Chapter III: The Crown of the Continent

GOLD IN COLORADO, AND THE RUSH THERE.

It had long been predicted by those most familiar with the general characteristics of the Rocky Mountains, that eventually they would be found rich in mineral wealth. One of the earliest and most sanguine advocates of this idea was Colonel William Gilpin of Missouri, whose predictions, when viewed in the light of later knowledge, seem like the gift of prophecy. Reports were indeed more or less current at Salt Lake of the finding of gold among the mountain streams of the Great Basin, as far back as 1848, but all search for it was discouraged by the Mormon leaders as tending to bring upon them a swarm of adventurers whose presence would inevitably work the ruin of their isolated republic, and so render all previous toil and hardship of no avail. We have seen that such reports had reached the Mormons in California, who were preparing to go to Salt Lake in consequence of them.

Then, the existence of rich silver-mines among the mountains of New Mexico, which the Spaniards had been working for an unknown period of time, in the rudest possible way, was a thing of common knowledge from the time of La Salle, though the secrecy observed in regard to them effectually shut out inquiry as to whether the business were profitable or not. But California was so long the goal of all seekers after gold, that it was not until her gold-fields began to give out, and people began to ask "What next?" that the great backbone of the continent, over which the emigration had rushed so long and heedlessly, suddenly stopped them with the question, as one might say, "Why not search me?"

The first report of the finding of gold at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains reached the Missouri River in July, 1858, but did not gain much credit till several months later. By October, however, the fever was at its height on the frontier, and had made some progress toward the east. Though several parties started out from the border towns of Kansas and Missouri, the lateness of the season prevented many from going at this time. Meanwhile, however, reports continued to come in, each seemingly well authenticated and more conclusive, as to the main fact that gold existed in paying quantity not far from the foot of Pike's Peak. The region where report located the discoveries therefore took to itself the name of this magnificent mountain, whose sides were vaguely supposed to be veined with the precious metal found in the sands of the Platte.

After much prospecting, the ground along Cherry Creek, a small tributary of the South Platte, was fixed upon as one promising the best results to the miner. It accordingly became a base for future operations which were to be pushed up into the heart of the mountains. First known simply as Cherry Creek, the camp of the earliest comers soon took to itself the name of Denver City,[1] from James W. Denver, governor of Kansas, of which this gold region then formed part.

With the coming of spring, and opening of navigation on the Missouri, emigrants began to pour into the various points of departure for the new gold region. From Omaha to Independence unprecedented bustle prevailed all along the border. Many started off on a journey of seven hundred miles on foot. Some put their worldly goods in hand-carts to which they harnessed themselves. One man is said to have trundled a wheelbarrow from Kansas City to Cherry Creek. Most emigrants, however, went in wagons over the now well-marked roads of the pioneers, and by night the prairies were lighted up far and near with their camp-fires.

In view of the rush to Pike's Peak, the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, which had for years transported supplies to the military posts of Kansas, Utah, and New Mexico, now put on a line of daily coaches from Leavenworth to Denver, which were run up the Republican, and thence to the Platte. Thus, after the Indian pony, the trapper's caravan, the explorers' and emigrants' cavalcade, comes at last the modern stage-coach with its promise of greater things to follow in its track. On the 21st of May the first coach reached Leavenworth on its return from the mountains, bringing only a few thousand dollars in dust; but in that month John H. Gregory, an old Georgia miner, found rich deposits of gold in the mountains among the headwaters of Clear Creek. This discovery established the value of Colorado as a gold-bearing region.

When visited in 1859 the Gregory Diggings were found in a gulch along which log cabins, tents and camps, hastily covered in with boards or pine boughs, were scattered for miles. There were then five thousand people in them, and more were coming in every day.

Here the experiences of California life were repeated. Some men were taking out two hundred dollars a day; others who worked equally hard did not get five dollars a day for their labor. It resulted that a stream of confident and cheerful ones were constantly going in, while not a few who had failed to find fortune in the diggings were as constantly coming out, crestfallen and in rags.

In 1859 Denver had about one thousand people, who lived in three hundred rough-hewn log houses. Very few of them had glass windows, or doors, or other floors than the bare ground. Hearths and fireplaces would be built of adobe, as in New Mexico, and chimneys of sticks laid crosswise one on the other, with the interstices filled with mud, as the New-Englanders of 1630 were accustomed to make theirs. As no rain falls except during the summer months, life in the open air caused little discomfort to people who, being obliged to make the most of every thing, easily learned to do without what are called luxuries.

Picturesquely set up among these homely dwellings of the whites, one saw many skin lodges. These belonged to a band of Arapaho Indians, who had thus pitched their camp in the heart of the growing city. Golden City in the north and Colorado City in the south were soon founded. The first was an intermediate point on the route to the Gregory Diggings; the second was started at the foot of Pike's Peak, near to the famous _Fontaine qui bouille_,[2] or Boiling Spring, and on the route to Santa Fé.

In a few months more Denver had grown to a city of brick and frame buildings, with two theatres, a mint coining the gold of its own mines, and rival daily newspapers. It had quite reached the second stage of development of frontier cities.

The surface, or placer, diggings of Colorado were soon exhausted, but in their place belts of gold mixed with quartz were struck all the way from Pike's Peak in the south to Long's Peak in the north. Above this gold belt, rich silver ores were sometimes found on the very summits of the mountains. These discoveries soon changed mining from a pursuit in which every one could engage, and which had drawn such numbers into Colorado in the beginning, to the larger operations of capital, with all the appliances modern science brings to its aid.

FOOTNOTES

[1] DENVER CITY. Green Russell, a Georgian, with a company
of gold-seekers, pitched the first camp on Cherry Creek in the
summer of 1858. They called it Auraria after a mining town of
Georgia. The party which named Denver City came with General
Larimer, of Leavenworth, Kan., in the winter of 1858-59. The
gold region first formed a county of Kansas called Arapaho,
though distant six hundred miles from Junction City, then the
nearest settlement of Kansas. The nearest post-office was Fort
Laramie, two hundred and twenty miles north of Denver.

[2] FONTAINE QUI BOUILLE, French. "The three fountains
bubbling up from the ground, and not boiling with heat,
are strongly impregnated with soda." They were visited and
described by Pike, Long, Fremont, and others.

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

_In time of war prepare for peace._

In about half a century we have seen the great body of the nation moving more than five hundred miles westward. It has moved forward like an army taking the field, planting its outlying settlements before it at all strategic points, the possession of which was essential to the success of its peaceful mission. This army has marched at the rate of ten miles a year, mostly along the thirty-ninth parallel, to which the advantage of soil and climate was its infallible guide. Its destination was the Pacific Ocean.

