This 1821 work by English botanist Thomas Nuttall is the complete journal of his exploration of much of the territory acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. Filled with detailed descriptions of the plants, animals, and geology of the regions, as well as observations of the Native American tribes living therein, this work is a valuable source of information about the land and people in these areas, as well as the impact of white settlement on the regions of Arkansas and what is now Oklahoma.

Thomas Nuttall was a self-educated botanist who came to the United States from Liverpool in 1808. This 1821 work is the only surviving complete journal of one of his many American scientific explorations. Covering his travels in Arkansas and what is now Oklahoma from October, 1818-February, 1820, the Journal follows Nuttall's route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, down the Ohio River to its mouth, then down the Mississippi River to the Arkansas Post, and up the Arkansas River with a side trip to the Red River. Filled with valuable details on the plants, animals, and geology of the region, as well as penetrating observations of the resident native tribes, the military establishment at Fort Smith, the arrival of the first governor of Arkansas Territory, and the beginnings of white settlement, this is a valuable source of information regarding the land and people in the areas of the Louisiana Purchase.

A journey from Philadelphia, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the Arkansas, continuing across Arkansas to the interior of the modern Oklahoma, returning via the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers, and then to New Orleans.

A retelling of Thomas Nuttall's near-death expedition up the Arkansas River in the early years of the nineteenth century