ENGEL.MANN — OBITUARY OF F. A. WISLIZENUS. 465 



the practice of his profession in 1S35. -^^ remained there only 

 two years, actively at work with his pen both as political pam- 

 phleteer and poet,* having acquired the language, and familiar- 

 ized himself somewhat with the country. He set out for the West 

 in 1S37, '^"^^ Joined Koeiner and others of his fellow-exiles who 

 had found a home in St. Clair county, Ills. Until 1839 ^^^ prac- 

 ticed in the small town of Mascoutah, and then, tired of the mo- 

 notony of country life, came to St. Louis and at once found a 

 long-wished-for opportunity. He volunteered to accompany one 

 of the expeditions of the St, Louis Fur Company for trading with 

 the Indians. With these hardy pioneers he penetrated far into 

 the Northwestern country toward the source of the Green River, 

 in the Wind River Mountains; but, when the traders had ex- 

 hausted their supplies and turned homeward, Wislizenus, eager 

 to explore this boundless and unknown territor}', joined a band 

 of Flathead and Nez-Perces Indians, aud moved on with them, 

 crossing the Rocky Mountains to the high lands of the present 

 Utah, and as far as Fort Hall, then the most southerly trading 

 post of the British. No guide being found willing to take him 

 over the Sierra Nevada to California, he turned back. Crossing 

 the lower Green River and the south fork of the Platte, he fol- 

 lowed the Arkansas to the border of Missouri. 



Unfortunately he was not able to utilize his opportunities for 

 scientific purposes, as he was without instruments or facilities 

 of any kind, so that his hazardous journey proved little more 

 than a pleasant i^ecreation. 



Upon his return to St. Louis in 1S40, Dr. Wislizenus resumed 

 the practice of medicine and soon became identified with the 

 varied interests of the rapidly developing city. A Democrat in 

 politics, he took an active part in all that pertained to local af- 

 fairs, and especially such as concerned the German population. 



* He wrote constantly for the German papers of New York from the standpoint of the 

 American citizen, urging^ his coimtrymen to identify themselves more thoroughly with the 

 home of their adoption, and throw aside all clanish feeling. But amid his new surround- 

 ings he had not forgotten his old home, and with poetical fire he gave vent to his contempt 

 for the petty tyrants of the old world. A number of these verses were publiished during 

 the period of his New York residence, and others appeared now and then at intervals in 

 later years. They are extremely interesting as indicative of the times and not without po- 

 etical merit. 



V— 3-9 