We have also witnessed the occupation of the Pacific coast, the rise of two great States there whose people were already stretching their hands out toward the East as if to hasten its coming. The genius of civilization hovered over and directed this grand march, which never halted but to re-form its lines and go forward again with stately tread.

We have further seen a third body firmly plant itself among the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains, whose mission was to extend its own civilization both to the East and West, as the pebble which is dropped into a pool sends out its ever-broadening circle upon the surface of the waters. Thus the people of New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, were already throwing out little colonies into the later Territories of Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana. Thus these Territories were the heralds of the coming East. And in this manner the vigorous West had secured in advance the strongholds which, in a physical sense, impeded the march toward the Pacific.

As it went forward, the East brought all the appliances of civilization with it, and set them working all along the line. In 1859[1] the locomotive and telegraph reached the eastern frontier of Kansas. There was now a gap of two thousand miles remaining to be closed up between the Missouri and the Pacific. How to bridge this over, and by so doing bring widely separated sections together, was a question now assuming national importance in men's minds.

The West demanded it should be done without more delay; the older sections responded in the spirit of national progress.

Private enterprise had already accomplished something toward the desired object. In the summer of 1859 the same energetic firm that had sent the first stage-coach across the wastes of Western Kansas to Denver, put on a pony express[2] to run between the Missouri River and the Pacific. Stations were established twenty-five miles apart on the open prairie, where fresh animals and riders were kept ready saddled and equipped for the road. Mounted on his hardy little Indian pony, the courier rode with whip and spur to the next station, where, whether by night or day, he stopped only long enough to snatch a mouthful, mount a fresh pony, and secure his letter-pouch behind him. He then dashed on again at the top of his speed. Though one of the oldest known methods of carrying news, the difficulties were here such as seldom have been overcome. By dint of hard riding, despatches were sometimes delivered in Denver in less than three days, and in Sacramento in eight days, from the time of setting out.

The Butterfield Overland Stage Company[3] established between St. Louis and San Francisco (1859) was a more serious undertaking. It ran coaches every day in the year, over the longest stage-route in the world, traversing a distance of near three thousand miles from end to end.

Even such achievements as these were regarded as make-shifts which the coming railway should set aside. That and that only would solve the problem how permanently to unite and hold together such remote sections of the Union. In the East the country has always been settled before railways were built: in the West railways are expected to bring settlement with them, or even to go before it in a case like the present one. But without a country to support it, the proposed Pacific Railway[4] was something too vast for private enterprise to grapple with. From the time it was first talked of, the enterprise, therefore, assumed a national character and importance.

But the slavery question had now brought on a national crisis. Too long it had hung over the land like a storm-cloud that is to overwhelm it with ruin. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency (1860) was followed by the secession of most of the slave-holding States (1861), secession by civil war, and civil war by the abolition of slavery in the land. All the resources of the country being needed to carry on the war, it would seem, at first sight, no time could be worse chosen for pressing the claims of the Pacific Railway than when men so doubted and feared for the nation itself.

The people, however, thought otherwise, and they were to rule. Indeed, at the moment the Union was most seriously threatened with dissolution, the idea of binding the Great West more firmly to it seemed dictated by a wise forecast, since, if remoteness were to be an element of weakness to the nation, then the sooner that remoteness were done away with, the better for its security.

Congress made liberal offers of moneys and lands, and work began both in California (1862) and Nebraska[5] (1863). The route from the Missouri first begun followed the old emigrant trail up the Platte Valley, thence crossing the mountains into the Utah Basin, where the road from the west was expected to join it. As the Platte Valley is nearly a dead level from the Missouri to the mountains, the work went on rapidly over this part of the line. Twelve thousand men were employed on it. In front gangs of laborers shovelled up the loose earth to form the embankment; after these came the tie-layers and track-layers; who were again closely followed by the locomotive, with the cars in which the workmen slept and ate since leaving the settlements behind them.

When the track neared the Black Hills, the Indians tried to stop its farther progress. They looked upon its coming as destined to drive away the buffalo from their old feeding-grounds, and so starve them out of their country. In this belief they attacked the laborers, tore up the tracks, and so harassed the builders that the work could only go on under the protection of United States soldiers. Some well-meaning people thought it wrong thus to invade the Indians' hunting-grounds for any purpose whatsoever, and Wendell Phillips rejoiced that they had risen in defence of them. Said he, "All hail and farewell to the Pacific Railroad! Haunt that road with such dangers that none will dare use it!"

The work, however, steadily went on. On the 10th of May, 1869, the two ends came together at Promontory Point, Utah, and with impressive ceremonies the Pacific Railway was opened to the traffic of the world. The way to the Indies had been found. Senator Benton's prophecy was fulfilled.

FOOTNOTES

[1] THE LOCOMOTIVE REACHED St. Joseph, Mo., over the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. The telegraph came up the
Missouri River from St. Louis. The telegraph crossed the
plains in advance of the railroad.

[2] PONY EXPRESS followed the old Platte route, _via_ Forts
Kearney, Laramie, the South Pass, Fort Bridger, to Salt Lake.

[3] BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND COMPANY'S route went through the
Indian Territory, Texas, and Arizona, with a branch line
coming from Memphis, Tenn., _via_ Fort Smith, Ark. The coaches
ran day and night, ordinarily making the trip in twenty-five
days.

[4] THE PACIFIC RAILWAY. A bill authorizing it was carried
through Congress in 1859. It provided for three great lines,
namely, the Northern, Southern, and Central, all of which
have been built. The coming on of civil war checked the
enterprise at this time. Government had already caused all
the practicable routes to be surveyed. As far back as 1846
Lieutenant Emory noted down the practicability of the route
up the Arkansas, down the Rio Grande and Gila to San Diego
or Los Angeles, while on the march for California. This is,
practically, the Southern Pacific route of to-day.

[5] CALIFORNIA AND NEBRASKA routes. That begun in California
is called the Central Pacific. The one leaving Omaha is
the Union Pacific. Both lines have many branches. On the
California side the first passenger train reached the top of
the Sierra, Nov. 30, 1867. The Union Pacific did not push its
work until the war was nearly over. By the autumn of 1866 it
was forty miles west of Fort Kearney. By the time the Central
Pacific was in the Truckee Valley (140 miles built), the Union
Pacific was at the Black Hills (500 miles built). Brigham
Young built a portion of the road in Utah.

KANSAS, NEVADA, NEBRASKA AND COLORADO ADMITTED.

Kansas came into the Union (1861) as the seceding States went out. Though peaceful progress was arrested by the war, which kept most of her able-bodied men in the field, she, the youngest State, did her part bravely and well in that memorable conflict of arms, by the side of the older ones. She kept the name of the nation which had dwelt along her great river before the coming of the white men. With the cessation of civil strife began an era of prosperity, hardly paralleled in the history of the nation, and owing, chiefly, to the fertility of her soil, which has raised her to the front rank of agricultural States.

