Primary Source Narratives - Western Frontier

I read a diary of George Edwin Bushnell from 1863 and a memoir of Luzena Stanley Wilson from 1881. The diary takes place as George is traveling "across the plains" for six months, moving out west from Missouri to California. This diary is very technical, more like a journal perhaps. As he is traveling, he will write in this journal exactly what is happening every few days or so: "Mary borrowed a pair of Emma’s shoes so she could go to church. Lost Valley, Mr. Rich went with us to Sacramento and treating all to beer but Nancy, she took buttermilk. Mr. Rich went back (about 40 miles)... We went on." This takes place toward the end of his journals and is an example of his technical writing. Throughout the many journal entries, he continues to just say what has happened, like where they settled for a night, prices of certain goods, and how the weather was. The entries were not filled with any emotion, just as a record of his travels. On the other hand, the Memoir written by Wilson, is almost like a book. It is taken down by her daughter, as if she could not write it herself. It's separated into chapters and is taking place in certain moments of her time traveling west as well: "... on that Monday morning, bright and early, we were off. With the first streak of daylight my last cup of coffee boiled in the wide fire-place, and the sun was scarcely above the horizon when we were on the road to California." She writes like an author telling an interesting  detailed story of her time traveling far away to start a new life, contrasting George's diary. She writes further with emotion and a story instead of record. Both writers had plans of beginning a new life and decided to put that into words as they went along and did that. It's interesting to see how these two different ways of telling a story of almost the same nature can both illustrate certain aspects of moving to the western frontier.