In 1839 a journalist for the New Orleans Picayune, Matthew C. Field, joined a company of merchants and tourists headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. Leaving Independence, Missouri, early in July "with a few wagons and a carefree spirit," field recorded his vivid impressions of travel westward on the Santa Fe Trail and, on the return trip, eastward along the Cimmaron Route. Written inverters in his journal and in 85 articles later published in the Picayune, fields observations offer the modern reader a unique glimpse of life in the settlements of Mexico and on the Santa Fe Trail. The prose sketches give many entertaining, informative, and original glimpses of the Southwest and the behavior of Americans before the Mexican War. - Back cover.