The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike. With Letters and Related Documents

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. First Editions. 2 volume set. 464, 449pp. Octavos [24 cm] Gray cloth with black labels on the backstrips. Fine. Housed in the near fine publisher's slipcase. Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813) was a soldier who is best known as an early explorer of the Louisiana Territory. In the late summer of 1805, General James Wilkinson, the governor of the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, sent Pike on the first of two expeditions; a mission to find the source of the Mississippi River. Although Pike did not find the source of the river, he did hold significant talks with various tribes in the regions he passed through. Along with Lewis and Clark’s famous journey to the Pacific in 1804–6, Pike’s was one of many Jeffersonian-era expeditions of discovery that made the new territory known to Americans. (Inventory #: 10060)