NEVADA[1] may be said to have sprung from the side of California, though originally forming part of Utah. For a time it was known only as Washoe, from the Indians living about the east foot of the great Sierra.

A little surface gold was found here as early as 1850 by emigrants who carried the news to California. Their report brought a number of eager gold-seekers into the gulches around what has since grown up to be Virginia City, and it was while searching for gold that rich silver ores were discovered early in 1859, on Mount Davidson. Here on the eastern slope of this mountain, near the newly discovered silver lode, the town of Virginia began with a few log huts. In sixteen years it had a population of twenty-five thousand. In 1864 Nevada was admitted to the Union.

NEBRASKA[2] in soil and climate is quite like Kansas, though somewhat less fertile. Though opened to settlement at the same time Kansas was, emigration was mostly directed to the latter State by the slavery excitement. In 1861 the area of Nebraska was much reduced by the forming of Dakota, though it is still larger than all New England. Omaha,[3] Plattsmouth, and Nebraska City grew up as outfitting points for the commerce of the plains. All were villages in 1857. As the railway system of Iowa unerringly directed itself toward the Platte, Omaha, the capital, grew in importance; but when the terminus of the Pacific Railway was fixed there, its future was assured. From this time onward the progress of Nebraska was marked. In 1867 it came into the sisterhood of States.

COLORADO was named for the great river which rises among its mountains. It was formed (1861) of portions taken from New Mexico, Utah and Kansas. Besides its mineral wealth, the raising of sheep and cattle has grown to be a great industry. In 1876 Colorado was admitted to the Union.

FOOTNOTES

[1] NEVADA, Spanish for "snowy," is aptly called "The Desert
State." Except lead and silver it produces little or nothing.
Carson, the capital, is named for Fremont's old guide. Though
silver-mines were also opened in the Reese River District
(Austin) the chief mineral deposits were found about Virginia
City. A great rush set in there from California, where the
excitement about Washoe quite rivalled, for a time, that of
1849. Here are the great Comstock, Gould and Curry and other
rich silver lodes. This explains why population is chiefly
concentrated in one spot in the west of the State. California
is its natural outlet. In sixteen years the Comstock mines
yielded over two hundred million dollars in silver bullion.

[2] NEBRASKA. When I visited Nebraska (April, 1858), a few
settlements were begun on the Nemaha, Saline, Big Blue, and
Elkhorn, but all would not have made one good-sized town. The
great tide of western travel set through Independence, Kansas
City, Leavenworth and St. Joseph. In 1872 the London _Times_
openly discouraged emigration to Nebraska, urging the Red
River country instead. Western Nebraska is unfertile.

[3] OMAHA is six hundred miles from St. Louis by the
Missouri River, five hundred from Chicago, and 1,898 from San
Francisco. It has a charming site. In 1866 its population had
risen to eight thousand.

THE RECENT STATES.

It is at least worthy of notice, in following out the law governing the movement of our people from east to west, that the great block of wilderness country which Lewis and Clarke first explored should be the last settled. The course their explorations took passes through Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington to the Pacific Ocean.

The reason for this long pause between the first and last acts in the story of the Great West is found in the fact that later exploration soon determined in favor of the Platte Valley, as the one affording by far the shortest way through the centre of the continent.

Therefore the new States, just named, are mostly an outgrowth of the more central region in which the great body of emigration has first settled. It may be further remarked, that in those Territories where gold and silver occur, settlement was nearly simultaneous.

IDAHO,[1] like Nevada, grew up from the discovery of gold and silver in her borders. The finding of these precious metals goes no farther back than the summer of 1862. These were placer deposits. A year later quartz lodes, rivalling in richness those of Colorado, were brought to light. Soon the old Hudson's Bay post of Fort Boisé[2] was turned into a thrifty town. The mineral find rapidly extended along the Salmon, Boisé, and Clearwater Rivers. In the south, Idaho City sprung up on the Boisé; in the north, Lewiston on the Clearwater was settled. In 1860 Idaho scarcely had any white people: in 1863 they were sufficiently numerous to entitle them to have a Territorial government.

WASHINGTON[3] is another rib taken from the side of the older Oregon, whose boundaries so fortunately gave us the magnificent harbors embraced by Puget Sound. Here therefore is the natural terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway,[4] which comes from Duluth and St. Paul, crosses the tier of States now under consideration, and reaches Tacoma by way of the Lower Columbia. Washington was made a State in 1889.

MONTANA.[5] About all known of this Territory in 1860 was that it contained two important military posts: Fort Benton at the head of navigation on the Missouri, and Fort Union near the mouth of the Yellowstone. But in 1861 gold was found in a gulch lying at the head of the Jefferson Fork of the Missouri. Population rushed in. Here Bannack City was founded. As with Colorado and Nevada, so here the surface diggings were quickly worked out. In 1862 Virginia City was founded as the successor of Bannack; and in 1863 Helena as the successor of Virginia, and supply-point for the mines of the Blackfeet country. Montana was organized as a Territory in 1864. A year later there were but four post-offices, at which tri-weekly mails were received, while but one newspaper was printed in the Territory. Yet even at this early day, when mining engrossed the attention of nine-tenths of the population, it was seen that the agricultural resources of Montana were very great, and since the building of the Northern Pacific Railway along the Yellowstone, that valley has become to Montana what the Willamette is to Oregon. Montana was admitted to the Union in 1889.

DAKOTA has signally demonstrated its capacity for supporting large populations, either by raising grain crops or live stock, for which the wild grasses of the plains furnish abundant pasturage. Divided by the Missouri in the centre, and bounded on the east by the Red River of the North, Dakota has come to be a great wheat-producing region in its eastern half, and a cattle-growing one in its western. Made a Territory in 1861, Dakota came into the Union as two States (North Dakota and South Dakota) in 1889.

WYOMING contains in its north-western corner the wonderful Yellowstone Park, which Congress with wise forecast has set apart for the benefit and instruction of mankind. At no distant day this remarkable and picturesque region bids fair to become the chosen playground of the nation.

Thus the Great American Desert, which only to have crossed was once thought a feat worthy of being handed down to posterity, whose length and breadth were vividly portrayed as never meant to be inhabited by man, is now everywhere supporting large and prosperous populations.

It is but just to add that the Mormons first disproved this popular fallacy by making their homes in the heart of the desert, which imperfect knowledge first led them to choose, and necessity afterward forced to make trial of. These people have therefore done a work as remarkable in its way as that performed by the early New-England colonists.

