. Robbins; Texas Pioneer Surveyors And Indians By Forrest Daniell; Trade Goods For Texas By C. Norman Guice; Texas Collection By H. Bailey Carroll.

Additional Editors Are Floyd V. Studer And Harold Bugbee.

Contributing Authors Include Ernest Shearer, Robert Rutland, C. Richard King And Others.

Contributing Authors Include Gerald Ashford, Seymour V. Connor, Wayne Alvord, And Others.

Contributing Authors Include Lelia Clark Wynn, Otis A. Singletary, Marvin C. Burch, Wayne Gard, Robert Lee Bobbitt, Walter E. Long, Glenn O. Wilson, Virginia H. Taylor, Sallie Haltom, George Pierce Garrison, Edward M. Coffman And Catherine Young Clack.

Additional Editors Are Floyd V. Studer And Harold Bugbee.

Additional Editors Include Otis A. Singletary, Dorman H. Winfrey, And Chester V. Kielman.

Lieutenant James William Abert (1820-97) of the United States Army Topographical Engineers received orders in 1845 to explore the Canadian River region of the southern plains -- an area covering present-day Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Although this land was still in Mexican territory, the United States had gradually abandoned most of the diplomatic niceties regarding its boundaries with Mexico by that time.

Abert set out from Bent's Fort to conduct a detailed reconnaissance. He possessed a great eye for detail, providing in his journal graphic descriptions of the birds, plants, and animals he encountered as well as clear depictions of the countryside. Moreover, Abert observed in great detail the Kiowas and Comanches who often approached his expedition to see if he and his men were the much hated "Texans" with whom they were at war. His firsthand account of the Kiowas and Comanches contains valuable information not previously available.

The 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition marked the beginning of Anglo-American exploration of the American West. Abert's account of his four-month journey by mule train is invaluable as one of the concluding records of that period.

In his introduction John Miller Morris, author of the award-winning El Llano Estacado: Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860, assesses this neglected work and places it with the reports of other adventurers such as Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long.