Oregon and Eldorado

In Short

Thomas Bulfinch presents a paired historical chronicle of transcontinental exploration, matching the North American passage along the Missouri and Columbia rivers with the South American journey down the Amazon. Drawing directly from primary logs, naturalists' accounts, and historical records, the text traces the expedition of Lewis and Clark alongside Spanish conquistadors and Victorian naturalists. The book survives as an accessible 19th-century compilation, bridging mythic tradition and modern geography by organizing real-world travel into an epic narrative of human endurance, native encounters, and natural discovery across two hemispheres.

The Story

The volume opens with a geographic premise: North and South America each possess a vast river network allowing nearly continuous water transport across their landmasses. The first half traces the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they lead thirty-two people up the Missouri River. Striking out from their winter quarters, the party maneuvers heavy canoes against fierce currents, records new flora and fauna, and encounters native nations including the Sioux and Mandan. They document volcanic bluffs, sulphur springs, and vast herds of buffalo hunted over breaking ice. As they push further west, they celebrate Independence Day near the Great Falls while hearing mysterious, cannon-like thunder issuing from the Black Mountains. Reaching the river’s headwaters, Capt. Lewis secures vital pack horses from local tribes by introducing them to York and displaying Sacagawea. Navigating treacherous mountain passes and dense forests, they contend with early snows that force temporary retreats before descending the clear Kooskooskee and Lewis’s Rivers. Floating past sacred indigenous burial sites like Coffin Rock, they finally reach the Pacific coast, enduring weeks of continuous rain, rotting clothes, and violent gales before building winter shelter and documenting the giant fir trees of the Northwest.

The second half shifts to South America, beginning with early Spanish searches for El Dorado. Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition founders in the jungle, prompting Francisco de Orellana to take fifty men downriver for supplies. Taking advantage of the swift current, Orellana deserts the main force to seek personal glory, riding the Amazon all the way to the Atlantic. Later, Sir Walter Raleigh launches English expeditions to Roanoke and Guiana, driven by dreams of golden cities and royal favor, though his final 1617 enterprise collapses in disease and fatal skirmishes with Spanish outposts. The narrative then shifts to remarkable survival tales, detailing Madame Godin's tragic ordeal after a river raft breaks apart, forcing her party into an unforgiving wilderness without tools or weapons. The focus moves to 19th-century scientific exploration, following Lieutenant Herndon's canoe voyage down Peruvian tributaries assisted by local peons, and Henry Walter Bates's years spent near Pará. Bates catalogs huge crab-spiders, swarming vampire bats, and diverse indigenous habits, concluding with a bittersweet farewell to the tropical forest as modern commerce rapidly alters the region.

How It Unfolds

The Northern Ascent The party sets off in canoes along the Missouri, documenting burning bluffs and purgative mineral springs. They establish winter quarters and observe native hunting techniques over thawing river ice.

Over the Great Divide Navigating past the Great Falls, the travelers encounter strange subterranean booms and prickly-pear plains. After a aborted attempt to cross deep mountain snows forces a three-day retreat, they secure horses and descend toward the Pacific, finally hearing the distant ocean breakers.

Desertion on the Amazon Centuries earlier, Orellana launches a scouting bark down an Amazon tributary to find food for Pizarro's starving army. Caught by the swift current, his crew decides to abandon their stranded comrades and ride the great river to the sea in search of legend.

Raleigh’s Fateful Quest Sir Walter Raleigh champions English settlement in Virginia before launching expeditions to locate the golden city of Manoa. His final campaign suffers heavy casualties from fever, ending in a disastrous attack on the Spanish town of St. Thomas.

Wilderness Survival and Science Madame Godin’s party loses all provisions when their makeshift raft strikes a sunken log, forcing them to wander lost through dense thorn forests. Decades later, naturalists like Bates explore Pará, recording native insect species and observing how early steamship lines begin transforming local economies.

The People

• Meriwether Lewis and William Clark: Co-commanders of the North American expedition. Driven by scientific curiosity and national duty, they navigate uncharted rivers, manage complex diplomacy with indigenous tribes, and guide their team through starvation and mountain snows to reach the Pacific.
• Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana: Spanish conquistadors searching for riches. Pizarro struggles to maintain order in the jungle, while Orellana seizes an opportunity for personal glory, abandoning Pizarro's main force to become the first European to navigate the Amazon's length.
• Sir Walter Raleigh: English courtier and explorer obsessed with finding El Dorado. Seeking to regain royal favor and rival Spanish influence, he pours his fortune into failed colonial ventures, ultimately meeting tragedy on the Orinoco.
• Madame Godin: A courageous traveler stranded along an Amazon tributary. After her raft shatters on a log, she endures severe physical trauma, lost in an impenetrable forest infested with venomous snakes.
• Henry Walter Bates: A dedicated 19th-century English naturalist. He spends years residing around Pará, collecting exotic insect specimens, enduring bat infestations, and documenting the vanishing virgin wilderness.

In Its Own Voice

"This cheering view exhilarated the spirits of all the party, who listened with delight to the distant roar of the breakers."

— The journal records the overwhelming relief of Lewis and Clark's crew upon reaching the Pacific Ocean after months of arduous travel.

"In no long time, it struck against a sunken log, and broke to pieces. The people and their baggage were cast into the river."

— The narrative describes the disastrous moment Madame Godin's frail wooden raft breaks apart in the wild Amazonian stream.

"I took a last view of the glorious forest for which I had so much love, and to explore which I had devoted so many years."

— Naturalist Henry Walter Bates bids a poignant farewell to the tropical wilderness of South America before sailing home.

What It's Really About

Bulfinch uses parallel geographic tracks to explore humanity's impulse to cross uncharted frontiers. By contrasting 16th-century conquest with 19th-century scientific survey, the book examines how motives shape exploration—where Spanish and English gold-seekers brought ruin upon themselves, systematic observers like Lewis, Clark, and Bates expanded human knowledge. The text highlights how immense river systems act as natural highways, shaping indigenous culture, imperial ambition, and national expansion. Beneath the adventure tales lies a quiet reflection on transience: as trade routes open and forests yield to steamboats, the untouched wilderness giving birth to these romantic legends steadily disappears.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to history enthusiasts, travel lovers, and readers fascinated by the age of discovery. Bulfinch writes with an elegant, accessible clarity that renders primary journals and historic accounts into a seamless narrative. Reading it feels like sitting down with a knowledgeable 19th-century curator who has gathered the most dramatic wilderness logs into a single sweeping volume.

The book does reflect its era's perspectives, employing dated terminology when describing indigenous populations and native customs. Additionally, the shift between North and South American chronicle styles creates an episodic pace rather than a single continuous plot line. Yet what remains with the reader is a deep reverence for the sheer scale of the American continents, the grueling reality of early travel, and the enduring wonder of exploring the world's greatest rivers.