" To understand "the history of the American
forest" young Parkman devoted his college vacations to long trips
in the wilderness, and in 1846, two years after graduation, he
made the epoch-making journey described in his first book, "The
Oregon Trail."
"The Conspiracy of Pontiac," a highly-colored narrative in two
volumes appearing in 1851, marks the first stage of his
historical writing. Then came the tragedy of shattered health,
and for fourteen years Parkman fought for life and sanity, and
produced practically nothing. He had had to struggle from his
college days with an obscure disorder of the brain, aggravated by
the hardships of his Oregon Trail journey, and by ill-considered
efforts to harden his bodily frame by over-exertion. His disease
took many forms--insomnia, arthritis, weakness of sight,
incapacity for sustained thought. His biographer Farnham says
that "he never saw a perfectly well day during his entire
literary career." Even when aided by secretaries and copyists,
six lines a day was often the limit of his production.
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