The exploration of the Missouri River country by the immediate predecessors of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark is documented in Volume II of this monumental work. It continues the historical record begun in the first volume, bringing together letters, journals, and other documents dating from 1796 to 1804, the first year of the Americans' great expedition. In their journals Zenon Truteau and James Mackay describe journeys up the Missouri and encounters with Indian tribes. Before Lewis and Clark includes letters and other documents relating to topography trading, the Indian policy of the Spanish regime, the encroachments of the British, and divers matters. Translated, annotated, and arranged chronologically by A. P. Nasatir, they form an exciting and indispensable record of the westward exploration that set the stage for Lewis and Clark. James P. Ronda has introduced the Bison Book reprint of this volume, as he did the first. He discusses the history and the dreams behind the documents.