The Pathfinders from River to Ocean: the Story of the Great West from the Time of Coronado to the Present , by Grace Raymond Hebard , Ph. D. (Chicago. Lakeside Press, 1911. Pp. viii, 263).

This little book is a praiseworthy attempt to provide a help for the elementary teaching of the history of the New Northwest. It contains nine chapters, on: the early explorers, the fur traders, the great trails, the missions, Frémont's explorations, the gold discoveries, the soldier and the settler, cows and cowboys, and the railroads. On the whole, the chapters are well and interestingly written for the purpose, and with a fair degree of accuracy of statement.

The principal shortcomings of the book are on the side of omission rather than of commission. It is written from the standpoint of the Northwest, and by no means covers the ground indicated by its title, which embraces the whole of the Trans-Mississippi West. The point of view is nicely illustrated by the fact that the chapter on missions is placed after that on the Oregon and California trails, and is devoted almost entirely to nineteenth century missionary work. This narrow view of the West is shown by the fact that the list of western explorers omits the names of De León, St. Denis, La Harpe, Kino, Anza, Font, Garcés, Escalante, De Mézières, and Vial. Similarly, in the history of the fur trade, no mention is made of Natchitoches, second only in importance to St. Louis, nor of the century long work of the French and Spanish fur traders west of the Mississippi. In the account of Catholic missions in the Southwest no mention is made of the French missionaries in Louisiana and Arkansas; of the Spanish Franciscans in Texas, where they labored for a century and a quarter; or of the Spanish Jesuits in Arizona. In the list of great western trails, the San Antonio trail, reaching from Natchez to Durango, and in use for more than a century, finds no mention. The history of “soldier and settler” fails to touch the settlement of Texas or of the western half of the Mississippi valley, except on its outer edge.

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it covers only about one-third of the field which it defines, the book is distinctly worth while as an aid to elementary teaching; and the partial view of Western History presented by this author may serve as a helpful suggestion to others whose standpoints are different but equally local. In view of the growing interest in the history of the West, many similar books are bound to be written; and the outcome will be, at no distant day, a revision of the text-books and a very considerable shifting of emphasis in the teaching of United States history in the schools.

Herbert E. Bolton .

How to cite:
Bolton, Herbert E., "The Pathfinders from River to Ocean: the Story of the Great West from the Time of Coronado to the Present", Volume 016, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 431 - 432. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v016/n4/review_28.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 3:46:23 CST 2008]