"Pike's Peak or bust!"

That was the slogan of the west-bound gold seekers of 1849. And the boy who became the man who discovered that great peak was Zebulon Montgomery Pike. "Zeb" for short.

His whole life had been a preparation for this discovery. He grew up on the Pennsylvania frontier. From frontiersmen he learned to meet the dangers of the deep forest. They taught him to think fast and act quick. He saved his younger brother from a wildcat. He saved himself from a wounded bear.

His father, Captain Pike, taught Zeb how to travel in the wilderness. The captain had been a spy for General Washington in the Revolution. When he was sent on a secret mission to New York state, he took twelve-year-old Zeb along.

There were funny adventures for the boy on the way—a squealing pig, a girl who teased him, and a snoring sawmill man. And there were thrills for him at the trading post where they stopped.

When he was fourteen came another long trip—this time with his family over mountains to Pittsburgh in a big covered wagon and down the Ohio River to Fort Washington (Cincinnati), which Captain Pike was to command.

Their flatboat was attacked by Indians. Zeb saw the flaming arrow fall on the deck. He risked his life to put out the fire.

Then came the day when he discovered the prints of Indian moccasins in the wet sand on the river shore. And to warn the settlers he risked his life again.

At fifteen he joined the Army and served in frontier Army posts. No other young officer knew so much about the habits of Indians, or how to live in the wilderness. So it was natural that he should be chosen to lead two important expeditions for the United States.

He was to explore the great territory the United States had bought from France. He was to map this unknown land and make peace with Indian tribes in this "Louisiana Purchase."

It was on his second expedition that he discovered the grand cone-shaped, snow-covered peak. Many years later it was named "Pike's Peak" in honor of this great American explorer.

Augusta Sevenson has given eighteen popular books to the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. She is a splendid storyteller, and she has a warm, heartening, exciting gift for bringing to life the boys and girls of the past and the days in which they lived. Zeb Pike: Boy Traveler is in her happiest vein.

Nineteen fifty-three is the one hundred and fiftieth birthday of the purchase of the Louisiana territory, which more than doubled the area of the United States.

From the dust jacket