PRE EAC E. 



The following work was written immediately after 

 the author had returned from the perilous and event- 

 ful expedition which is here narrated. The intense 

 interest which every citizen of the Union feels in 

 relation to that vast region of our country lying 

 between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, will, 

 it is believed, render the publication of a volume 

 like this of more than usual importance at the present 

 time. The lofty cliifs of the Rocky Mountains are 

 soon to echo to the tread of advancing civilization, as 

 symbolized in the Pacific railway, which will, in a few 

 years, speed the iron horse and his living freight 

 from Boston to San Francisco, forming a bond of 

 social and commercial intercourse across the con- 

 tinent. 



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