It should further be added, that the occupation of these Territories, notably Montana and Dakota, was productive of serious conflicts with the Indians, who fought to the death for the preservation of their last hunting-grounds. The Sioux war of 1876 was caused by the rush of gold-seekers into the Black Hills, which the Sioux had reserved to themselves. They attacked the whites, to whose aid soldiers were sent. One band led by General Custer perished to a man on the Little Big-Horn, in battle with confederate Indians, led by Sitting Bull, a Sioux chief.

FOOTNOTES

[1] IDAHO. Indian, said to signify "shining mountains," more
fully interpreted by some to mean "gem of the mountains."
Originally part of Oregon. The Territory contains the great
falls of the Shoshone, or Snake, or Lewis River. Fremont's
Peak is its great landmark on the east.

[2] BOISÉ (see p. 241) became a government post upon our
occupation of Oregon. The capital was first fixed at Lewiston,
then removed to Boisé.

[3] WASHINGTON. Besides the excellence of its harbors,
Washington is noted for its inexhaustible forests, thus making
it a great lumber-producing region. In the eastern part wheat
is grown, and there are good grazing lands.

[4] NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY unites the railway and water
systems of the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi with the
Pacific. It is the route forecast by Jona. Carver in 1766.
(See p. 149.)

[5] MONTANA. The name is simply descriptive of a mountainous
region. Fort Benton was named for Thomas H. Benton. From
this point returning trappers or traders were in the habit of
floating down the river to St. Louis in canoes before the day
of steamboats. Fort Union was a trading-post established with
reference to the Yellowstone Valley route to the mountains.

THE WORK OF EIGHTY YEARS.

Our story closes with the national domain completed within limits grander than even the sagacious Jefferson had hoped for. Though "peace hath her victories," peaceful development, such as has followed the settlement of grave political questions, affords fewer materials for history than the stirring records of war, or the annals of political strife.

The West shared with the East in the drain made upon its resources by the Secession War. Its recovery from the effects of that war has, however, been so marked that to-day all traces of it are nearly effaced from its outward and inward life. National unity is no longer a thing of territorial expansion, as with the statesmen of Jefferson's and Benton's time, but now means a perfect union of the whole people in the cause of progress, and for the welfare of mankind. In that peaceful conflict the once hostile sections are now engaged with a praiseworthy emulation.

The child who was born when Lewis and Clarke set out for the Pacific, may now be the living witness to what we have called the marvel of the nineteenth century. It is true, much of the rapid progress of the Great West is due to the development of its extraordinary mineral wealth, by which masses of population have been suddenly moved upon particular points, so forcing settlement beyond its legitimate growth.

There have been, however, other potent agencies at work to the same end. Foremost among these, always keeping in mind the constantly improving facilities for moving emigrants into the West, come the great improvements made in mechanical arts. And first of all we should class the reaping-machine, invented by Cyrus H. McCormick, which is thought to have advanced the line of civilization westward many miles each year. Without this invention, what was an uninhabited and unproductive region forty years ago would hardly have been converted into the granary of the continent, with its millions of people, its marvellous productiveness, and its growing weight in the nation. In the East small farms are the rule; in the West, the exception. The difference, at least, seems to be largely owing to the grass-mower, and grain-reaping machines that were unknown to agriculturists of a former generation, though allowance must be made for the better conditions of soil, which more generally adapt it for cultivation. Great bodies of fertile lands, such as exist in the States of Kansas and Nebraska, are unknown in the East.

Then the building of the Pacific railways has contributed greatly to the rise of the West. Munificently endowed by Government with moneys and lands, the sale of the latter to settlers became an instant and potent means to the building-up of the unoccupied country. In its pre-emption and homestead laws the Government has also offered unusual privileges to all who wished to settle on the vacant public domain; thus putting within the reach of men of small means, the most valuable and productive farming lands in the world. In this respect no government has done so much for its middle-class population as ours. And no population has more quickly returned to the giver the benefits it has received.

One other active means to the making of the Great West should not be overlooked. Passing by the explorers, whose names are familiar, we come to a class of men whose work was no less important in its way. Trained journalists like Horace Greeley, Samuel Bowles, Albert D. Richardson, Henry Villard, Thomas W. Knox, and William Phillips, did much to make the West known to the East in all its aspects, whether political, social, or economical, so depicting its inside and outside life to a multitude of readers, many of whom became actual emigrants in consequence.

These combined agencies, all working together in harmony, have produced extraordinary results. For instance, at the time we bought it all Louisiana, counting from New Orleans to the Missouri, had only about forty-five thousand people. In 1880, under not quite eighty years of American rule, it had over eleven millions, or more than twice as many as all the States had when Louisiana was ceded to us. The whole population of French and Spanish Louisiana did not equal that of Minneapolis, St. Paul, or Kansas City at the present time, neither of which had a single settler at the date of cession.

Spain thought to control the continent with a few soldiers and missionaries. Her civilization, barbaric in its origin, is mediæval rather than modern. In America it could rise no higher than its source. Mexico and Cuba, two of its earliest conquests, show what it has been able to do in the New World in three hundred and fifty years of rule.

France frittered away her opportunities in schemes too vast for the time or the means appointed for their accomplishment. It is the story of force without forecast. Her explorers overran the country, but left few substantial footmarks behind them. One reads French names everywhere, but sees no cities founded. The policy of France, like that of Spain, looked more to getting a revenue from America than colonizing it. Hence every avenue of individual effort was made to lead back to the royal exchequer.

Now let the man who is not yet fifty years old take down the geography he studied when a schoolboy, and put his finger in the middle of the State of Iowa. He will have touched the border of that Great American Desert whose story we have been telling him.

INDEX.

Acoma visited and described by the Spaniards, 35, 39 (_note_);
further description, 42, 43;
mission church of, 52.

Adams, John Quincy, defends the right of petition, 248.

Alamo, The, 243, 246 (_note_).

Alaska, settlements in and purchase of, by the United States, 142
(_note_).

Aleutian Archipelago discovered, 141;
beginnings of the fur-trade at, 141;
settlements, 142 (and _note_).

Allouez, Fr. Claude, goes to Lake Superior, 77;
goes with Dablon to the Wisconsin River, 78.

American Fur Company organized, 212.

Apaches of New Mexico, 255.

Arizona, missions in, 38;
the name, 39 (_note_).

Arizona bought of Mexico, 288, 289.

Arkansas nation, Joliet and Marquette visit them, 89;
towns, 90, 92 (_note_);
called "handsome men," 91.

Arkansas Post in 1803, 178.

Arkansas River, settlement begun on, 127.

Arkansas Territory settlements (1819), 222, 223 (_note_).

Arkansas admitted to the Union, 227.

Ashburton treaty, 239, 241 (_note_).

Astor, John Jacob, plans an establishment on the Columbia, 212.

Astoria founded, 213;
sold, 214, 230, 233 (_note_).

