The occasion for inserting in this work "A Summer in the Far West" was to preserve in a permanent form an interesting, faithful account of a short period of local history, never before so completely narrated, and which it would be a neglect to historical students to allow to remain unpublished and forgotten. The somewhat extended account of my father's life, together with the publication of a few of the letters and documents selected from his papers bearing on his connection with the settlement and development of Kansas City and this Western country generally, although not contemplated when the memorial of my mother was begun, seemed absolutely necessary in order to show the moral and historical background in which to make a proper setting for her life. In this I felt free to call to my assistance his life-long acquaintance and friend, Col. Theo. S. Case, whose intimate companionship with my father and literary facility declared him to be preeminently qualified to execute the task of writing his biography.
Many names, early associates of my parents, will, from page to page, appear through the volume, according to the necessities of the narrative. These names by no means include all those who were associated with them in many interesting and personal experiences during their long residence in Kansas City, and if any such persons who are now living shall wonder why their names have been omitted, or if their descendants shall discover such omissions, they are assured that it has not been from any lack of interest and regard by my father or mother during their lifetime, or by their children, but rather because of ignorance or forgetfulness, or consideration of space. This latter reason alone has excluded a great deal of material almost and perhaps equally as interesting as that selected.
The accompanying views, procured and selected by my brothers, will interest the reader in proportion with his familiarity with the early history of Kansas City, and while the