Click2History - "Go West" - The American Wilderness - Chapter 2

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>GO WEST</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 2 - THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS</font></b></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">When Soule urged young men to "go west," it wasnt just places like <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3g00000/3g03000/3g03200/3g03246r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Yellowstone</b></a> which were undeveloped. Nearly the entire western part of the country was referred to as a great "wilderness," and there were few <a target="_blank" href="images/recognized.passes.jpg"><b>recognized passes</b></a> on which to travel.</p> <p>Although <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/biography/sacajawea/sacajawea_ch1.htm" target="_blank"><b>Lewis & Clark</b></a> had completed their journey earlier in the 19th century, no <a href="http://cprr.org/index.html#Promontory" target="_blank"><b>transcontinental railroad</b></a> yet existed. About seven years after Soules article, the first non-stop stage coach left St. Louis for Los Angeles (in 1858). That 2,600-mile journey took <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1850_1860.htm" target="_blank"><b>twenty days</b></a>. (Scroll down 90%.)</p> <p>What did the American West look like at the time? The <a href="http://www.loc.gov/" target="_blank"><b>Library of Congress</b></a> has magnificent paintings and drawings (from the federally sponsored Survey of the West, U.S. Geological <a target="_blank" href="images/survey.territories.jpg"><b>Survey of the Territories</b></a>) which answer that question. They reveal scenes observed by men and women who first heeded the call to <a target="_blank" href="images/cross.jpg"><b>cross</b></a> the <a target="_blank" href="images/mississippi.river.jpg"><b>Mississippi River</b></a> and develop the countrys vast open spaces. Some places have changed little between then and now. Other areas, once inhabited only by <a target="_blank" href="images/native.americans.jpg"><b>Native Americans</b></a>, are no longer recognizable.</p> <p>Lets examine a representative sampling of paintings and engravings.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="go_west_ch1.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER </a>   <a href="go_west_ch3.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>