Atchison, David R., 299 (_note_).

Atchison, Kan., founded, 296, 299 (_note_).

Austin, Stephen F., goes to Texas, 242.

Behring, Vitus, sails on a voyage of discovery, 140, 142
(_note_);
determines the separation of the continents, 140;
death, 141.

Bent, Charles, governor of New Mexico, 254.

Bent's Fort, 241 (_note_), 254, 256 (_note_).

Benton, Thomas H., 227;
sent to the Senate, 229;
identified with the Oregon question, 231;
meets Fremont, 234.

Bienville, 123, 130 (note);
made governor, 128;
founds New Orleans, 128.

Bison, The, first mentioned, 36, 39 (_note_).

Black Hills located, 185.

Boone, Daniel, leads emigrants to Kentucky, 165, 211 (_note_).

Bonneville, Benjamin L. E., visits Oregon, 232, 233 (_note_).

Boundary of the United States, rectified by the war with
Mexico, 263.

Brown, John, in Kansas, 304, 307 (_note_).

Butterfield Overland Stage Company, 317, 320 (_note_).

Button, Sir Thomas, in Hudson's Bay, 133.

Cabrillo's voyage, 65 (_note_).

Cache-à-la-Poudre River, 238, 241 (_note_).

California, the name, 55, 65 (_note_);
coast explored, 55-59;
missions founded, 59-63;
commercial policy under Spanish rule, 64, 65;
coveted by the United States, 256;
why, 257;
emigration to, 263 (_note_);
we fail to buy it, 258;
or separate it from Mexico, 288;
England suspected of coveting it, 258;
the American settlers seize the government, 261;
the flag raised at Monterey, 261;
conquered, 262;
in revolt again, 262;
subdued, 263;
Mexico cedes it to the United States, 263;
gold discovered, 272;
rush for the mines, 274;
newspapers of, in 1848, 274, 275 (_note_);
effect on the country, 278, 279 (_note_);
routes to, 280, 281, 282, 284 (_note_);
commerce opened with the interior, 283;
population in 1849, 284;
under military government, 285;
the interregnum, 285;
miners' courts, 286;
State government formed, 287;
struggle in Congress, 287;
admitted to the Union a free State, 287;
Pacific Railroad in, 318, 320 (_note_).

Calumet, The, 89;
virtue of, 92 (_note_).

Canada, conquest of, 146 (_note_).

Cape Flattery named, 144, 146 (_note_).

Cape Mendocino, 65 (_note_).

Carson, Christopher, 234;
stopped by Gen. Kearney, 256, 263 (_note_).

Carver, Jonathan, his idea, 149;
gets to the Mississippi, 150;
ascends the Minnesota, 151;
his "Travels," 152.

Cenis Indians, 116, 117 (_note_).

Champlain, Samuel de, founds Quebec, 69;
at Montreal, 71;
hears about the Great Lakes, 71, 72;
a prisoner, 74, 79 (_note_).

Charles V. (of Spain), events of his reign, 4-8;
last days of, 53, 54;
his character, 81.

Childs, J. B., on the way to Oregon, 237.

Chouteau, Peter, 198, 204 (_note_).

Cibola, Father Marco goes to, 32, 39 (_note_).

Clarke, William, explores Louisiana, 187, 191 (_note_). _See_
Lewis.

Clarke's River (Ore.) named, 197.

Clay, Henry, defeated on the Texas issue (1844), 245.

Colorado, gold in, 208;
discoveries on Cherry Creek, 309;
Denver City founded, 310;
great rush of gold-seekers, 310;
stage-route established from the Missouri, 311;
discoveries on Clear Creek, 312;
Gregory, 312;
other settlements, 313;
surface diggings give out, 314;
but gold quartz struck, 314;
a State, 322.

Colorado River explored, 33;
the name, 39 (_note_).

Colorado Desert crossed, 65.

Columbia River missed by Cook, 145;
and Vancouver, 146 (_note_);
discovered, 161, 162 (_note_), 191 (_note_);
a bone of contention, 230, 233 (_note_).

Columbia, the ship, 160, 161, 162 (_note_).

Columbus, Christopher, fails to find the way to India, 3;
result of his discoveries, 3;
his death, 4.

Cook, James, sent to the Pacific, 143, 146 (_note_);
discovers Sandwich Islands, 144;
names Cape Flattery and Mount Edgecumbe, 144, 145;
tries to sail east to Hudson's Bay, 145;
his death, 146.

Coppermine River explored, 137.

Coronado, Vasquez de, explores New Mexico, 32, 39 (_note_).

Cortez, Hernando, in Mexico, 7;
reaches the Great South Sea, 7.

Council Bluffs, visited and named, 188;
Long winters there, 221.

Coureurs de Bois, 125, 130 (_note_).

Crozat, Anthony, his monopoly, 124, 126.

Cuba, importance of, to Spanish conquests in America, 4.

Custer, George A., killed in battle, 325.

Dablon, Fr. Claude, founds mission at Sault Ste. Marie, 78, 80
(_note_).

Dakota, great progress in, 324.

De Fuca, Juan, discovers Straits of Fuca, 59.

Dubuque, Julien, in Iowa, 183.

Denver City founded, 310;
in 1859, 313, 314 (_note_).

Denver, James W., 299 (_note_), 310.

De Soto, Hernando, lands in Florida, 11;
his army, 11, 12;
cruel conduct toward the natives, 13, 14, 22;
his wonderful marches, 15, 17 (_note_);
escape of his followers, 16;
death and burial, 18;
described, 17 (_note_).

Douglas, Stephen A., author of "Popular Sovereignty," 288.

Drake, Sir Francis, reaches California, 56;
takes possession, and names it New Albion, 57;
his port, 66 (_note_).

El Dorado. The Spaniards seek it in Florida, 14;
the Indians mislead them, 28 (_note_).

El Paso del Norte founded, 37;
in 1807, 208.

Elizabeth of England, her character, 147.

England claims the North-west coast, 146 (_note_);
loses her American colonies, 165.

Falls of St. Anthony named, 107, 109 (_note_);
Indian superstition about, 151.

Fire-worship, 46.

Florida discovered and named, 6;
its extent, 6, 7;
initial point, 7, 9 (_note_);
De Soto invades it, 11;
Indians of, 20-28;
ceded back to Spain, 164.

Fontaine qui bouille, 314 (and _note_).

Fort Boisé, 233 (_note_);
Fremont there, 238, 241 (_note_);
made capital of Idaho, 323, 325 (_note_).

Fort Chipewyan, 138, 139 (_note_).

Fort Crèvecœur, 101, 104 (_note_).

Fort Hall, 233 (_note_), 238.

Fort Kearney, Neb., 294.

