Gain Access To The Natural History Of The Long Expedition To The Rocky Mountains (1819-1820) Authored By Howard E. Evans Disseminated As Pamphlet

out a little slow, but the last half was quite interesting, Oh, to imagine what it must have been like to experience the rockies and Colorado before the white man changed the landscape with farming, ranching, mining, and the development of cities.

This book speaks to the naturalist, detailing plants and animals as they were first discovered and named, some species that are no longer in existence.
"How is that Is it textbooky" my husband asked as he saw me settling into a book we've had on the shelf for at least a decade.
The marvelous answer is, Not at all, It's an adventure story, as interesting as Lewis and Clark's travels and part of the same general commission, to explore the vast new lands gained through the Louisiana Purchase and in some ways more interesting, partly because it covers territory I know well, and partly because it's so relatively unknown.
Howard Ensign Evans draws on the many published and unpublished notes and journals of the expedition to chronicle their journey from Pittsburgh to the Front Range of Colorado as an entomologist, his focus perhaps overemphasizes the scientific discoveries of the party, but these are so interesting that he can be forgiven.
I was hoping for more detail on the actual insects and other animal and plant discoveries so I was disappointed.
It did touch on the trials and hardships the men faced and were still able to gather, describe, and sketch specimens.
Titian Peale's sketches and drawings are my favorite so I also was disappointed when his work was just skimmed over and Say and James were more focused on.
A little overyears agohardly a moment on the clock of historyone half of the United States was empty of all but Indians and the plants and game on which they subsisted.
Indeed, acquiring the Louisiana Territory approximately doubled the size of the United States, adding,square miles of land that had scarcely been explored or adequately mapped.
Americans would be given an indepth look this rugged and untamed land only when Secretary of War John C, Calhoun and President James Monroe agreed that a military presence at the mouth of the Yellowstone River near the boundary between North Dakota and Montana would impress the Indians and serve notice to Canadian trappers and traders that some of their favorite beaver country was now part of the United States.

In The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Howard E, Evans offers a colorful history of the expedition of Major Stephen H, Longthe first scientific exploration of the Louisiana Territory to be accompanied by trained naturalists and artists, Made up of twentytwo menmilitary personnel and "scientific gentlemen"the Long Expedition struggled on foot and horseback along the Front Range of the Rockies, living off the land, recording rivers and landforms, shooting birds, plucking plants, and catching lizards and insects to preserve for study.
They were often thirsty and hungry, sometimes ill, and always tired, But theirs was an experience awarded to only a chosen few: the opportunity to see and record firsthand the pristine lands that so majestically defined the United States.

Based primarily on the expedition

members' reports and diaries, and often told in the participants' own words, this fascinating chronicle transports readers back to the nearvirgin wilderness of.
We accompany naturalist Edwin James as he becomes the first man to climb Pike's Peak, and roam with him in his dual role as botanist, collecting a multitude of flora specimens,of which were described by him and others as new.
We sit with artist Samuel Seymour as he sketches in vivid detail the panorama of breathtaking peaks and prominent landforms, travel along with Titian Peale as he visits the homes of Native Americans and records with an artist's keen eye and gifted hand the intense beauty of this land's first inhabitants, and go exploring with zoologist Thomas Say as he describes never before seen mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.
Beautifully illustrated with crisp reproductions of Peale and Seymour's art, as well as photographs of the many plants and insects
described by James and Say, The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains offers a vivid account of this monumental expedition.

The story of the Long Expedition has been told before, but without due recognition of the party's great contributions to natural history.
Now, anyone interested in the early history of the American West can witness for themselves how this vast and varied land looked and felt when it was first seen by trained scientists and artists.

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