The Prairie: A Tale by James Fenimore Cooper

The story opens with Ishmael, his family, Ellen and Abiram slowly making their way across the virgin prairies of the Midwest looking for a homestead, just two years after the Louisiana Purchase, and during the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They meet Natty Bumppo, the trapper, who has left his home in New York state to find a place where he cannot hear the sound of people cutting down the forests.