Fort Laramie, 235, 241 (_note_).

Fort Leavenworth, 293, 294 (_note_).

Fort Prudhomme, 103, 104 (_note_).

Fort Riley, Kan., 293.

Fort Scott, Kan., 294.

Fort Smith, 223 (_note_).

Fort Walla Walla, 238.

France contends with Spain for dominion, and is defeated, 6;
cedes Louisiana to Spain, 163;
plays her own game, 168 (_note_);
attitude hostile toward us, 171;
sells us Louisiana, 174.

Free-soil party formed, 290.

Fremont, J. C., meets Senator Benton, 234;
sent to explore South Pass, 234;
ascends Fremont's Peak, 236;
what he accomplished or recommended, 236;
corrects the popular error about the Great Desert, 236;
sent to the Lower Columbia, 237;
finds a new pass through the Rockies, 238;
explores Great Salt Lake, 238;
in California, 256;
is there again as war is impending, 258;
ordered out of the country, 259;
heads the American settlers in a revolt against the Mexican
Government, 260.

Fremont's Peak ascended, 236.

French Spoliation Fund, its origin, 174.

Frontenac (Louis de Buade) Comte de, made governor of Canada, 83;
his character, 84;
builds a post on Lake Ontario, 97.

Garrison, William Lloyd, leads anti-slavery men, 247.

Gilpin, William, predicts mineral wealth of Rocky Mountains, 308.

Golden Gate named, 279 (_note_).

Gray, Robert, first sails into the Columbia River, 161, 162
(_note_).

Great American Desert described by Long, 223;
its bearing on the Oregon question, 231;
Fremont corrects the popular error, 236;
its present condition, 325, 329.

Great Salt Lake first mentioned, 35.

Great Salt Lake explored by Fremont, 238, 241 (_note_).

Gregory Diggings, Col., 312.

Gregory, John H., finds gold on Clear Creek, Col., 312.

Gulf of California, missions on, 38.

Gulf of Mexico, early knowledge of, 10, 17 (_note_);
coasts described, 114.

Hearne, Samuel, goes to Coppermine River, 137.

Hennepin, Fr. Louis, 99;
sent by La Salle to explore the Lower Illinois, 101;
described, 105, 106;
ascends the Upper Mississippi, 105;
taken by Sioux, 106;
names Falls of St. Anthony, 107;
released by French traders, 108;
his account of his explorations, 109 (_note_).

Hot Springs of the Washita, 222.

Houston, Samuel, made president of Texas, 243.

Hudson, Henry, 132, 135 (_note_).

Hudson's Bay explored, 132, 133.

Hudson's Bay Company formed, 134;
its early struggles, 134;
intent of the grant, 136.

Humboldt Mountains and River named, 258.

Hurons, 71, 72;
driven from Lake Huron, 76, 79 (_note_).

Iberville, Le Moyne de, 118, 123 (_note_);
arrives at Pensacola, 119, and Mobile Bay, 119;
in the Mississippi River, 120;
gets a letter from La Salle, 120;
forms settlements in Biloxi Bay and Mobile, 121;
death, 123.

Idaho, 323, 325 (_note_).

Illinois nation, Joliet and Marquette among, 88.

INDIANS OF FLORIDA, earliest accounts of them, 20;
arms and implements, 21;
singular tradition about the whites, 24;
villages, 24, 25;
dress, 25, 26;
worship, 26;
mode of life, 27.
INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO, their houses and villages, 34, 35,
40-43;
folk-lore, 45-49;
customs, 50;
government, 52;
Pimos Indians, 39 (_note_).
INDIANS OF GREAT LAKES, Hurons, 71-72;
Iroquois, 72.
INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA, do honor to Drake, 56;
as inhabitants of missions, 61-64;
in mines, 279.
INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY, 137.
INDIANS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND, 144 (_note_).
INDIANS OF NORTH-WEST TERRITORY, 168.
INDIANS OF OREGON, 194-196, 197 (_note_);
missions among, 233 (_note_).
INDIANS OF KANSAS, 293.
INDIANS OF TEXAS, 242.
INDIANS OF GREAT PLAINS, 186, 221.

(_See_ also under various tribal names.)

Iowa admitted to the Union, 248.

Iroquois, 72;
they block up Lakes Ontario and Erie to the French, 76;
conquer and disperse the Hurons, 76, 79 (_note_).

Isthmus of Darien crossed by Balboa, 7.

Jefferson, Thomas, moves to unravel the Mississippi question,
172;
sets exploration of Louisiana on foot, 184;
sends Lewis and Clarke to the Pacific, 187.

Jesuit missionaries in Canada, 74, 79 (_note_).

Joliet, Louis, sent to find the Mississippi River, with
Marquette, 85;
reaches it, 87;
visits the Illinois, 88;
reaches the Arkansas nation, 90;
turns back, 91, 92 (_note_).

Kansas explored by Pike, 200.

Kansas, parties to the struggle over, 290;
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 292;
described, 292;
adapted to slave labor, 294;
first advantages with the party of slavery, 295;
emigration to, 296;
first settlements in, 296;
Free-State settlements, 298, 299 (_note_);
Missourians seize Territorial government, 302;
Topeka Constitution, 302;
Lawrence besieged, 302;
Free-State leaders held for treason, 303;
Lawrence suffers from outrages, 303;
Free-State legislature dispersed, 303;
Free-State leaders, 304;
in a state of anarchy, 305;
Lecompton Constitution formed, 305;
defeated, 306;
ballot-stuffing, 306;
admitted to the Union, 320.

Kansas City, beginnings of, 234, 241 (_note_).

Kearney, Stephen W., marches to New Mexico, 252;
takes possession, 254;
goes on to California, 255, 256 (_note_);
beaten at San Pasqual, 263.

Kendrick, John, sails through the Straits of Fuca, 147
(_note_), 158.

Kentucky admitted to the Union, 167.

Kino, Fr. Eusebius, founds missions, 38.

La Chine, origin of name, 96, 99 (_note_).

Laclede, Pierre, founds St. Louis, 179, 183 (_note_).

Lake Michigan, 92 (_note_).

Lake Pepin, 107, 109 (_note_).

Lake Superior Indians at Quebec, 77.

Lane, James H., 304, 307 (_note_).

La Peyrouse, 64, 66 (_note_).

Larkin, Thomas O., 264 (_note_);
describes gold discovery, 274, 275.

