Palmer, Joel

Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains, to the mouth of the Columbia River; made during the years 1845 and 1846: containing minute descriptions of the valleys of the Williamette, Umpqua, and Clamet; a general description of Oregon Territory...a list of necessary outfits for emigrants; and a table of distances from camp to camp on the route. Cincinnati: J.A. & U.P. James, 1847

12mo (206 x 117 mm). Untrimmed. Original printed front wrapper; spine and rear wrapper in matching paper, front wrapper stained. Housed in a cloth chemise and half morocco and cloth slipcase,ꦆ spine gilt.

First edition, second issue, wi🌸th correction꧟s made on pages 31 and 121 and without the errata slip sometimes found tipped in at page 189

Waves of overland immigration engulfed Oregon 🔯from 1843 onwards. The overland migration of 1845 was one of the largest, and it also produced the present work by Joel Palmer. His journal is the only published contemporary account by a participant in the 1845 migration, which numbered some three thousand people, and more than doubled the white population of Oregon. Howes describes this as the "[m]ost reliable of the early guides to Oregon." 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.

REFERENCE

Ayer (Chinook) 48; Field 1165; Graff 3172; Hill 1287; Howes 47, "c."; Pilling, Chinookan 57; Pilling, Proof-sheets 2286; Smith 7886; cf. 𝔉Streete🅷r Sale 3146 (1st issue); Wagner-Camp 136:2