Miss Wilder's journal of her trip from South Dakota to Missouri in the year 1894 will intrigue the student of early Americana primarily because of its colorful authenticity. This is a true record, appended and foreworded by Rose Wilder Lane who remembers the journey from the perceptive vantage point of childhood. It tells in matter-of-fact style of the towns the family passed in their covered wagon, of the weather, land and crop conditions, of the people they befriended en route. Without the veil of fiction screening each episode, this reflects what life on the later pioneer trail was like and how the people fared along the way. Rose Wilder Lane adds the essential note of excitement and suspense to the story as she recalls the trip and the family's ultimate adjustment to Missouri life. Well worth reading.
