I. The American West

Two American historians noted two unique aspects of the American experience, the effect of the American Frontier on American character and the effect of the American West’s environment on American immigrant settlers.

At the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932), a University of Wisconsin history professor, gave a paper to a group of colleagues on "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." It took a number of years for this paper to generate an impact. Its significance was marked by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1890 declaring the disappearance of a contiguous frontier line in the American West. Turner noted this ‘closing of the frontier’ as significant and reflected on the unique influence of that frontier on the American psyche. Turner’s thesis has flaws but established recognition of American traits of individualism, ingenuity and pragmatism. Actually, Alexis de Tocqueville observed similar characteristics of Americans in his work Democracy In America (1835-40). The American frontier is more variable and complex than Turner proposed. For instance, individuals had to depend on family and community to ultimately thrive. Turner ignored American Indians and their influence. In truth American Indian cultures were highly individualistic, yet family and clan were essential for cooperation and diverse skills to survive in tough environments and when threatened by outside invaders. The early American pioneers, out of necessity, emulated the American Indian combination of individualism and group cooperation. In later times Americans had to unite for common causes and perceived threats to the entire nation. Turner also failed to recognize that for many cultural groups and for women the Frontier and the American West was often a dismal experience of subjugation and deprivation. The imagery of the American West, depending on one's point of view, continues to influence and haunt Americans. Often perceived values derived from biased and simplified interpretations of the experience of the American West are used for selfish purposes or to influence others. Such powerful imagery was utilized in early ‘dime’ novels and stage shows like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

As the American Frontier line moved across the Mississippi beyond the Gateway Arch in today’s St. Louis, Missouri, the American Frontier moved into the American West. Today, foreign travelers are astounded by the open space, distance and immensity of the American West. Foreign travelers still ride buses, trains or rental cars to journey across America. In the Plains it is common to be asked by foreign travelers in Kansas, "how far is it to Los Angeles." When informed that is more than 1,000 miles it produces a reaction of awe and disbelief.

In 1922, Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963), a University of Texas history professor, had an epiphany while trying to access what made the American West unique. He began to realize that the geographic shift from Woodland forest and prairie to the semi-arid, treeless, plains was a shift in the physical geography that had a different and dramatic impact on people.

As you drive west from the Midwest prairie states on east to west interstates (I-90, I-80, I-70, I-40, I-20, I-10, etc.) you can see the change in the trees as you climb out of the Mississippi bottoms and rolling hills. After about 400 miles west of the Mississippi, you notice that the trees become scraggly and sparse. Grasses and scrubs also change. This is usually in the form of woody sagebrush and native bunch grasses. This may not be apparent with so many introduced crops, but some open range and native plants still are visible. The birds and mammals change with the aridity, and you will notice an increasing presence of Western Meadowlarks, magpies, and jackrabbits. On occasion you may even see Pronghorn Antelope (actually a goat). One common image of this change is the fantasy creature called a jackalope, stuffed and mounted on ‘trading post’ junk shops or postcards. You can imagine what our foreign tourists tell their friends and family!

Prof. Webb realized these changes occurred around the 98^th Meridian from North Dakota through South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma to Texas. This area was called the "Great American Desert" by pioneers who could not initially cope with the desert and went on to California and Oregon on the great wagon roads like the Oregon Trail (1840). Eventually the "Great American Desert" was referred to as the "Great Plains" and people settled it. However, people had to change to adapt to the arid and treeless expanse of the Plains. The horse, new guns, cattle, barbed wire, sod houses, windmills, and dry farming were all changes that resulted from the environmental effects of settling the American West. The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains was a formidable environment, and pioneers eventually went on and settled the western slope of the Rockies to the Pacific slope (120°), which was an even harsher desert (Intermountain or Great Basin). Most of the settlement of the American West came after 1840 and really after the Civil War (1865). This of course was preceded by Spanish exploration and settlement into the American West as well as exploration by early French, English, Russian and American fur trappers.

When post Civil War pioneers first came to settle the American West, especially the Great Plains they found that old ways and technologies of the Eastern Woodlands did not work.

