| CHAPTER I | PAGE |
| Extent of the Wilderness—The First White Man—The Backbone of theContinent—A Vanished Sea and a Petrified Ocean—The Biggest Trees—TheSpike of Gold | [1] |
| CHAPTER II |
| The Intelligent Beaver, Chief of the Rodents—A Four-footed Engineer—ABuilder of Houses, Artificial Canals, Dams, Ponds, and Lakes—BeaverMeadows—A Masterful Woodchopper—A Tail for the Epicure—Muskbogs—The Fatal Trap | [13] |
| CHAPTER III |
| A Monarch of the Plains—The Hunchback Cows of Cibola—A Boon to theFrontiersman—Wide Range of the Bison—Marrow Bones for the Epicure—WashingtonIrving a Buffalo Hunter—The Rushing Run of theBison Herd—The Sacred White Buffalo Cow Skin—A Calf with a BullHead—Wolves and White Bears | [32] |
| CHAPTER IV |
| The People of the Wilderness—Men without Rights—Killing by Alcohol—Changein the Character of the Native—Growth of the War Spirit—Classificationby Language—Dwellers in Tents and Builders of Houses—Farmersand Hunters—Irrigation Works—The Coming of the Horse | [54] |
| CHAPTER V |
| Three Conditions of Wilderness Life—Farming in the Driest Country—TheCache—The Clan, the Unit of the Tribe—Hospitality—Totems andTotem Marks—Dress—An Aboriginal Geographer—The Winter Life—TheWar-path, the Scalp-lock, and the Scalp-dance—Mourning the LostBraves—Drifting | [75] |
| CHAPTER VI |
| Lost in the Wilderness—Cabeza de Vaca, Great Medicine Man—The WildernessTraversed—Spanish Slave Hunters—The Northern Mystery—TheMonk and the Negro—The Great Coronado Expedition—The Settlementof New Mexico and the Pueblo Rebellion—California Missions—Escalanteto Salt Lake Valley | [103] |
| CHAPTER VII |
| Soto and the Mississippi—The Gate to the Wilderness—The Voyageur—Champlainto Mackinaw—Pandemonium of Wars—Down the Mississippito Soto's Grave—Louisiana—La Salle and his Death—Coureursde Bois—First Sight of the Northern Rockies—Where Rolls the Oregon—TheAmerican Revolution | [126] |
| CHAPTER VIII |
| The United States Borders the Wilderness—American Ships to the PacificCoast—The North-West Company—Mackenzie Spans the Continent—Mearesand Vancouver Baffled by Breakers—Captain Robert Gray,Victor—The Columbia at Last—The Louisiana Purchase a Pig in aPoke, and a Boundless Wilderness—Claims All Round to the Centre—ThePerfidious Napoleon—The Spanish Sentinel Steps Back | [144] |
| CHAPTER IX |
| Jefferson's Hobby—Two Noblemen—An Indefinite Transaction—Expeditionto the Wilderness—Fort Mandan—The Roche Jaune and the FirstView of the Great Range—The Long-lost Sister—Depths of the Unknown—Starvationon the Trail—Music of the Breakers—Fort Clatsop—TheReturn—Medicine Men Again—Two Natives Shot—PrematureDeath of the Captain | [156] |
| CHAPTER X |
| The Metropolis of the Far Wilderness—James Pursley Arrives—Pike up theMississippi and across the Plains—A Spanish War Party—A Breastworkto Mark the Site of Pueblo—Polar Weather and No Clothing—PikeSees the Grand Peak—San Luis Valley—The Americans Capturedby Diplomacy—Pursley Finds Gold—Malgares, the Gentleman—ThePike Party Sent Home | [175] |
| CHAPTER XI |
| A Race for Life—Colter Wins—The Missouri Fur Company—The AmericanFur Company—The Pacific Fur Company—A Great Project Foredoomed—Disasterat the Columbia Bar—The Destruction of theTonquin—Hunt Starts for the Columbia Overland—The VoyageursBaulked—The Caldron Linn—Dog Steak at a Premium—Misery andDanger—Success at Last | [ 193] |
| CHAPTER XII |
| Eastward from Astoria—The War of 1812 on a Business Basis in Oregon—AstoriaBecomes Fort George—The Pacific Fur Company Expires—LouisianaDelimited at Last—The Expedition of Major Long—ASteamboat on the Missouri—The First Man on Pike's Peak—TheElusive Red River Refuses to be Explored—Closing on the Inner Wilderness—TheSpanish Sentinel Turns Mexican | [215] |
| CHAPTER XIII |
| The Wilderness Breaker—Lisa Closes his Account—General Ashley Takes aHand—The Religious Jedediah—Green River Valley—What a WhiteBear could Do—Ashley Navigates Red Canyon of Green River—Discoveryof Salt Lake—Ashley Retires Rich—The Rocky Mountain FurCompany—Sylvester and James O. Pattie—Pattie's Journey in theValley of the Colorado—The Great Circuit of Jedediah Smith | [229] |
| CHAPTER XIV |
| A Brood of Wilderness Breakers—Kit Carson the Dauntless—Campbell,1827, Santa Fé to San Diego—Becknell and the Santa Fé Trail—WheelTracks in the Wilderness—The Knight in Buckskin Dies—Pegleg Smiththe Horse Trader—The Apache Turns Forever against the American—NewMexico the Dreamland—Wolfskill Breaks a Trail to the Pacific—Bonneville,Captain Courteous; and Wyeth, Leader Hopeful—BonnevilleForgets a Duty | [253] |
| CHAPTER XV |
| Bonneville Dropped from the Army—Indian Shooters—The Mythical RioBuenaventura—Bonneville Twice to the Columbia—Wyeth Again—TheOregon Trail—The Big Thunder Canoe—A Wilderness Whiskey Still—Missionariesto Oregon—The North-West Boundary Settlement—Declineof the Beaver—Through the Canyon of Lodore on the Ice—Frémont,the Scientific Pathfinder—The Spanish Sentinel Turned tothe Wall—Fortune's Blindfold | [276] |
| CHAPTER XVI |
| Free Distribution of Frémont's Reports—Latter Day Saints—Murder of aProphet—Brigham Young Guides Saints to the Wilderness—The Stateof Deseret—California the Golden—Massacre at Mountain Meadows—OldJacob, the Mormon Leatherstocking—Steam on the Lower Colorado—OldJacob Finds the Crossing of the Fathers—Circumtouring theGrand Canyon—Solitudes of the Colorado—Last of the WildernessProblems—Powell Solves it by Masterful Courage—The Iron Trail—TheEnd and the Beginning | [303] |
| Index | [339] |
