Narrative of a journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River, and a visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, & c., with a scientific appendix

Author:

Townsend, John Kirk

Title:

Narrative of a journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River, and a visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, & c., with a scientific appendix

Periodical:

Northwest reprints

Year:

2003

Pages:

xxix, 290 p.

Subject:

Northwest Pacific description and travel Rocky Mountains description and travel Hawaii description and travel Townsend, John Kirk, 1809-1851 Overland journeys to the Pacific Natural history Northwest Pacific Natural history Rocky Mountains Natural history

Summary:

In 1837, upon his return to Philadelphia, John Kirk Townsend began writing his account of his two years spent journeying to and residing in the Oregon country, his experiences in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, and his journey home via Chile and Cape Horn. A young man still in his twenties, Townsend intended his travelogue for a small audience of family and friends. In 1839, the Philadelphia publishing firm of Henry Perkins published his book, complete with his "scientific appendix," in which he detailed the birds and mammals he found on his western travels. The next year, in 1840, the London firm of Henry Colburn reissued the narrative, dividing it into two volumes and retitling it Sporting Excursions in the Rocky Mountains, Including a Journey to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, etc. The publishers chose to delete some material (although the deletions are very minor), and introduced new paragraph breaks. From this time on, Townsend's Narrative would never again assume its original form. Greatly truncated versions of Townsend's Narrative appeared in the mid and late 1800s, essentially telling just the story of the trip west. Reuben Gold Thwaites largely restored Townsend's Narrative in 1905 as part of his multi-volume Early Western Travels series. Thwaites removed, however, the chapters on Townsend's activities in the Hawaiian Islands, and his return home. Thwaites's abridgment was subsequently reprinted by Ye Galleon Press and by University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books. This edition by Oregon State University Press is the first since 1839 to restore Townsend's text to its entirety. Towsend's engaging story, his encounters with remarkable and significant historical figures, his accomplishments and perils and scientific pursuits in a largely untraveled land, can again be read and enjoyed as they were originally written for his family and friends. Townsend spoke in his Narrative of the particular joy of the scientist in discovering something new, but readers can also experience "delight amounting to ecstasy" in this story of western exploration.

URL:

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081820890

Collection:

Monographs