Wild west: new frontier guide9/23/2023 ![]() ![]() There was a sort of bulletin-board about midway and at the foot of the graves stating the circumstances of the frightful tragedy. We stood by the graves of eleven men that were killed last August by the Indians. There, the pioneers are confronted with evidence of the hazards of their journey: On Jabout 6 weeks after leaving Missouri - Sarah's group of wagons arrives at Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory, a major way station on the road west. Her diary was published in book form in 1902. She first published her journal at the request of friends in a local newspaper, the "Rocky Mountain Husbandman," in the early 1880s. We don't know much about Sarah beyond what appears in her journal except that she married and stayed in Virginia City the rest of her life. Sarah details each day's adventures - accidents, sickness, river crossings, Indian encounters, mud, dust, monotony, and terror. The family began their journey on in Missouri and arrived at their destination in Virginia City, Montana Territory on September 6. Her diary doesn't reveal her age, but we can assume she was young, probably a teenager. Sarah Raymond was one of those who made the journey along with her father, mother and brothers. The decision to make the trek could not have been an easy one - motivated no doubt by hard times at home and the promise of better times to the west. ![]() Before the end of the century America's frontierĮxtended to the Pacific and then officially declared closed. Of the offer filling the westward trails with wagon trains loaded withĪll their worldly possessions. With the end of the war, many took advantage In the midst of the Civil War, Congress enacted the Homestead ActĮntitling any head of family, anyone over the age of 21, or any veteran of The discovery of gold in California and the promise ofįertile land lured an estimated 300,000 to the Pacific Coast prior The US government acquired domain over the land to the west of the Mississippi Beginning with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, ![]() A number of factorsĪccelerated the pace of change. Of course, it didn't take 300 years to settle the West. Popular wisdom at the beginning of the 19th century hypothesized it would take at least another 300 years, or most likely longer, to fill the area between the Mississippi and the Pacific coast. It took approximately 300 years from 1500 to 1800 for European population to extend from the East Coast of America to the Mississippi River. ![]()
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