La Salle, Robert Cavelier de, described, 93, 94;
goes in search of the Ohio, 97;
Frontenac his friend, 97;
plans a colony at mouth of the Mississippi, 98;
gets a patent from Louis XIV., 98, 99 (_note_);
builds a fort and vessel on Niagara River, 99;
sails for Green Bay, 100;
starts hence for the Mississippi River, and descends the
Illinois, 101;
winters among the Illinois, 101;
returns to Frontenac, 101;
again sets out, 102;
finds Crèvecœur in ruins and deserted, 102;
makes a third attempt, 103;
builds Fort Prudhomme, 103;
reaches the Gulf and takes possession of Louisiana, 103, 104;
goes to France, 111;
sails for the Mississippi River, 112;
lands on the coast of Texas, 112;
a chapter of disasters, 113;
builds Fort St. Louis on Lavaca River, 113;
sets out for the Mississippi, 115;
is killed, 117 (and _note_);
name honored, 123 (_note_).

Law, John, his Mississippi scheme, 126, 130 (_note_).

Lawrence, Kan., founded, 298, 299 (_note_);
besieged, 302;
destruction of property at, 303.

Leavenworth, Kan., founded, 296, 299 (_note_).

Lecompton settled, 297, 299 (_note_);
pro-slavery party form a State constitution at, 305.

Ledyard, John, 144, 145;
his idea, 153, 156 (_note_);
a deserter, 154;
goes to France, 154;
Jefferson's advice taken, 155;
attempts to reach the north-west coast by way of Kamschatka,
and fails, 156.

Lewis, Meriwether, explores Louisiana, 187, 191 (_note_);
ascends the Missouri, 188;
among the Mandans, 189;
reaches the Great Falls, 191;
sets out across the mountains, 192;
brings back guides and horses, 194;
sufferings in the mountains, 195;
reaches Lewis River, 195;
descends the Columbia, 195;
and reaches the sea, 197.

Lewis River (Snake River of Oregon), named, 195.

Little Rock, 223 (_note_).

Livingston, Robert R., opens negotiations for the purchase of
Louisiana, 173, 175 (_note_).

Long, Stephen Harriman, sent to explore the Platte Valley, 219;
ascends the Missouri in a steamboat, 219, 223 (_note_);
winters near Council Bluffs, 221;
goes down the South Platte to the mountains, 222;
thence by the Canadian to Fort Smith, 222;
pronounces the Great Plains a desert, 223.

Long's Peak ascended, 222.

Louis XIV., beginning of his reign, 81;
its character described, 130 (_note_).

Louisiana, the name, 104;
La Salle's colony, 109, 123 (_note_);
Iberville's colony, 118;
under Crozat, 125;
under Law, 126;
settlements begun, 127;
ceded to Spain, 163;
upper settlements, 166;
lower settlements, 167;
ceded to the United States, 174;
settlements and population in 1803, 176-183;
a State, 214.

Louisville founded, 168.

Mackenzie, Alexander, discovers the Mackenzie River, 138;
reaches the Pacific, 139.

Mandan tradition, 39 (_note_).

Marco de Niza explores New Mexico, 32, 39 (_note_).

Marquette, Fr. James, goes to Lake Superior, 78, 80 (_note_);
goes with Joliet to find the Mississippi River (_see_ Joliet).

Marshall, James W., discovers gold in California, 272.

Mendoza, Antonio de, sends explorers into New Mexico, 32.

McCormick, Cyrus H., his reaping-machine, 327.

Meramec lead-mines, 182.

Mexico, conquest of, 5;
an historic initial-point, 7.

Mexico, war with her, 250 (_note_);
it is unpopular in the North, 251 (_note_);
peace and its results, 263.

Minnesota explored by Hennepin, 105-107;
by Carver, 150-152;
posts in, 183;
by Pike, 198;
by Nicollet and Fremont, 234, 241 (_note_);
admitted to the Union, 307.

Mississippi River, The, nearly discovered, 10;
De Soto finds it, 16;
name, 17 (_note_);
the Sioux describe it, 78, 80 (_note_);
acquires a first importance with the French, 82;
fables about, 89;
explored by Joliet and Marquette, 85-92;
by La Salle, 103, 104.

Mississippi Territory formed, 167.

Missions in New Mexico, 37;
in California, 60-64, 66 (_note_);
on Lake Huron, 74, 75;
Lake Superior, 77, 78, 79;
Oregon, 233 (_note_), 238, 240;
Texas, 246 (_note_);
Kansas, 293.

Missouri, settlements in, 1819, 219;
struggle over her admission as a State, 223-227;
her growth, 228.

Missouri Compromise, the, 226;
set aside, 292, 294 (_note_).

Missouri River first mentioned, 89, 92 (_note_);
its sources unknown, 1783, 162, 168 (_note_), 185, 191
(_note_).

Monroe Doctrine enunciated, 231, 233 (_note_).

Montana, 323, 325 (_note_).

Monterey visited, 59;
mission at, 61;
name, 66 (_note_).

Montezuma, 48, 52 (_note_).

Mormons as soldiers, 253;
rise of the sect, 268 (_note_);
decide to go to Salt Lake, and why, 266;
their city, 266, 268 (_note_);
their growth, 267;
and creed, 267;
in California, 273, 275 (_note_).

Mormon Diggings, 273, 274, 275 (_note_).

Moscoso, Luis de, succeeds De Soto and saves his men, 17
(_note_), 18.

Mount St. Elias discovered, 141.

Natchez Indians, 123, 124.

Natchez, its importance to Louisiana, 123;
fort at, 124.

Natchitoches occupied by French, 124, 130 (_note_).

Nebraska, Act forming the Territory, 292;
not adapted for slave labor, 294;
Pacific Railroad begun in, 318, 320 (_note_);
growth of, 321;
admitted to the Union, 321, 322 (_note_).

New England Emigrant Aid Company, 297, 299 (_note_).

New Madrid, 178, 183 (_note_).

New Mexico first explored by Marco de Niza and Vasquez de
Coronado, 32;
fallacies concerning it, 30;
obstacles in the way, 30;
second exploration, 33;
third do., 33, 34;
villages and people described, 34, 35;
named, 35;
colonized, 37;
missions in, 37;
native insurrection in, 37;
new invasion, 38;
native cities described, 40-44;
in 1807, 205-208;
its importance to emigration, 251, 252;
Kearney sent to take it, 252;
yields without fighting, 254;
insurrection at Taos, 256 (_note_);
ceded to the United States, 263.

New Orleans founded, 128, 130 (_note_);
described by Charlevoix, 129;
in 1803, 177, 178;
attempt of England to seize, 214.

Nevada, rise of, 321;
a State, 321, 322 (_note_).

Nez Percés mission, 238.

Niagara River and Falls, 74, 79 (_note_);
seized by La Salle, 99, 104 (_note_).

Nicolet, Jean, at Green Bay, 75, 79 (_note_).

Nootka Sound, 146 (_note_).

North-west Company, 183 (_note_).

North-west Territory formed and slavery excluded, 165;
area and population, 166, 168 (_note_).

