A Fashionable Tour Through the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi: The 1852 Journal of Juliette Starr Dana

It was extremely uncommon, if not unheard of, for a woman to travel without an escort in 1850s America for her own pleasure. Railroads did not yet reach the Mississippi, rapids barred ships from Lake Superior, and American Indians still inhabited the frontier. Traveling from New York City to Lake Superior's shores, the Mississippi River, and the newly created Minnesota Territory was most definitely not the ideal vacation—or was it?

A Fashionable Tour Through the Great Lakes and Upper Mi…