After the Civil War it became apparent that the Plains Indians were superior horsemen and fighters. General Sherman decided that the same strategy used against the American Confederate Army, the destruction of logistical base from Atlanta to the sea, was necessary to defeat the Plains Indian. Therefore, the American Army sought to destroy the staple for many Plains Indians, the American Buffalo or Bison

It is estimated that there were 60 million bison at the time of European contact (1830) in the Great Plains area. There were still 15 million in 1870 in two great herds. With the help of the Sharps rifle, with a range of 600 yards, the U.S. Army and private hunters like Buffalo Bill Cody were able to all but exterminate the Bison by 1885. In turn this forced surviving Plains tribes to come onto the reservations. As the Plains people were reduced and moved onto the reservations, settlers, sodbusters, sheepherders, and cattlemen settled the American West. The Indian and Cowboy essentially never fought each other. The cows and cowboy replaced the buffalo and Plains Indian. Even John Wayne in many of his later films correctly portrayed the cowboy/cattleman era as after the Indian era in the Red River Country of Texas. Yet, in the 1950’s and even today stores sold plastic ‘Cowboy and Indian’ Ft. Apache sets.

However, the American West from the 98^th Meridian to the Pacific Coast was and is more than just the Eastern slope of the Rockies and the Great Plains. Its overwhelming characteristic of aridity was dominant, except for the Pacific slope with a great temperate rainforest from the California redwoods to British Columbia. Thus, the American West was made up of many different regions with unique challenges to Native Americans and early American pioneers.

In terms of American immigrants into the United States the Great Plains is the first traveled by pioneers. However, they went through the Great Plains and called it the Great American Desert. The Great Plains runs from the 98th Meridian to the Eastern slope of the Rockies around 105th Meridian. In the North it begins in Alberta and Saskatchewan to Texas. At 98° the altitude is about 500’ above sea level and as you travel west toward Denver, Colorado, you reach 5,000’ above sea level; thus Denver is called the ‘Mile High City.’ This transition is from the Low Plains to the High Plains. The Plains economy is a mix of grain crops with cattle and later is a source of coal, gas and oil. Much of the human occupation is low population densities with some of the largest ranches and farms with thousands of acres. Most of the original family-owned farms and ranches are now owned by huge corporations. There are three great river systems that run from the Rockies to the Mississippi, they include:

These rivers were a haven for wildlife and provided irrigation sources. Later, these rivers were damned up for flood control, irrigation and hydroelectric power. Most of the reservoirs also provided fishing and boating resorts.

In terms of immigrant groups there were many Europeans that settled the Great Plains after the Civil War. In Canada there were Scot and English farmers. In the Dakotas many German and Scandinavian immigrants came to farm. In Nebraska and Kansas various Central European and Eastern European immigrants came to settle along the railroads. In some cases entire towns in Europe relocated to new towns in the Plains. Oklahoma was originally Indian Territory and was one of the last frontier areas to be open. The Cherokee Strip Land Run occurred in 1893. Those that cheated and snuck out the night before were called "Sooners." Texas drew many German immigrants in the Eastern farmlands and Texas hills, but many Scotch-Irish settled the Great Plains regions from Tennessee & Kentucky after the Civil War. The southern areas of Texas were already settled by the Spanish and later Mexican immigrants.

Most of the cities in the Great Plains were cow towns with rail hubs for shipping beef. Denver was a mining town, being in the high plains on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mts.

The American Southwest is comprised of high desert plateaus of juniper scrub and pinyon pine or low desert regions with creosote scrub and saguaro cactus. Initially, the Spanish and later European immigrants were limited to large acreage ranches. However, minerals were also found, especially copper, silver, and turquoise. Later, immigrants emulated the ancient Hohokam (prehistoric Am. Indian) in the Gila and Salt River areas by using the ancient irrigation canals for farming. This became today’s Phoenix area. The Native American and Hispanic influence on the Southwest is extensive and includes architecture, food, dress, fiestas, and art.

