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BrainPop: Texas Revolution

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The history of Texas is truly unique. Trace its journey from foreign territory to independent nation to 28th state in the union!

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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Epic reaches 75 million kids in class and after school.

Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Epic reaches 75 million kids in class and after school. Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

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EPIC - The Indian Removal Act and The Trail of Tears

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EPIC - The Indian Removal Act and The Trail of Tears

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Read The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears on Epic

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Read The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears on Epic

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Instantly access The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Epic reaches 75 million kids in class and after school.

Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Epic reaches 75 million kids in class and after school. Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

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This includes information about the Transcontinental Railroad

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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This includes information about The Erie Canal

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Video - How the Mexican War Affected Slavery

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Video - How the Mexican War Affected Slavery

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The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law | The Abolitionists | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn how the Mexican-American War led to the Compromise of 1850, and how the Fugitive Slave Law, a key component of the Great Compromise, fueled the antislavery movement through cases such as that of the runaway slave Anthony Burns in these video segments from The Abolitionists | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

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Five key locations on the Oregon Trail | The Kid Should See This

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Visit Five key locations on the Oregon National Historic Trail, perhaps the most famous of the Western Expansion Trails, with the America’s Parks YouTube

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“Old Hickory” increased presidential powers and was the first self-made man to become president, but his Indian Removal Act and support for slavery make him a complicated figure.

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The Surprisingly Short History of The Pony Express

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The Surprisingly Short History of The Pony Express

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The Transcontinental Railroad Recruits Chinese Laborers

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The Transcontinental Railroad Recruits Chinese Laborers

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The Chinese Transcontinental Railroad Workers | Asian Americans | PBS LearningMedia

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The construction of the 1,776-mile Transcontinental Railroad was established by the federal government's Pacific Railway Act of 1862. The Central Pacific Railroad (West, breaking ground in Sacramento, California) and the Union Pacific Railroad (East, breaking ground in Omaha, Nebraska) took on the challenge to link travel between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

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History & Culture - Pony Express National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

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History & Culture - Pony Express National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

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History & Culture - Pony Express National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)

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It is hard to believe that young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days. This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail in eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the t…

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10 Things You May Not Know About the Pony Express - History Lists

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10 Things You May Not Know About the Pony Express - History Lists

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1. The Pony Express was more than twice as fast as its competitors.

In the mid-19th century, California-bound mail had to either be taken overland by a 25-day stagecoach or spend months inside a ship during a long sea voyage. The Pony Express, meanwhile, had an average delivery time of just 10 days. To achieve this remarkable speed, company owners William H. Russell, William B. Waddell and Alexander Majors set up a string of nearly 200 relief stations across what is now Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. Lone horsemen would ride between stations at breakneck pace, switching mounts every 10-15 miles and then handing their cargo off to a new courier after 75-100 miles. The relay system allowed mail to criss-cross the frontier in record time. The company's personal best came in March 1861, when riders carried the inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln from Nebraska to California in just seven days, 17 hours.

2. It was a financial flop.

Despite its enduring place in Old West legend, the Pony Express never turned a profit during its year and a half history. The company began making deliveries in April 1860, but service ground to a halt just a few weeks later when the Pyramid Lake War erupted between the United States and the Paiute Indians. The temporary shutdown cost the company some $75,000, and it continued to hemorrhage cash over the next few months due to high operations costs and its failure to secure a government mail contract. Though hailed in the press for its efficiency and adventurous spirit, the Pony Express eventually folded in October 1861, having lost as much as $200,000.

3. There was a weight limit for Pony Express riders.

Since speed was its main goal, the Pony Express went to great lengths to keep its horses' loads as light as possible. Rather than burly cowboys, most of the riders were small, wiry men who weighed between 100 and 125 pounds-roughly the same size as a modern horseracing jockey. Their average age was around 20, but it wasn't unusual for teenagers as young as 14 to be hired. One man named "Bronco" Charlie Miller claimed he was only 11 years old when he first joined the Pony Express.

