In presenting to the public the Journal of a Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, the only apology, necessary to offer, is the hope of promoting a more extensive and particular knowledge, than has hitherto been furnished, of the condition of that important section of the country. The author's mode of traveling furnished many opportunites for observation, being conducted with leisure, through one of the most interesting portions of the wide territories of the west. It is believed that no defects exist in the work, irreconcilable with a strict adherence to facts, and this scrupulous regard to truth is the principal merit claimed for the volume. The most of what is narrated came under the author's personal observation, and whatever is stated which did not, was obtained from gentlemen connected with the Hudson Bay Company, whose reputation for honesty and candor, as well as capability of judging intelligently, is well established. This source of information was available by collecting and comparing the statements of different individuals, retaining what corresponded with his own observations, or was well supported by evidence. The belief is cherished, that the following work contains a greater amount of statistical information in regard to the country, and important facts, than is to be found in any production furnished by the press. Having gone over a greater extent of territory than any traveler who had preceded, and with the express object of exploring the condition of the aboriginal population, this position cannot be considered as assumed. Messrs. Lewis and Clarke passed the Rocky Mountains under a governmental appointment to explore the country, more than thirty years since, and their published narrative carries with it evidence of candor and intelligence, and contains much valuable information; yet their opportunities for observation were somewhat limited. They passed over the great chain of mountains from the head waters of the Cooscootskee, and followed that river to its junction with the Lewis or Snake river, and then porceeded by water to the Pacific ocean at the mouth of the Columbia river, wintered upon the south side of the bay, and early the following spring returned to the mountains by the same route which they pursued on their outward journey. All other persons who have published any history of their travels beyond the mountains, were persons engaged in the fur trade, and many of their observations upon different sections of the country are just, but they are deficient in statistical information, and their productions are mostly confined to personal adventures, anecdotes of battles with Blackfeet or Crow Indians, starvation, and hair-breadth escapes. Justice to the public requires fidelity in the historian and traveler. It is not our business to originate facts, but to record them. The license given to poets, or writers of romance, cannot be tolerated here, and no flights of a lively imagination, or graphic powers in relating passing occurrences, can atone for impressions which are not in accordance with truth.

     While it was a leading object to become acquainted with the situation of the remote Indian tribes, and their disposition in regard to teachers of Christianity, yet a careful attention was given to the geography of the country, with its productions; the climate and seasons, animals, lakes, rivers, and smaller fountains; forests and prairies, mountains and valleys, its mineral and geological structure, and all the various aspects of its physical condition. The country here described is sui generis; every thing is formed on a large scale. Its lofty and perpetual snow-topped mountains rising 20,000 feet or more above the ocean, the trees of the forest, the widely extended prairies, plants of enormous growth, and the results of volcanic agency which are met with in almost every direction, render the whole an ever increasing scene of interest to the traveler; and if any statements appear large, it is because the facts are so in themselves.

     It has been an object in writing this volume to compress as much as possible the amount of information, instead of unnecessarily extending it, and the hope is indulged, that while these facts are perused, the desire may be awakened if it do not already exist, to benefit the original, the rightful owners, and with the exception of a few thousand fur traders scattered in every direction over this territory, the sole occupants of this wide field of uncultivated nature.

     The map which accompanies the work has been prepared with much labor and care; and though some minute parts are omitted, it will be found far more accurate than any which has before been published. In addition to my own surveys, I have availed myself of those of gentlemen connected with the Hudson Bay Company, in parts which I did not visit, and am especially indebted to Vancouver and the labors of other explorers for much that I have delineated of the North-West coast of the Pacific ocean, and the Islands.