JOURNAL OF TRAVELS OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, TO THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER; MADE DURING THE YEARS 1845 AND 1846...

Cincinnati, 1847.. 189pp. Contemporary calf, rebacked with original leather label preserved. Corners rubbed. Bookplate on front pastedown, contemporary inscription on fly leaf. Moderate foxing. About very good. First edition, second issue, with corrections made on pages 31 and 121 and without the errata slip tipped in at page 189. The tide of overland immigration which engulfed Oregon in 1843 was followed by even larger waves in subsequent years. The overland migration of 1845 was one of the largest, and it produced one of the most complete accounts of wagon trail life, this work by Joel Palmer. His journal is the only contemporary account by a participant in the 1845 migration, which numbered some three thousand persons and more than doubled the white population of Oregon. "Most reliable of the early guides to Oregon; in addition, the best narrative by a participant in the overland migration of 1845..." - Howes, who affords this issue a "c." Also included in the work is a letter from Rev. Spalding about his missionary work among the Nez Perce, a vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon and the Nez Perce language, a description of Mount Hood, and what Streeter describes as one of the earliest printings of the Organic Laws of Oregon Territory. HOWES P47, "c." WAGNER-CAMP 136:2. STREETER SALE 3146 (1st issue). GRAFF 3172. HILL 1287. FIELD 1165. SMITH 7886. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 2286. PILLING, CHINOOKAN, p.57. AYER, INDIAN LINGUISTICS (CHINOOK) 48. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 98.