CROSSING BARRIERS

Westward expansion of European settlements in North America was not a steady movement. It took place as a series of uneven spurts and pauses. Several barriers—geographical, social and political—slowed the westward movement at various times.

In 1700, European settlements in English-speaking North America stretched along the Atlantic coastline from southern Maine to South Carolina. While most settlements were less that 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the coast, a few were located further inland along tidal rivers. This was called "the tidewater phase" of settlement.

Over the next 50 years, the fertile river valleys in New England were settled; so was the valley of the Mohawk River in upstate New York. Settlers moving west from Philadelphia cleared oak forests of central Pennsylvania and produced an area of hilly green farms.

Settlements also spread westward along river valleys in Virginia and, to a lesser extent, in the Carolinas and Georgia. By the 1760s, the westward movement reached the first major barrier—the Appalachian Mountain Range. This mountain range stretches northeast to the southwest. It somewhat parallels the Atlantic coastline.

When they reached the foothills of the Appalachians, settlers found that most rivers flowing from west to east were blocked by waterfalls or rapids.

For a number of years, westward expansion was blocked. Then in 1775 explorer Daniel Boone (1734-1820) and a party of axmen cut the Wilderness Road through the forested Cumberland Gap, a natural pass in the Appalachians. The road through the Cumberland Gap enabled settlers to move with mules, horses and cattle into the fertile lands that now make up the states of Kentucky and Tennessee.

From 1776 to 1783, Britain's 13 American colonies formed the United States of America and fought a War for

Independence. The war was ended by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The treaty set the western boundary of the United States or the Mississippi River, which flows south from near the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico at the port of New Orleans.

Peace led to a great westward movement of people into the new American territories between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The Ohio River, flowing from Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) westward to the Mississippi, served as a major highway for the settlers and their goods.

BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI

For a time, the wide Mississippi and the vast, mostly unexplored Louisiana Territory beyond blocked American expansion to the west. Louisiana had belonged to France in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Then was owned by Spain in the late 18th century and returned to France in 1800.

In 1803, agents of United States President Thomas Jefferson negotiated from the purchase of the vast territory from the French emperor Napoleon. The Louisiana Purchase, stretching north from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border and westward to the Rocky Mountains, almost doubled the land area of the United State.

All or parts of the present states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming and Montana were acquired by the Louisiana Purchase.

SEA OF GRASS

The Louisiana Purchase also gave the United States a very large, very distinct geographic region known as the Great Plains, or Western Prairies. Around 1803, this was a region of flat or gently rolling land covered with tall grass. There were practically no trees, bushes or exposed rocks. Early travelers through the region called it "a sea of grass."

In general, the Great Plains region is drier than the land east of the Mississippi. Rainfall ranges from around 40 inches (103 cm) a year on the eastern rim of the Great Plains to less than 18 inches (46 cm) year in the western portion. Summers on the Great Plains can be very hot, about 110 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius), and dry. Summer rain, when it comes, is usually in the form of fierce thunderstorms Both droughts and floods are common to some parts of the vast region.

On the Great Plains, the seasons of spring and autumn tend to be brief. Winters particularly in Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, can be very cold. Temperatures often dip as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit (also -40 degrees Celsius.) Fierce, windy snow­storms, or blizzards, are not uncommon.

At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, relatively few people lived in the Great Plains region. A number of Indian tribes— primarily Sioux, Pawnee, Comanche and Cheyenne—hunted on the Great Plains

Unlike American Indians to the east, south and far west, these tribes did not live in permanent year-round settlements, nor did they grow crops. They survived by hunting, particularly the buffalo. And they moved with the buffalo herds.

For over 40 years after the Louisiana Purchase, white Americans did not move into the Great Plains in large numbers. During the first half of the 19th century, most westward-bound settlers viewed the Great Plains region as a place to cross on their way to more attractive lands on North America's Pacific Coast.

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

Long before the Great Plains region was known to white people, there were European settlements along the California coast. They were created by Spanish missionaries, soldiers, traders and settlers moving north from below what is now the border with Mexico. They included San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and, finally, San Francisco.