River	Tributaries	Total Length	States
Rio Grande	Pecos R.; Rio Conchos R.	1,885 mi Big Bend NP	NM, TX, MEX
Colorado	Gila R. and Salt R.	1,450 mi Hoover Dam	CO, UT, AZ, CA

The Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide run on a SE – NW diagonal beginning just above Taos, New Mexico, to the Idaho panhandle and into Canada. This mountainous region was first exploited by immigrants for timber and mining. Also, hydroelectric plants were built along the rivers. Later, resort towns like Aspen, CO  became important economic sources, especially for skiing. The Rocky Mountains eastern side is the end of the Great Plains and at 5,000- 9,500 ' above sea level you experience a shift from sagebrush  scrub to juniper scrub and Aspen and Cottonwood along the rivers as you climb in altitude. As you get higher you run into various confers with different species at different altitudes. At around 8,500 trees give out to alpine meadows and heath. The Missouri and  Arkansas  drainages start in these eastern slopes and run through the Plains to the Mississippi River. Most of the earliest people were the mountain men who eliminated the beaver throughout the West by the early 1800s. They were followed by the mining interests and timber companies.

The Pacific Northwest is comprised of intermountain deserts (Plateau) that have two great rivers running from the Rocky Mountains through the High Cascades into the Northwest Coast.

These rivers had salmon running all the way upstream into the Rocky Mountains. On the Western slope of the High Cascades there is a virtual temperate rainforest with over 200" rainfall/annum in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Some of the fertile valleys, such as Willamette, Oregon, and Walla Walla, Washington, provided for early immigrant farmers before the Civil War. Also, timber, minerals, and hydroelectric power plants became part of the economy of the Pacific Northwest.

In terms of people, many English, German, Scot-Irish, and Irish families were some of the earliest settlers. However, the Pacific Coast acted as a border for many Russian, Asian and Pacific Islander people that immigrated to the US and Canadian shores.

California is the only state that is a specific region of its own. It begins with pockets of temperate rainforests of Coastal Redwoods and Sequoia along the coast and in the Sierras. The Coastal Redwoods in the Northwest part of California and the Central Coast in Santa Cruz/Big Sur represent some of the oldest temperate rainforests in the world. Strange creatures like the Pacific Giant Salamander and the Banana Slug still lurk in this ancient forest, untouched by the Ice Age. However, most of California is made up of Riparian Oak Woodland and Scrub brush. In the Southern deserts (Mohave and Anza-Borrego) more severe deserts are comprised of Joshua Tree (a Yucca), Yucca, Creosote – Juniper scrub. Death Valley is the severest desert with the lowest point in the U.S. (-282' below sea level).

California is separated by the High Sierras from the Basin, but is quite variable in climate and terrain. California’s attraction to American Indians and European immigrants is its incredibly mild climate due to the mountains and warm Japanese current coming from the northwest in the Pacific The Spanish missed the gold, but the Anglos found it in 1849. After the Gold Rush, farming and ranching became important. Initially, farming in the Salinas Valley provided a great output of crops. Later, the Great Central Valley produced the bulk of crops. Now, the Imperial Valley with Colorado R. irrigation has also been added to the areas of farming.

In some parts of Northern California and the Sierras timber was and is a principal product. As of 1970 California resources were suppressed by tourism with its diverse cities, media, amusement parks, and National Parks.

The first European immigrants were the Spanish in 1542 and later 1769. Later, Mexican immigrants settled as California for a brief time was a frontier of the Republic of Mexico. Later, with the Mexican War (1846-48) and the Gold Rush (1849) other Europeans poured into California from everywhere. The fishing off the California coast brought South American, Italian American, and Portuguese Americans to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

This is a high desert area with no rivers running into a sea/ocean. The soil is very alkaline. Parts of Idaho, Oregon, California, Utah and all of Nevada make up this desert. Mining has been a principle economic resource, and later gaming became state legal and has afforded the Great Basin with revenue.

The miners of the Great Basin were a mixed lot, many from the Eastern United States or Europe, especially Wales and Eastern Europe. Basque sheepherders also came to the Basin and for many years drove along the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1847 Mormons (LDS), under Brigham Young, emigrated from New York via Illinois to settle in Utah with Salt Lake City as cultural and religious center.

In 1931, partly due to the Depression and mining output, the state of Nevada legalized gaming. Also, a considerable amount of nuclear tests were conducted in Nevada. The Bonneville Salt Flats brought people from around the world to break land speed records.