William Fairholme : Journal of an Expedition to the Grand Prairies of the Missouri, 1840

An original journal of adventure in the far west is here published for the first time. Lt. William Fairholme of the British light infantry recorded a most unique and vivid account of the Far West in the year prior to the first great overland migration to the Pacific Slope in 1841.

Young Fairholme's journal (he celebrated his twenty-first birthday shortly after setting out) sweeps from the grim, as in his reporting of the prairie fire that nearly did them in, to the lighthearted, as he relates his attempts to sneak up on a prairie dog village. He is perceptive in his reporting, and adept in his writing. The combination makes a marvelous narrative of his great adventure and a valuable addition to the literature of the West for its portrayal of frontier politics and descriptions of American cities and villages in a far more bucolic age.

Mid-19th Century America is revealed through the author's insights. Lt. Fairholme was possessed of two attributes which make his journal an important history of the West: he was both observant and literate. His word-pictures of St. Louis, Westport, and the many small towns enroute to the Plains are especially engaging. Additionally, he had some skill as a sketch-artist, and the inclusion of fourteen of his sketches along the trail adds immeasurably to both the value and interest of his journal.

A sporting expedition to the plains of what is today western Kansas carried Fairholme and his fellow British officers from Montreal up the Great Lakes by boat to Chicago. They travelled thence by stagecoach, carriage, steamer down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, and thence to Westport.

The Santa Fe Trail was little travelled in 1840. There were only five overland trade caravans to Santa Fe in that year, with a total of sixty men and thirty wagons. That was the fewest number of trading parties over the trail between 1822 and 1843. The sporting party virtually had the landscape to themselves.

Indians, trails, geography, flora and fauna, details of the camp and journey, illness on the trail, american policy on indians and the joy of the hunt are all portrayed in this engaging account.

Etienne Provost was the guide for the expedition.This well-known mountain man served Fremont, Audubon, and many others. Fairholme's journal provides an intimate glimpse of this frontiersman.

Jack B. Tykal is a retired FBI agent, turned author-researcher of American History. He is the author of Etienne Provost: Man of the Mountains (Liberty, UT, 1989), and has written articles for New Mexico Historical Review and The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly. He is currently researching and writing a biography of William Henry Vanderburgh, a brigade leader for the American Fur Company.