Scope and Contents Ornithologist and explorer. The papers in this collection all refer to his experiences when accompanying Captain Wyeth across the Rocky Mountains. Captain Wyeth undertook the journey for the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company to establish trading posts beyond the Rockies. Townsend's trip, in the company of Thomas Nuttall was extended to the Sandwich Islands. He returned to the Columbia River, collecting birds there, returning to the Islands, and eventually back to Philadelphia by way...