| Transcriber’s note: | A few typographical errors have been corrected. Theyappear in the text like this, and theexplanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the markedpassage. |
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
EXPLORERS AND
TRAVELLERS
BY
GENERAL A. W. GREELY, U.S.A.
GOLD MEDALLIST OF ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND SOCIÉTÉ DE
GÉOGRAPHIE, PARIS
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1894
Copyright, 1893, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
PREFACE
The compiler of a series of sketches of AmericanExplorers and Travellers experiences at thevery outset a serious embarrassment from thesuperabundant wealth of original material at hiscommand. The history of America for twohundred years after the voyage of Joliet hasbeen the history of courageous, persistent, andsuccessful exploration, wherein the track of theexplorer, instantly serving as a trail for the pioneer,has speedily broadened into the wagon-roadof invading immigrants.
Explorations and journeys of such an extentas in other and older lands would have excitedpraise and merited reward have been so frequentin this continent as to pass almost unnoticed.Hence the scope of this modest volumeis necessarily confined to explorations of greatimportance or peculiar interest, and when madeby men of American birth who are no longerliving.
In deference to the author’s advisers, two exceptionshave been made—Du Chaillu and Stanley,Americans by adoption—otherwise Africanexploration, so wondrously successful in thisgeneration and so fruitful in its results, wouldhave been unrepresented. Again, the unparalleledgrowth and progress of our American republicowes no small debt to the wealth of physicalvigor and strong intellectuality contributedby its sturdy emigrants. These men, Americanin idea, purpose, and action, whose manhoodoutgrew the slow evolution of freedom in theirnatal country, merit recognition. What thousandsof other naturalized citizens have industriallywrought of the wonderful and great inthis country, these selected representatives haveequalled in African exploration.
A chronological arrangement appeared bestsuited to these sketches, which from Joliet toFrémont exhibit the initiation, growth, and developmentof geographic discovery in the interiorand western portions of the United States.Since the sketches rest very largely on originalnarratives some current errors at least havebeen avoided.
Generalization and crit