Description
The German prince and his party arrived in Boston on July 4, 1832. He intended to explore “the natural face of North The usa,” observing and recording firsthand the flora, fauna, and especially the Native peoples of the interior. Accompanying him was once the young Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, who would document the journey with sketches and watercolors. Together, the group traveled around the eastern United States and up the Missouri River into present-day Montana, spending the winter of 1833–34 at Fort Clark, crucial fur-trading post near the Mandan and Hidatsa villages in what is now North Dakota. The expedition returned downriver to St. Louis the following spring, having spent more than a year within the Upper Missouri frontier wilderness.
The two explorers experienced the American frontier just before its transformation by settlers, miners, and industry. Featuring nearly fifty color and black-and-white illustrations—including several of Karl Bodmer’s best landscapes and portraits—this succinct record of their expedition invites new audiences to experience an enthralling journey around the early American West.