After their ship arrived in Boston on July 4, 1832, Prince Maximilian, Karl Bodmer, and the prince's servant, hunter, and taxidermist, David Dreidoppel, traveled to New York City and Philadelphia, where they visited the Peale Museum to study its legendary natural history collection. They spent the winter in New Harmony, Indiana, and met with naturalists Thomas Say and Charles Alexandre Lesueur.

In March 1833, the expedition members left New Harmony on a steam boat. Above the mouth of the Ohio, they saw a large cylindrical rock formation in the river, known as Tower Rock. Maximilian noted in his journal that Bodmer sketched the Tower "in magnificent evening illumination." In the print Bodmer included different types of boats typical for the trade on the Mississippi at that time.

On March 24, the travelers arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. Here Maximilian met William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Western Tribes and former explorer, to discuss plans for the journey along the upper Missouri to the American Fur Company's outposts.