Bonneville Dam—Bonneville Salt Flats—Lake Bonneville—all are named for this famous soldier-explorer who served in the United States Army as trail blazer and cartographer for fifty years.

Born into the post-Revolution chaos of France, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was named for his father's American friend, Benjamin Franklin. Another understanding friend was Thomas Paine who not only stirred in the heart of young Benjamin a desire for freedom for all men and a love for America, but he also helped the de Bonnevilles to come to America. The boy's long talks with Thomas Paine strengthened his determination to become an explorer and serve America.

After graduation from West Point, Lieutenant Bonneville was assigned to posts farther and farther west. But it wasn't until he was stationed at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, that he finally won permission to lead an expedition to the Oregon Country.

At the end of nearly two years, Captain Bonneville was heartened by what he and his men had accomplished—they had taken the first wagons over the Rockies, built a useful fort in the heart of the West, explored the Crow country and the Great Snake Plain, crossed the Wallowa Mountains in the dead of winter, found a short route to California.

He sent regular reports to Washington on his progress, and was shocked on his return to civilization to find they had all miscarried and he was no longer an officer in the United States Army. Eventually through the efforts of President Andrew Jackson, his name was cleared and his achievements fully recognized.

In this brave story of a courageous, daring, kind and gentle man, young people will find names that light the pages of American history—the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Paine, Robert Fulton, Andrew Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Washington Irving. And Benjamin Bonneville was no less than these.

From the dust jacket