Chapter I: Preface

I have told here the story of the last frontier within the United States, trying at once to preserve the picturesque atmosphere which has given to the "Far West" a definite and well-understood meaning, and to indicate those forces which have shaped the history of the country beyond the Mississippi. In doing it I have had to rely largely upon my own investigations among sources little used and relatively inaccessible. The exact citations of authority, with which I might have crowded my pages, would have been out of place in a book not primarily intended for the use of scholars. But I hope, before many years, to exploit in a larger and more elaborate form the mass of detailed information upon which this sketch is based.

My greatest debts are to the owners of the originals from which the illustrations for this book have been made; to Claude H. Van Tyne, who has repeatedly aided me with his friendly criticism; and to my wife, whose careful readings have saved me from many blunders in my text.

FREDERIC L. PAXSON.

ANN ARBOR, August 7, 1909.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT 1

CHAPTER II

THE INDIAN FRONTIER 14

CHAPTER III

IOWA AND THE NEW NORTHWEST 33

CHAPTER IV

THE SANTA FÉ TRAIL 53

CHAPTER V

THE OREGON TRAIL 70

CHAPTER VI

OVERLAND WITH THE MORMONS 86

CHAPTER VII

CALIFORNIA AND THE FORTY-NINERS 104

CHAPTER VIII

KANSAS AND THE INDIAN FRONTIER 119

CHAPTER IX

"PIKE'S PEAK OR BUST!" 138

CHAPTER X

FROM ARIZONA TO MONTANA 156

CHAPTER XI

THE OVERLAND MAIL 174

CHAPTER XII

THE ENGINEERS' FRONTIER 192

CHAPTER XIII

THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD 211

CHAPTER XIV

THE PLAINS IN THE CIVIL WAR 225

CHAPTER XV

THE CHEYENNE WAR 243

CHAPTER XVI

THE SIOUX WAR 264

CHAPTER XVII

THE PEACE COMMISSION AND THE OPEN WAY 284

CHAPTER XVIII

BLACK KETTLE'S LAST RAID 304

CHAPTER XIX

THE FIRST OF THE RAILWAYS 324

CHAPTER XX

THE NEW INDIAN POLICY 340

CHAPTER XXI

THE LAST STAND: CHIEF JOSEPH AND SITTING BULL 358

CHAPTER XXII

LETTING IN THE POPULATION 372