The Spaniards were not the only explorers of America's Pacific Coast region. British, Russian and, later, American seafarers explored the coastline. They marveled at the beautiful harbors, high mountains, very fertile valleys and almost perfect climate.

In 1778, British sea captain James Cook (1728-1779) explored the Pacific coastline north of San Francisco to Alaska. Some of Cook's sailors discovered that sea otter skins bought for around $2 each from the Indians of the American Northwest could be sold in China for around $100 each. This prompted the British as well as Americans to set up a number of trading posts in the region.

In addition to these British and American interests, Russia had claims on the region. In 1741, Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer employed by the Russian emperor, explored the coastal areas of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. These explorations led to the creation of Russian settlements in Alaska. From these posts, Russian ships sailed up and down the coast from Alaska to California hunting seals and sea otters.

The Pacific coastal region stretching from California to Alaska and inland through the Rocky Mountains became known as the Oregon Country. In 1803, it was claimed by Spain, Russia, the United States and Britain.

Though Russia controlled Alaska and Spain was in possession of California, the British and American claims on Oregon were strongest. Both countries had trading posts on the coast. Then, traveling overland from Canada, British explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the Oregon coast in 1793. This and other overland explorations opened the interior of the Oregon Country to the British.

The Americans were not far behind. In November 1805, United States explorers Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) reached the Oregon Coast after a two-and-a-half year journey from the Mississippi River.

A number of American trappers and hunters followed the example of Lewis and Clark and explored new trails to the West. Because they spent much time exploring passes through the Rocky Mountains in California and the Oregon Country, they became known as the "mountain men." They played a big role in the westward expansion of the United States.

Early in the 19th century, Spain and Russia gave up their claims on the Oregon Country. Then in 1818, Britain and the United States agreed to share the vast territory. Also in 1818, the boundary between the United States and British North America (now Canada) was established along the 49th latitude line from the Great Lakes to the Oregon Country (the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains).

In the following year, 1819, a treaty with Spain set the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possession of Mexico. At that time, Mexico included what were later to become the American states of Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, California and part of Colorado.

The westward movement of Americans was spurred on by the idea that it was the "manifest destiny" of the United States to span the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. But California was firmly under Mexican control. Therefore, many Americans felt that the easiest way to expand the United States to the Pacific was by gaining sole control of the Oregon Country.

During the 1820s and '30s, British settlements and trading posts in the Oregon Country greatly outnumbered those of the Americans. As a result, many American political leaders feared that the British would gain sole control of the Oregon Country. A great effort was made to encourage American settlement in Oregon.

The first Americans going to Oregon traveled by ship from the United States' east coast, around South America, through the stormy Strait of Magellan, and up along the Pacific Coast. It was a difficult, dangerous and expensive journey that lasted months. Starting in 1832, groups of settlers traveled overland to Oregon. Usually, the settlers started from Independence, Missouri, and followed a winding trail for over 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) to Oregon. The overland route to Oregon became known as the Oregon Trail, but it was never a single marked trail. It was a general direction across the Great Plains with some known river-crossing points and passes through the mountains. It was a very difficult, dangerous trail. Floods, droughts, blizzards, prairie fires, accidents, disease and hostile Indians took a high toll of the would-be settlers.

In 1843, "Oregon fever" gripped many parts of the United States. People in many areas sold or abandoned their worn- out farms, packed all their belongings, and headed west. Soon, the American settlers in the Oregon country outnumbered the British.

Some Americans were prepared to settle for half the Oregon Country—south of latitude 49 degrees. This would extend the border between the United States and British North America all the way to the

Pacific. Many other Americans, however, demanded the entire Oregon Country—all the way north to latitude 54 degrees 40 minutes. They spread the slogan "54-40 or fight." Then, in 1844, a man committed to "manifest destiny," James K. Polk, was elected president of the United States.

