Customer Reviews

The Prairie Traveler: The 1859 Handbook for Westbound Pioneers (Dover Value Editions)

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This book is a great bit of insight. Written in 1859 by a U.S. Army Captain, it was the first real guide for those taking wagon trains across the West. It has all of the how-to's from finding water to routes. There is a glimpse into the past that is truly enlightening. So much of what we read about those times are written later and, essentially updated to include facts as we know them now. Captain Marcy gives facts as they knew them then.

It is intriguing to read about how to avoid disease by camping in open spots and away from trees (they had no idea about germs). Read about how to make furniture and mend a wagon wheel. In the chapter on encountering Natives you realize how scary this is for the prairie traveler, you also realize this is written by someone who has shot other men.

I was captivated by the entire book. I have read many books on wilderness survival and spend a lot of time in the backcountry and camping. This is a view I had never really considered. This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand the pioneers better or wants to appreciate how far our technology has come for wilderness travel (praise God for Goretex and mosquito repellant).

I'm not a history buff, particularly. I came across this book while I was on vacation this year. After leaving Yellowstone National Park, we stopped by the monument at Little Big Horn. I saw this book at the gift shop there and didn't buy it, then naturally had non-buyer's remorse immediately afterward :) So I got it on Amazon.

This is a copy of an actual handbook that people traveling across the US in wagon trains in the 1800s carried. It's got advice about what trails to take and why. And the why was actually surprisingly interesting. Some regions were grasslands and might seem appealing, but the grasses there weren't very nutritious for the horses, so you wanted to take this other route, because it was populated further along, and you could buy grains. And other questions like, "What happens if my wagon gets a flat?" That's a bigger scare than you'd think, until you really think about it. They're not easy to come by in the middle of nowhere, so there's a lot of very interesting advice to do about troubleshooting your wheels--how to watch for early problems, which temporary fixes to apply for which bad signs, and what you might regret about a given choice later. I don't know why I found that so interesting, but I did.

I think one of the coolest parts of the book had to do with medicine. What to do if you're injured or you get sick or if you get bitten by a rattlesnake. That's worth the price of admission right there. Fascinating what these people did (or had to do). Almost all of it is horrifying and wrongheaded to a modern doctor. But a few of the things, I'm going to have to ponder why they thought they saw the results they thought they got. Rattlesnake bites: many of the remedies included drinking strong alcohol. They stressed that just a little bit doesn't work. You have to get wasted, and they thought that for some reason the presence of venom made it so you had to drink a lot more to get the same effect (though it's true that when people are in great pain, mildly sedating medicines don't sedate as much... that's just common sense).

There weren't enough car chases, naturally. And the space aliens thing, that just seemed tacked-on :) but for anyone curious about what those people had to face, this is very interesting reading.

(Full disclosure: I hereby admit to having skipped around. I didn't read the whole thing. Sorry. *sighs*)

(And for the humor impaired: if you buy this book because you thought I was being serious about the aliens, I'm gonna laugh at you when you come back and complain to me... and so will the other millions upon millions of people who come here, read my review, and buy this book on my own say-so)

I bought The Prairie Traveler to use as research for a novel I'm currently writing. It proved to be a terrific resource, and is so interesting that I read it for pleasure while I took notes. I'm so grateful to publishers who bring these old treasures out of mothballs for today's readers.

This is a must have for early American history enthusiasts, and an excellent reference tool for anyone wanting to inject factual information about pioneering into their written work. I'm so happy I came across this priceless piece of history. It's very easy to follow, and I should think that if anyone were actually contemplating their own re-enactment of a wagon trip across county, this handbook could be put to the test today and pass with flying colors :D

A fascinating and enjoyable read.

My husband makes fun of my book collections, but when he - avowed book-hater - got his hands on this book I have had to wait for him to finish before I get MY turn. He is astounded by the intelligence and knowledge the people had/used in those days. This is a treasure - and that's from my husband the hate-to-read-books guy.