First venturing toward the West in 1818 following service in the War of 1812, Clyman explored the frontier with Ashley, Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith & Fremont, served with Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War, guided emigrant trains & lived an eventful life before retiring to a Napa ranch in 1850. Howes calls the work "One of the most trustworthy narratives of the far west, for the period 1842-6; the only Oregon overland journal of 1844." Cowan p.132; Graff 769; Howes C81; Zamorano 80 #19.