In his inaugural speech in 1845, President Polk said that the American claim "to the whole of Oregon is clear and unquestionable." For a time, war between the United States and Britain seemed likely. Then, in 1846, the British foreign secretary Lord Aberdeen offered the Americans the portion of the Oregon Country south of latitude 49. President Polk, faced with the likelihood of war with Mexico, and not wishing to lead the United States into war with two adversaries at the same time, agreed. On June 15, 1846, the southern portion of the Oregon Country (made up of the present states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho with parts of Montana and Wyoming) became part of the United States.

TEXAS AND THE SOUTHWEST

By the 1830s, American settlers in the large Mexican province of Texas outnumbered Mexicans. They also talked about independence from Mexico. This desire for Texas to become independent sharply increased in 1833 when General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna overthrew the Mexican government and set himself up as dictator of all Mexico. Santa Anna cut off all new American migration to Texas and increased taxes on Americans already living there. In response, the Texans revolted in October 1835 and proclaimed the Lone Star Republic.

At the beginning of the revolt, the Texans suffered several defeats. But they reorganized and formed a small, skilled army. Finally on March 21,1836, the Texans under the command of Sam Houston defeated a much larger Mexican army at the battle of San Jacinto. General Santa Anna was captured, and the independence of Texas was assured.

Many Texans didn't want indepen­dence; they wanted their land to be part of the United States. Several requests were made to have the United States annex (take over) the Lone Star Republic. These requests were politely refused. As a result, the government of Texas started showing increased friendship for Britain. This caused some Americans to worry that Texas might become linked to British North America. Finally, in 1845, Texas became a state of the United States of America.

Mexico refused to recognize this action. This led to numerous raids and small battles along the disputed boundary between Mexico and Texas. On April 24, 1846, 1,600 Mexican soldiers surrounded and killed 63 Americans on land claimed by Texas. President Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war against Mexico. He got it

Mexico was defeated in the war and its capital, Mexico City, was occupied. Some Americans talked about taking over all of Mexico. But President Polk rejected that view. He wanted acceptance of Texas as part of the United States and the purchase of California and the New Mexico regions.

A peace treaty between Mexico and the United States ended the war on February 2, 1848. It set the boundary between Texas and Mexico along the Rio Grande River. For a payment of $18,250,000 Mexico turned over the immense California and New Mexico regions to the United States. These regions include the present states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

Beyond the continental United States, Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 and the Hawaiian Islands were annexed to the United States in 1898. Both these regions did not become states until 1959.

FARMERS AND CATTLEMEN

In 1848, gold was discovered in California, though most Americans did not hear about it until the beginning of 1849. When they did, a massive "gold rush" occurred. The population of California increased from 15,000 in 1848 to about 260,000 in 1852.

Though the United States stretched from ocean to ocean in the late 1840s, the vast region between the Mississippi Valley and the western side of the Rocky Mountains was almost unoccupied. The thousands of people streaming west to California and Oregon saw it as just a difficult, dangerous place to pass through. They certainly did not view it as a desirable place to stay.

This thinking changed in the 1860s. A railroad was being pushed westward to span the continent. Some people realized that they could raise cattle cheaply on "the sea of grass"—the Great Plains—and use the railroad to ship cattle to markets in the eastern states.

Cattle were allowed to graze freely on the plains and were rounded up once a year by cowboys. Ranches were marked off and a few towns were built along the railroad route. In the process, the great buffalo herds were killed off.

Of course, the Plains Indians bitterly resented the coming of the white people and the loss of the buffalo herds. So they fought back. Though the Indians won some battles, it was, in the long run, a losing cause. By the end of the 1800s, the tribes were scat­tered, living on government reservations.

As the Indians and the buffalo disap­peared from the Great Plains, another group, made up mostly of small "homestead" farm­ers, moved in to compete with the cattlemen.

Starting in 1862 and continuing to 1900, the United States government offered 160 acres (65 hectares) of land to each family who would live on the land for five years and improve it. A small fee for registration of the land was also charged. Each lot of 160 acres was called a homestead and the farmers living on such a homestead were called homesteaders.

