They had come from the East in 1846, young adventurers wanting to see the West, to sample the frontier and maybe write a book about what they saw. It wasn’t uncommon in those days for easterners, especially authors, to come West and write about their experiences. Those in the East were hungry for material capturing the sweep of the West, the idiosyncracies of those who lived in it and the dangers of those who would venture out. Such was the case with the two young men, one of whom would write one of the most famous books ever penned about the American West.
