Robert Atkins Tovey wrote these pages so that "those who are going forth with their wives children, their property, yea their all on earth should have the information covering the country to which they are making a Pilgrimage" from someone who has recently made the same journey. Broken up into chapters by subject, Tovey gave advice about the journey and settlement, provisions, land claims, soil, and weather, in addition to providing commentary about the current political situation and his disgust at the "Mob law" being imposed by the Missourians.