Three Years Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America…

12mo modern wrappers, xvi, vii, [9], 252 pp. Title page darkened, pages are somewhat toned and foxed, some corners a bit rounded. Carver was born in 1710 in Weymouth Massachusetts. As a child he moved to Canterbury Connecticut, and in 1746 married Abigail Robbins. He enlisted in the military during the French and Indian War, and was wounded at the siege of Fort William Henry. After the war, with support from Major Robert Rodgers, of Rodgers Rangers fame, he started his journey to the West in 1766. He went by the Great Lakes route, and traveled to Green Bay Wisconsin and entered what is now Minnesota. Carver also spent some time on the Mississippi River. When he returned home he became disappointed that he couldn’t publish a book on his travels he left for England where he picked up a second wife, even though he was still married to the first. He did manage to publish in 1778 the first edition of the present work. Apparently the published work is a good deal different than the original manuscript, and it’s not certain if all the Indian material in the book was all his work. However, there are still lots of interesting material in this book, including an early description of the Mississippi River, a rather tall tale about rattle snakes, and a description of Lake Superior. Carver died in utter poverty in 1780.