After arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1832, Prince Maximilian, artist Karl Bodmer, and the prince’s servant, hunter and taxidermist David Dreidoppel, proceeded to New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

From there they traveled by steamboat on the Ohio River to Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Mt. Vernon, Indiana. In St. Louis, Missouri, they met retired explorer William Clark from the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition. On April 10, 1833, they departed St. Louis and sailed on the steamboat Yellow-Stone, owned by the American Fur Company, up the Missouri River.

Two weeks later, near present day St. Joseph, Missouri, the crew spent more than an hour navigating carefully through piled masses of driftwood before the steamer was able to continue at regular speed. On April 26, they again encountered snags and sandbars at the mouth of the Nemaha river. Prince Maximilian noted in his journal that "navigation is very dangerous on the Missouri."