Evening star., 1937-06-17
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The manuscript journal of q royal ex-
plorer and scientist of the first half of
the 10th century, which is expected to
throw new light on the life Of the Wild
West in the days of the fur traders.
has just come to light in the vaults of
the state library at Stuttgart. Germany,
where it had lain undisturbed for more
than rs years.
This manuscript has just been exam
ined by DR.. Charles Upson Clark, acting
for the Smithsonian Institution, who
found the IS bound notebooks replete
with valuable information on aboriginal
life beyond the Mississippi during the
second quarter OF the century.
The journal is that of Prince Paul Of
Wurtemberg, who voluntarily forsook the
luxury of an European court for the
hardships OF travel In what was then
primeval wilderness and desert. He went
on his journeys at time when very
few men OF scientific training actually
were penetrating the Great West and
when accurate knowledge of the country
and It's savage inhabitants was based
largely on the reports OF the Lewis and
Clark expedition. He saw the country
with an accurately observant eye be-
penetration.
Because of the numerous sidelights
thrown on the life Of the aboriginals
manuscript Is planned by the Bureau of
American Ethnology of the Smithsonian
Institution.
Prince Paul first visited the United
States in 1928 and was granted per-
- {hA h1y Y~l,,
Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State.
In 1928 he wrote an account of this
expedition, only one copy of which ever
was printed. This now is preserved in
the Henry E. Huntington library at San
Marino, Calf, and contains hundreds
of marginal manuscript notes written in
German script by the prince himself.
In 1929 he came again and was granted
permission by John Eaton. then Secre-
tary OF War, to visit 'the Indian lodges
in the north" He penetrated as far as
the Mandan villages in what is now
North Dakota. Prince Paul kept COM
plete journal of this expedition but,
despite diligent search, the Manuscript
never has been found. Thereafter he
paid three more visits to the United
States-traveling extensively through
the West from 1889 to 1841, from 1849 to
1886 and from 1857 to 1858.
His fourth journey, which began in
1849 and to which the manuscript exam
ined by DR.. Clark relates, was especially
interesting. He went through West
Texas, across Mexico to Acapulco, thence
by steamer to San Pedro in California
and up the Pacific Coast to Suffers Fort
near Sacramento. In his journal he
records in considerable detail his life
and experiences while a guest of Sutter.
From Suffers Fort he returned to New
Orleans early in the Spring of 1851 by
way of Panama and continued on to st.
Louis. He then travelled up the Missouri
River and thence. accompanied by an
artist named Mollhausen, followed the
Platte and North Platte Rivers by way
of the Old Oregon trail into the Far
West.
The motives of this German prince
were looked upon with some suspicion
at the time. He had been trained for
a military career. There was some ques-
ton as to whether his ultimate purpose
might not be that of establishing
German colony in North America, or
of building up an extensive foreign fur
trade. Nothing in his actual conduct,
however, gave any basis for such suspi-
cion and he was accorded every courtesy
by government o@ctals. After the dfst