Early Western Travels, 1748-1846

Cuming's tour serves as a record of a country in its infancy. His journeys include a pedestrian tour from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in January, 1807, and continue in July by boat down the Ohio to Kentucky, then by foot, stage and saddle to West Virginia and back to Pittsburgh. In 1808 he embarked for the Mississippi Territory penetrating the Spanish Territory of West Florida as far as Baton Rouge. The last chapter continues the journey to New Orleans using the journal of a "gentleman of accurate observation, a passenger in a New Orleans boat." Cuming's "attitude was sympathetic towards the new and raw regions through which he traveled; nevertheless this fact does not appear to have unduly affected his purpose of giving an accurate picture of what he saw." He "portrays the possibilities of the new land, its remarkable growth, its opportunities for development, and the vigor and enterprise of its inhabitants." "In plain, dispassionate style, he has given us a picture of American life in the West, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that for clear-cut outlines and fidelity of presentation has the effect of a series of photographic representations."