To the Wide Missouri

To the Wide Missouri: Traveling in America During the First Decades of Westward Expansion by Louis Garavaglia covers the routes and methods that emigrants used to reach the west in the forty-year period following the Louisiana Purchase. Using contemporary maps and the graphic descriptions found in diaries, journals, letters, and newspaper accounts, the author details not only the land and water routes that led settlers to the western country, but also illustrates the hardship, perseverance, humor, and romance that colored their journey.

LOUIS A. GARAVAGLIA, a graduate of Western Michigan University, served as an Army lieutenant with a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) unit in Vietnam. He has published numerous articles in both historical and technical journals and is co-author of Firearms of the American West. He divides his time between writing and mechanical design, and at present holds two U.S. patents.