The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Narratives of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-13

Robert Stuart, a partner in John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, helped found an ill-fated trading post in Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River. The post fell to disease and hostile attacks, but by then, Stuart had left, heading back east to report to corporate headquarters. In making his way overland across mountains and vast prairies, Stuart blazed what would become the Oregon Trail. His journal, reproduced here, recounts his hardships and observations along the way, and it makes for fascinating reading. In this University of Nebraska Press edition, the noted Western historian Howard Lamar provides an introductory essay that discusses the significance of Stuart's trek to the later settlement of the Pacific Northwest.