en ee age Cee ee ee ey Ny an age MSE Ce DE! Pe eRe eee eee ee ee ee 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY » ot 
vard Botanical Garden and later on an instructor there. Rafinesque pub- 
lished his ideas in Silliman’s Journal for years, til] he wore out his wel- 
come and began to publish himself the American Monthly Magazine 
and Neogemyton, etc., where he had no one to restrain him. 
John Torrey, twelve years younger than Nuttall and a genial gen- 
tleman who had no enemies and many friends, was made professor of 
botany and chemistry at West Point and soon became the semi-official 
government botanist. After Lewis and Clark’s Expedition to the North- 
west, he took up the work of naming the collections ot government ex- 
peditions. 
Nuttall, who had named specimens collected by Wyeth, was eager 
to get into the great West, especially after meeting Wyeth and hearing 
him tell of his explorations. In 1833 he applied to the directors of the 
Harvard gardens for leave of absence to go on a trip with Wyeth, but 
was refused. This attempt to dictate to him so aroused his anger, that 
he promptly resigned and arranged with Townsend, a geologist, to go 
with Wyeth and explore. They outfitted at Independence, Mo. or 
Leavenworth, Kan., nearby, and started out afoot, carrying their packs 
on their backs. 
Just what was Nuttall’s equipment on that trip is unknown, but it 
must have been poor; for all of his specimens seen by me were mere 
snips such as a school-girl would take on a ride into the country and pre- 
served in the same way, by being put into a book and left to blacken. 
After meeting Wyeth’s party at Boneville, no doubt he was allowed to 
carry his luggage in the mess wagon, but his space was surely limited. 
The trip began April 28, 1834, too early, Nuttall complained, for 
botanizing along the way until they got about to Independence Rock in 
ington to the divide leading down to what is now Baker City, where 
there were fine mea 
meadows to what is now 
range to avoid the box canyon leading down the river to what is now Um- 
atilla. Here they reached the 
it to Walla Walla, their destination. There the party broke up and Nut- 
