The perilous West : seven amazing explorers and the founding of the Oregon Trail / Larry E. Morris.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue: The timely arrival of this poor unfortunate woman -- I shall have two boats well manned and armed -- A powerful company is forming -- Dissolved by mutual consent -- We all now became blind from the reflection of the sun's rays -- Whiskey flowed like milk and honey in the land of Canaan -- About seventy able bodied men, nerved to hardship -- Families, plantations, and all vanished -- A very sad recollection -- The inscrutable ways of providence -- Epilogue: Desolation and horror stared me in the face -- Chronology.

"Although a host of adventurers stormed west in 1806 after Lewis and Clark's safe return, seven of them left unique legacies because of their monumental journeys, their lionhearted spirit in the face of hardship, and the way their paths intertwined time and again. The Perilous West tells this riveting story in depth for the first time, focusing on each of the seven explorers in turn--Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, John Hoback, Jacob Reznor, Edward Robinson, Pierre Dorion, and Marie Dorion."--Publisher description.