Published together in 1846 for a British readership, these reports of two westward expeditions shed light on the challenges of exploration in nineteenth-century North America. Led by the army officer and future presidential candidate John Charles Fremont (1813-90), who became known as 'the Pathfinder', the first expedition ranged west of the Missouri River, while the second pushed beyond the Rocky Mountains, north to Fort Vancouver and then south into Mexican-held California. Fremont's detailed accounts are accessible to the non-specialist: this edition omits 'only the portions which are altogether astronomical, scientific, and philosophical, and, therefore, not adapted for general utility'. When originally published separately in 1843 and 1845, the narratives enthused a great many Americans, encouraging them to migrate west by providing stirring inspiration, valuable maps and practical information. Fremont's words and deeds remain of interest in the debate surrounding the 'manifest destiny' of the United States.

"John Charles Fremont--popularly known as "The Pathfinder" during his times--played a major role in opening up the American West to settlement by pioneers. His reliable accounts, including published maps, narrations, and scientific documentations of his expeditions, guided emigrants overland into the West starting in the mid-1840s. Fremont was born illegitimate to a Quebecois father and a Virginian mother. Through the lucky circumstance of obtaining highly influential patrons at his parents' adopted home city of Charleston, South Carolina, he was appointed second lieutenant in the United States Topographical Corps and quickly rose within its ranks. Through the influence of his father-in-law, Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri--the powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs--he led his first expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1842. With his party of 25 men, including Kit Carson, he embarked from the Kansas River on June 15, 1842, followed the Platte River to the South Pass, and starting from Green River he explored the Wind River mountain range. He climbed a 13,745-foot mountain, Fremont's Peak, planted an American flag, and claimed the Rocky Mountains and the West for the United States. His second expedition--the subject of a separate book--succeeded in charting all of the way to California, mapping and confirming the Oregon Trail as the route for pioneers heading toward the West."