The Topeka state journal., 1902-11-15

CONQUEST.
Iished BY A. c. MeClurg & Co. Chicago
Price Sl,50
Several months ago a lady from Ore
gon came to Topeka and spent some
time in the rooms of the Kansas state
Historical society. She rurnmageu
around among the books and manu-
scripts looking for matter pertaining 10
the Lewis and Clark expedition up the
Missouri river and across me Illoun- e,lil
tains to the mouth OF the ColuiiiDld
She was specially interested in anything
that gave any information concerning Z
the two leaders of the expedition anu
their personal history. -. -.
She came during May ana spent d
week or more doing nothing but huhl-
ing. in the Kansas historical coliectloh.
She found the manuscript recoIos AePt @
by Cant. Clark while he was stdlloheu
at ST Louis as superintendent OF tht
western Indian department, and among
these records We're many little ahnola-
tions which told considerable of the per-
eonal history Of one of the two men WHo
were the pioneers in the opening OF the
a west.
; The lady was Mrs. Eva Emery Dye,
an Oregon author The material Wnlcn
she gathered in Topeka was part OF a
large amount of historical matter whlca
she has woven into a romance OF the
west under the title The Conquest
and which was published this week by
A.-C. McClurg & Co. of Chicago.
Very little has ever been written aDout
these two pioneers who blazed tne way
for civilization west of the MISSISSIPPI
Hardly anything was known by the pup-
tic of the history of Meriwether Lewis.
and the best anecdotes OF capt, Elarh
have been preserved in the tribal LEGENDS
of the ShOshOneS and Otner lndlanS OF
the northwest. For several years Mrs,
Dye has heard these anecdotes from the
Indians in her Oregon home. Two or
three years ago she determined 10 write
a romance dealing with the Lewis ana
Clark expedition. and she set about Sc
curing material for it. She made +our
trins across the continent in quest OF
facts, finding some in the Wisconsin
Historical .society's collection, more IN
Topeka. and a considerable quantity in
the possession of the descendants OF
Lewis and Clark
''The Conquest" is divided into three
parts The first deals with the settle
ment of Kentucky by pioneers from Nir-
ginia who pushed through Cumberland
Gan and how George William Clark
drove out the British during the revolu-
tion and saved the country west of the
Alleghanies to the American colonies.
Then comes the story of the Louisiana
purchase and the narrative of the expe-
dition sent out by President Jefferson in
charge Of Lewis and Clark to find out
what was IN the great country which
had been purchased from France, which
lay toward the setting sun. The closing
period deals with the years after the ex
pediton when Clark was in charge of
the Indian affairs in the west-the Pc
riod when civilization was struggling
TO subdue the Mississippi valley and was
just venturing on to the great prairies to
the west.
The Conquest" unlike many histor-
ical novels. is strictly historical. In fact,
Il adheres so closely to fact, and there
Is so little of fiction or imagination in It,
that it is more of a history than fiction
Every character in it was once a re-
ality and nearly every quotation is
gathered from records and documents
1t Is written in short. crisp sentences
and there is an immense amount of mat
ter in it. It IS totally unlike the great
mass of historical romances. and there
is great amount of valuable inform
alton about the early history of the west
contained in it