The Making of the Great West (Illustrated Edition)

Book excerpt: This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. "This history is intended to meet the want for brief, compact, and handy manuals of the beginnings of our country. In this volume, I have followed up to its legitimate ending the work done by the three great rival powers of modern times in civilizing our continent. I have tried to make it the worthy, if modest, exponent of a great theme. The story grows to absorbing interest, as the great achievement of the age."Contents: Three Rival CivilizationsThe SpaniardsAn Historic EraDe Soto's Discovery of the MississippiDeath and Burial of De SotoThe Indians of FloridaHow New Mexico Came to Be Explored"the Marvellous Country"Folk Lore of the PueblosLast Days of Charles V. And Philip Ii.Sword and Gown in CaliforniaThe FrenchWestward by the Great Inland WaterwaysThe Situation in a.d. 1672 Count FrontenacJoliet and Marquette The Man La SalleLa Salle, Prince of Explorers Discovery of the Upper MississippiThe Lost Colony: St. Louis of TexasIberville Founds LouisianaFrance Wins the PrizeLouis Xiv.The EnglishThe Bleak North-west CoastHudson's Bay to the South SeaThe Russians in AlaskaEngland on the PacificQueen ElizabethWhat Jonathan Carver Aimed to Do in 1766John Ledyard's IdeaA Yankee Ship Discovers the Columbia RiverThe West at the Opening of the CenturyBirth of the American Idea.America for Americans.Acquisition of LouisianaA Glance at Our Purchase The PathfindersLewis and Clarke Ascend the Missouri They Cross the Continent Pike Explores the Arkansas Valley New Mexico in 1807 Gold in Colorado.—a Trapper's Story The Flag in Oregon Louisiana Admitted 1812 The Oregon TrailThe Trapper, Backwoodsman, and EmigrantLong Explores the Platte Valley Missouri and the Compromise of 1821 Arkansas Admitted 1836 Thomas H. Benton's Idea With the Vanguard to OregonTexas Admitted New Political Ideas Iowa Admitted The War With Mexico …