Begins with a lengthy description of a prospecting venture to the Alaska gold fields on behalf of a New York-based syndicate in 1900 and continue through similar trips through Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Utah, Nevada and Labrador. They end with a brief visit to a New Mexico sanatorium in 1906, when Carpenter was misdiagnosed with incipient tuberculosis. Carpenter describes the many people he encounters on his travels, literature he reads, and the entertainments to be found in frontier theaters and music halls.

Begins with a trip to Cuba and Central America in 1897. The descriptions of Alaska are somewhat fuller, and there are many letters from Thomas Lloyd ("Gooney") Henry, a companion on the Alaska venture who remained prospecting in Alaska and Siberia, often under extreme conditions, for many years afterward. There are also descriptions of camp life during the Spanish-American War and a report to S. D. Warriner on the Labrador expedition. The letters continue beyond the period covered by the diaries to include Carpenter's trips to England and Chile on behalf of DuPont. There are a number of letters from female friends, one of whom, Marion Sadlein-Jackson, gives some description of home front life in England during and immediately after World War I.