From the beginning, cattle ranchers and homesteaders were in conflict. They represented different ways of life. Cattle ranchers and cowboys viewed the homestead farms as a waste of good rangeland. At first, the homesteaders' crops were often eaten or trampled by free-roaming cattle, so the homesteaders started fencing their land with barbed wire. This increased conflicts with the cattlemen, particularly when a source of water was fenced in.

In time, the ranchers and farmers learned to live side by side. But their combined use of the land almost destroyed it. Unlike the buffalo herds of the past, cattle grazed the grass close to the soil. Farming was even more difficult on the prairie land. Plowing exposed the loose soil, and in periods of drought, the strong winds of the plains lifted the dry, powdery soil into the air. After a long period of drought in the 1930s, dust storms were frequent.

In an old frontier tradition, many people from the southern plains states abandoned their farms and moved west. But the age of the frontier was over. There was no more free land. Many of the people who moved to California during the "dust bowl" years had to work picking fruit on other peoples' farms.

NEED FOR CONSERVATION

The frontier experience of moving westward and breaking new ground gave Americans several traditions. One was of independence, self-reliance and resourcefulness. Another, unfortunately, was a tradition of wasteful uses of natural resources. Land, water, timber and wild animals seemed so plentiful that people on the frontier thought these resources would never run out. For a long time it was easier and cheaper to abandon worn-out farmland than to nurse it back to productive use.

However, not all Americans feel this way. From the early colonial period, many Americans have argued for the preservation of forests, lakes and rivers and the careful use of farmland. Even the young George Washington, as a Virginia surveyor, was an early pioneer in conservation.

By the mid-1800s the need to conserve natural resources acquired a special urgency. The buffalo herds were rapidly disap­pearing. So were many other wild animals, including wolves, passenger pigeons, fur seals and sea otters. Forests were being destroyed by logging and forest fires. Rivers and lakes were being clogged and polluted with the waste of logging and mining.

Several naturalists called for action by the American people and government to save the nation's natural heritage. Chief among them was John Muir (1838-1914). Muir, who was born in Scotland, roamed through the West studying and describing the natural wonders of his adopted land. He also campaigned vigorously for a national effort to save those natural wonders for future generations. It was largely through his efforts that wilderness lands were set aside as public parks. The first of these was the Yosemite Grant in California. This consists of a beautiful valley surrounded by cliffs and pinnacles. Giant Sequoia trees and other rare plants grow there.

Yosemite was made a national park in 1890, but it wasn't the first. That honor went to Yellowstone, a 2.25 million-acre (one million hectares) tract of wilderness land established as a national park in 1871.

President Theodore Roosevelt, who knew and loved the vast, unspoiled beauty of the American West, began fighting for conservation as soon as he came into office in 1901. Sweeping provisions made to conserve the natural resources of the nation were among the most important achievements of the Roosevelt administration.

Many national parks and national forests were set aside as reserves after 1901, and a National Park Service was set up to administer them in 1916. The National Park system is an American example of conservation that has since been imitated by many countries around the world.

Private groups and government agencies came into existence to regulate and restore wildlife, to conserve soil and water, and to manage fishery resources. However, though most Americans have become committed to conservation, a legitimate debate continues over setting a proper balance between conservation and the development of America's natural resources for the sake of promoting national economic welfare and energy self- sufficiency.

Starting around 1880, a number of programs were set up to reclaim eroded land. Farmers were encouraged to buy or build small windmills to pump irrigation water out of deep wells. Later, rivers were dammed and irrigation canals built to provide additional water. Farmers introduced new types of wheat which could resist cold winters and hot, dry summers, and experimented with contour plowing and crop rotation methods. More recently, agricultural researchers have developed a method of planting without plowing. Known as conservation tillage, it involves leaving the previous crop's residue on the surface to lessen soil erosion. Then, instead of scarring the soil with plow blades, rows of tiny holes are punched in the soil to accept the new seeds.

The westward flow of settlement across the United States first led to wasteful attitudes and practices. Later there developed a popular grass-roots concern for natural resources that gains strength year by year. Americans have pioneered many conservation efforts. In the creation of large national parks and forests, they've set an example for the world.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 1499