August 29, 1837
I begin this journal seated in my room at the Chalmers House in the river village of St. Louis. Tomorrow I shall leave behind the quaint attractions and lively bustle of this Mississippi gateway to the vast Louisiana Territories and head up the Missouri into the unknown reaches of its tributaries. I do not know what I shall find in the wilds of the western frontier, but it will surely be more satisfying and more edifying than the treacherous shoals of civilization which I leave behind me. Hopefully I shall find the peace, solitude, and discipline necessary to force my wayward soul into its rightful channels.