In the popular mind the names Pierre and Paul Mallet carry little or no weight. Coronado, de Soto, Champlain, and Lewis and Clark occupy our imaginative space, crowding out adventurers like the Mallets. Even scholars have paid scant attention to the Mallets\u27 epic journey from the Missouri River to Santa Fe in 1739. Donald J. Blakeslee\u27s Along Ancient Trails sets the record straight, properly noting the Mallet role in the European exploration of the southern Great Plains. In doing so, Blakeslee not only recounts one expedition but illuminates the complex history of the entire region

Ronda, James P.

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1996 Review of Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739 By Donald J. Blakeslee James P. Ronda University of Tulsa Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Ronda, James P., "Review of Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739 By Donald J. Blakeslee" (1996). Great Plains Quarterly. 1085. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1085 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. BOOK REVIEWS Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739. By Donald J. Blakeslee. Niwot: Univer-sity Press of Colorado, 1995. Illustrations, ap-pendices, references, index. xvii + 291 pp. $39.95. In the popular mind the names Pierre and Paul Mallet carry little or no weight. Coro-nado, de Soto, Champlain, and Lewis and Clark occupy our imaginative space, crowd-ing out adventurers like the Mallets. Even scholars have paid scant attention to the Mallets' epic journey from the Missouri River to Santa Fe in 1739. Donald J. Blakeslee's Along Ancient Trails sets the record straight, properly noting the Mallet role in the Euro-pean exploration of the southern Great Plains. In doing so, Blakeslee not only recounts one expedition but illuminates the complex his-tory of the entire region. At the center of Along Ancient Trails is Blakeslee's masterful effort to locate the Mal-let travel route through the present-day states of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Unlike the superbly documented routes of explorers like Lewis and Clark or John C. Fremont, the Mallet paper trail is frustratingly thin. The original Mallet travel journal survives only in an abstract prepared for Governor J ean- Baptiste LeMoyne de Bienville. Blakeslee has fleshed out this skel-etal record by looking to a wide variety of documentary sources, including the letters of the Fabry de la Bruyere expedition (1741), the Pierre Mallet expedition of 1750, and 291 subsequent travelers' accounts of journeys through the southern Plains to Santa Fe. Blakeslee's considerable experience as a field archaeologist convinced him that documen-tary and cartographic records alone were in-sufficient to the task of route reconstruction. Exploration history demands a thorough knowledge of terrain. The ground itself is a document, an enduring witness. Some of the book's most engaging sections recount Blakeslee's own reconnaissance of the Mallet route. It is that informed reconnaissance that adds to the study's credibility and gives it an unmistakable charm. While most of Along Ancient Trails is de-voted to a search for the Mallet path, its most important conceptual contribution is hinted at in the book's title. The European explora-tion of North America was always a coopera-tive enterprise. European explorers relied on Native people for everything from food and transportation to medical advice and route in-formation. The Mallet expedition to Santa Fe was no exception. As Blakeslee ably demon-strates, the Mallets followed an Indian road to Santa Fe. Both Native people and Europeans explored that road. Along Ancient Trails is a powerful statement about the intersection of Native American and European exploration. It is at that crossroads that the volume makes its most significant contribution. JAMES P. RONDA Department of History University of Tulsa 

Review of \u3ci\u3eAlong Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739\u3c/i\u3e By Donald J. Blakeslee

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1996 
Review of Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739 By 
Donald J. Blakeslee 
James P. Ronda 
University of Tulsa 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Ronda, James P., "Review of Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739 By Donald J. Blakeslee" 
(1996). Great Plains Quarterly. 1085. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1085 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Along Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 
1739. By Donald J. Blakeslee. Niwot: Univer-
sity Press of Colorado, 1995. Illustrations, ap-
pendices, references, index. xvii + 291 pp. 
$39.95. 
In the popular mind the names Pierre and 
Paul Mallet carry little or no weight. Coro-
nado, de Soto, Champlain, and Lewis and 
Clark occupy our imaginative space, crowd-
ing out adventurers like the Mallets. Even 
scholars have paid scant attention to the 
Mallets' epic journey from the Missouri River 
to Santa Fe in 1739. Donald J. Blakeslee's 
Along Ancient Trails sets the record straight, 
properly noting the Mallet role in the Euro-
pean exploration of the southern Great Plains. 
In doing so, Blakeslee not only recounts one 
expedition but illuminates the complex his-
tory of the entire region. 
At the center of Along Ancient Trails is 
Blakeslee's masterful effort to locate the Mal-
let travel route through the present-day states 
of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New 
Mexico. Unlike the superbly documented 
routes of explorers like Lewis and Clark or 
John C. Fremont, the Mallet paper trail is 
frustratingly thin. The original Mallet travel 
journal survives only in an abstract prepared 
for Governor J ean- Baptiste LeMoyne de 
Bienville. Blakeslee has fleshed out this skel-
etal record by looking to a wide variety of 
documentary sources, including the letters 
of the Fabry de la Bruyere expedition (1741), 
the Pierre Mallet expedition of 1750, and 
291 
subsequent travelers' accounts of journeys 
through the southern Plains to Santa Fe. 
Blakeslee's considerable experience as a field 
archaeologist convinced him that documen-
tary and cartographic records alone were in-
sufficient to the task of route reconstruction. 
Exploration history demands a thorough 
knowledge of terrain. The ground itself is a 
document, an enduring witness. Some of the 
book's most engaging sections recount 
Blakeslee's own reconnaissance of the Mallet 
route. It is that informed reconnaissance that 
adds to the study's credibility and gives it an 
unmistakable charm. 
While most of Along Ancient Trails is de-
voted to a search for the Mallet path, its most 
important conceptual contribution is hinted 
at in the book's title. The European explora-
tion of North America was always a coopera-
tive enterprise. European explorers relied on 
Native people for everything from food and 
transportation to medical advice and route in-
formation. The Mallet expedition to Santa Fe 
was no exception. As Blakeslee ably demon-
strates, the Mallets followed an Indian road to 
Santa Fe. Both Native people and Europeans 
explored that road. Along Ancient Trails is a 
powerful statement about the intersection of 
Native American and European exploration. 
It is at that crossroads that the volume makes 
its most significant contribution. 
JAMES P. RONDA 
Department of History 
University of Tulsa 


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Review of \u3ci\u3eAlong Ancient Trails: The Mallet Expedition of 1739\u3c/i\u3e By Donald J. Blakeslee

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