Flagg's The Far West, 1836-1837, part 1

About this book

Edmund Flagg’s The Far West (1838) is a travelogue that records a young journalist’s 1836‑37 journey through the Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi River Valley. The book opens with a detailed itinerary: after boarding a steamboat in Louisville, Flagg drifts up the Mississippi to Peoria, then rides horseback across the Illinois prairies, visiting a string of frontier towns before looping back to St. Louis via the old French settlements of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia. The narrative is built from the “Sketches of a Traveller” he sent to the Louisville Journal, and the first thirty‑two chapters, constituting all of Volume I and part of Volume II, present vivid descriptions of rivers, steamboat traffic, prairie scenery and early settlements, interspersed with observations of local customs, political meetings and encounters with French‑descended residents.

Flagg writes in a genteel, early‑American prose style that reflects his classical education and journalistic background. Though occasionally self‑conscious, his voice combines factual reporting with a youthful curiosity, offering both geographic detail and personal reflection. Readers who enjoy nineteenth‑century regional histories, early travel literature, or studies of frontier life, particularly those interested in the development of the Midwest and the cultural legacy of French settlements, will find this work a rewarding window into a rapidly changing landscape.