friends, who conceived that an extract from 

 them would be acceptable to the public, 

 especially those interested, or who wish to 

 become interested, in a country so rapidly 

 increasing in population, have induced 

 him to consent to this publication. 



Information of those parts of the country 

 which lie west of the Mississippi was col- 

 lected' principally from very respectable 

 officers of the army. Several of these offi- 

 cers were so obliging as to favour the wri- 

 ter with liberty of making extracts from 

 journals which they had kept, while march- 

 ing in different parts of the country, or 

 commanding at particular posts. 



On passing with the troops from Ken- 

 tucky to New Orleans, Mr. Le Raye ap- 

 plied to the writer for a passage with him 

 in the boat under his immediate Command. 

 This gentleman, who is a native of Canada, 

 had been engaged, for several years, in 

 trading with the Indians, on the river 

 Saskashawan, northwest of the Lake of the 

 Woods; but, in the year 1801, he deter- 

 mined to turn the course of his business 

 to the river Missouri. Unfortunately, on 

 his first adventures he was taken captive 

 by a band of Sioux Indians, with whom he 



