David Coyner was born in Virginia in 1807 and was not only an able preacher, and lecturer but was also a successful author and historian. During the four years from 1842 to 1847, which he spent on the frontier between New Mexico and high up on the Missouri river, he gathered material for a book many editions of which have been published and sold. A great many of the facts contained in this historical collection he got from men who had been with Lewis and Clark across the Rocky Mountains in 1805-6-7.

This book on early western North American exploration is cited in numerous history books as a primary source of authority for this little documented period of history.