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THE LAST AMERICAN FRONTIER

Stories from American History


      *      *      *      *      *      *

[Illustration]

  THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
  NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO
  ATLANTA. SAN FRANCISCO

  MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
  LONDON. BOMBAY. CALCUTTA
  MELBOURNE

  THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
  TORONTO

      *      *      *      *      *      *


[Illustration]


THE LAST AMERICAN FRONTIER

by

FREDERIC LOGAN PAXSON

Junior Professor of American History in the University of Michigan

Illustrated







New York
The Macmillan Company
1910

All rights reserved

Copyright, 1910,
By the Macmillan Company.

Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1910.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.




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 FE 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


  CHAPTER XXIII

  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE                                         387




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


  THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER                              _Frontispiece_

                                                              PAGE
  MAP: INDIAN COUNTRY AND AGRICULTURAL FRONTIER, 1840-1841      22

  CHIEF KEOKUK                                        _facing_  30

  IOWA SOD PLOW. (From a Cut belonging to the Historical
  Department of Iowa.)                                          46

  MAP: OVERLAND TRAILS                                          57

  FORT LARAMIE, 1842                                  _facing_  78

  MAP: THE WEST IN 1849                                        120

  MAP: THE WEST IN 1854                                        140

  "HO FOR THE YELLOW STONE"                          _facing_  144

  THE MINING CAMP                                        "     158

  FORT SNELLING                                          "     204

  RED CLOUD AND PROFESSOR MARSH                          "     274

  MAP: THE WEST IN 1863                                        300

  POSITION OF RENO ON THE LITTLE BIG HORN            _facing_  360

  MAP: THE PACIFIC RAILROADS, 1884                             380




THE LAST AMERICAN FRONTIER




CHAPTER I

THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT


The story of the United States is that of a series of frontiers which
the hand of man