Northern Pacific Railway, 323, 325 (_note_).

Nueces River, 249, 251 (_note_).

Ohio River a boundary between slave and free States, 165.

Omaha, 321, 322 (_note_).

Ordinance of 1787, 165.

Oregon, name first mentioned, 152, 153 (_note_).

Oregon, first American establishments in, 212, 213;
rivalries of the fur-traders, 229;
quarrel with England about boundary, 230;
public opinion about Oregon, 231;
various settlements in, 232, 233 (notes);
effort to keep Americans out of, 239;
Dr. Whitman's heroic efforts to win Oregon for us, 239;
Ashburton treaty, 239;
Willamette Valley being settled, 240;
admitted to the Union, 307.

Oregon trail, 229, 233 (_note_);
Fremont explores, 234, 235;
hard travelling it, 239.

Pacific Ocean, or Great South Sea, reached by Balboa and
Cortez, 7.

Pacific Railroad talked of, 257;
on the frontier, 316;
authorized, 320 (_note_);
begun during the civil war, 318;
attacked by Indians, 319;
completed, 319;
effect on the growth of the Great West, 327.

Pensacola, 119, 123 (_note_).

Peter the Great attempts discoveries in the North-West, 140.

Philip II. (of Spain), last days of, 53, 54;
his character, 81.

Pierce, Franklin, elected President, 292, 294 (_note_).

Pike, Zebulon M., explores the Arkansas, 198, 204 (_note_);
in Kansas, 200;
among the Pawnees, 200;
ascends Pike's Peak, 202;
lost in the mountains, 203;
taken to Santa Fé, 203.

Pike's Peak ascended and named, 202;
first name for Colorado gold-mines, 309.

Pimeria, 38, 39 (_note_).

Platte River, 185, 191 (_note_).

Platte Valley, Long explores it, 219.

Polk, James K., 246 (and _note_).

Ponce de Leon, Juan, discovers Florida, 6.

Pony express, 316, 320 (_note_).

Prairie du Chien, Joliet at, 87;
Jonathan Carver at, 152;
in 1803, 183.

Prince Rupert founds Hudson's Bay Company, 134, 135 (_note_).

Pursley, James, discovers gold in Colorado, 210.

Quebec founded, 69;
taken, 75.

Robinson, Charles, in Kansas, 299;
indicted for treason, 302, 307 (_note_).

Russian American Company, 142.

St. Charles (Mo.), 183 (_note_).

San Diego visited, 59;
mission at, 61.

St. Domingo, 119, 123 (_note_).

St. Genevieve, 183 (_note_).

San Francisco, mission founded, 61.

San Francisco in 1849, 282, 284 (_note_).

Santa Fé founded, 37;
in 1807, 206;
taken by Gen. Kearney, 254.

Santa Fé Trail, 229, 233 (_note_).

San Jacinto, 243, 246 (_note_).

St. Lawrence River, route of French discovery and settlement, 68;
ascended by Cartier and Champlain, 69, 71 (_note_);
the key of the continent, 69.

St. Louis, rise of, 179;
in 1803, 181, 182;
in 1816, 227.

St. Louis of Texas (La Salle's colony), 114, 117 (_note_).

St. Paul, 107, 109 (_note_).

St. Vrain's Fort, 235, 241 (_note_).

Sacramento City founded, 283.

Salt Lake City laid out, 266, 268 (_note_).

Sandwich Islands, discovered, 144;
named, 146 (_note_).

Sault Ste. Marie, possession taken of the Great West by
France, 79.

Scott, Winfield, conquest of Mexico, 263.

Sitka founded, 142 (_note_).

Sioux, first meeting with whites, 77;
Hennepin among, 106, 107, 109 (_note_).

Sioux War (1876), 325.

Slavery introduced by De Soto into Florida, 13;
as practised by the Indians, 17 (_note_);
African slavery in Louisiana, 127, 130 (_note_);
excluded from the North-west Territory, 165;
admitted to Missouri, 223-227;
in Texas, 243, 244;
become a sectional issue, 246;
party formed to antagonize it, 247;
petitions against, refused by Congress, 248;
struggle over the admission of California, 287;
contest in Kansas, 289.

Southern Pacific Railway, 65.

South Pass, Fremont sent to explore it, 234, 241 (_note_).

South Sea, The. _See_ Pacific Ocean.

Spain, mistress of the seas, 2;
what Columbus did for, 3;
divides with Portugal dominion in the East and West, 3, 4;
sends expeditions to Florida and Mexico, 4;
reign of Charles V., 4-8;
her invincibility broken, 59, 66 (_note_);
gives up Vancouver Island to England, 146 (_note_);
claim to north-west coast, 159;
gets back Louisiana, 163;
and Florida, 164;
shuts up New Orleans to our commerce, 172, 175 (_notes 2
and 3_);
loses Mexico, 241.

Steamboat first navigates the Missouri, 219.

Stockton, Robert F., 261;
conquers California, 262.

Stockton, Cal., founded, 283.

Straits of Fuca discovered, 59;
explored, 146 (_note_).

Sutter's Fort, 256, 263 (_note_);
Fremont's headquarters at, 260.

Taylor, Zachary, commands in Mexico, 250, 263.

Tennessee admitted to the Union, 167.

Terra Firma, 9 (_note_).

Texas, 118 (_note_); _see also_ St. Louis of Texas;
Americans invited to, 241;
in 1821, 242, 246 (_note_);
emigration, 2;
and its character, 243;
revolts against Mexico, 243;
conquers her independence, 243;
applies for admission to the Union, 244;
is opposed by the North, 245;
but comes in, 246;
her boundary in dispute, 249.

Topeka Constitution, 307 (_note_).

Utah, 267, 268 (_note_).

Vancouver, George, 146 (_note_).

Vizcaino, Sebastian, enters San Diego and Monterey, 59.

Washington Territory, 323, 325 (_note_).

Webster, Daniel, his attitude toward slavery in new States,
291, 294 (_note_).

Whitman, Marcus, founds a mission in Oregon, 232, 233 (_note_),
238;
his memorable ride to St. Louis, 239.

Wilkes, Charles, explores north-west coast, 240, 241 (_note_).

Willamette Valley settled, 240.

Wisconsin, first white man in, 75, 79 (_note_).

Wisconsin River found to be a tributary of the Mississippi, 78.

Wyeth, Nathaniel J., in Oregon, 232, 233 (_note_).

Wyoming Territory, 324.

Yellowstone Park, 324.

Yellowstone River, 185, 191 (_note_).

Yerba Buena, 282, 284 (_note_).

Young, Brigham, 265.

Zuñi visited by Spaniards, 35, 39 (_note_).

End of Project Gutenberg's The Making of the Great West, by Samuel Adams Drake