Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 21).djvu/119

 Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company was formed in 1834, by several individuals in New York and Boston. Capt., having an interest in the enterprise, collected a party of men to cross the continent to the Pacific, with the purpose chiefly of establishing trading posts beyond the Rocky Mountains and on the coast.

The idea of making one of Capt. Wyeth's party was suggested to the author by the eminent botanist, Mr., who had himself determined to join the expedition across the North American wilderness. Being fond of Natural History, particularly the science of Ornithology, the temptation to visit a country hitherto unexplored by naturalists was irresistible and the following pages, originally penned for the family-circle, and without the slightest thought of publication, will furnish some account of his travels.