New Tracks in North America. A Journal of Travel and Adventure Whilst Engaged in the Survey for a Southern Railroad to the Pacific Ocean During 1867-8. In Two Volumes

Bell, a British physician, travelled to St. Louis in 1867 to study homeopathy. There he joined Palmer's Kansas Pacific Railway expedition of 1868-69 in the capacity of physician and photographer. The expedition sought the best route to extend the railway across Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California to the Pacific coast. Bell's description of his experiences is noted for its scholarship as well as its readability. Vol. II includes a lengthy section on "The Native Races of New Mexico" in which he attempts to trace the northern migraton of the Aztecs away from Spanish cruelty. The large folding frontispiece map in vol. II shows all of the west beyond the 100th meridian and south of the 42nd parallel. The map is unusual for its time in that it applies different colours to various elevations.