4. Riders were required to take a loyalty oath.

In exchange for their $100-150 monthly salaries-a substantial sum for the time-Pony Express riders were expected to take a loyalty oath that read: "I do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God." Those who broke the rules risked being dismissed without pay, but it appears that few Pony Express employees followed the pledge to the letter. Liquor flowed freely at relief stations, and an eyewitness named Richard Burton reported that he "scarcely ever saw a sober rider."

5. Mail was carried in a specially designed saddlebag.

To cut down on weight and facilitate swift horse and rider changes, the Pony Express used a special type of mailbag known as a "mochilla"-the Spanish word for knapsack. This consisted of a leather cover that was draped over the saddle and held in place by the rider's weight. It featured four padlocked pockets-three for mail and one for the rider's timecard-and was capable of holding up to 20 pounds of cargo. At each relief station, riders would simply grab the mochilla off one mount and then throw it over the next, allowing them to switch horses in the span of just two minutes.

6. Ordinary people almost never used the Pony Express.

The speed of the Pony Express didn't come cheap. In its early days the service cost $5 for every half-ounce of mail-the equivalent of some $130 today. Prices were later reduced to just $1, but they still remained too high for everyday mail. Instead, the service was mainly used to deliver newspaper reports, government dispatches and business documents, most of which were printed on tissue-thin paper to keep costs (and weight) down.

7. One rider completed a 380-mile run in less than two days.

In May 1860, Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam took off on the most legendary ride in Pony Express history. The 20-year-old was scheduled to make his usual 75-mile run from Friday's Station east to Buckland Station in Nevada. Upon arriving at Buckland, however, he found that his relief rider was petrified of the Paiute Indians, who had been attacking stations along the route. When the other man refused to take the mail, Haslam jumped back in the saddle and rode on, eventually completing a 190-mile run before delivering his mochilla at Smith's Creek. After a brief rest, he mounted a fresh horse and retraced his steps all the way back to Friday's Station, at one point passing a relay outpost that had been burned by the Paiutes. By the time he finally returned to his home station, "Pony Bob" had traveled 380 miles in less than 40 hours-a Pony Express record.

8. Riders didn't have the deadliest job on the Pony Express.

Pony Express riders had to deal with extreme weather conditions, harsh terrain and the threat of attacks by bandits and Indians, but life may have been even more dangerous for the stock keepers who manned the relief stations. Their outposts were usually crude, dirt floor hovels equipped with little more than sleeping quarters and corrals for the horses. Many were located in remote sections of the frontier, making them extremely vulnerable to ambush. Accounts differ, but Indians reportedly attacked or burned several relay stations during the Pyramid Lake War in the summer of 1860, killing as many as 16 stock hands. By contrast, only a handful of riders-six, according to the National Park Service -died in the line of duty during the entire history of the Pony Express.

9. Buffalo Bill Cody probably wasn't a Pony Express rider.

In his autobiography, the famed frontier showman William "Buffalo Bill" Cody claimed that he served as a Pony Express rider at the age of 14. He even alleged that he once rode a record 384 miles in a single run. But while Cody almost certainly worked as a messenger for the owners of the Pony Express, there is no record of him ever carrying the mail, and evidence suggests he was probably in school in Kansas during the company's brief history. Whatever Cody's involvement with Pony Express was, there's no doubt that he later kept its memory alive with his famous "Wild West" vaudeville shows, which featured Pony Express riders and horse swaps as a recurring stunt from 1883 until 1916.

10. The transcontinental telegraph dealt the Pony Express its deathblow.

For all its financial troubles, the Pony Express didn't truly collapse until a better alternative appeared on the scene. The company had spent its brief history bridging the gap between the Eastern and Western telegraph lines, but it was finally rendered obsolete on October 24, 1861, when Western Union completed the transcontinental telegraph line at Salt Lake City. The Pony Express ceased service just two days later. Despite operating for only 19 months, its riders had successfully delivered some 35,000 pieces of mail and traveled more than half a million miles across the American frontier.

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10 Things You May Not Know About the Pony Express

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In the mid-19th century, California-bound mail had to either be taken overland by a 25-day stagecoach or spend months inside a ship during a long sea voyage. The Pony Express, meanwhile, had an average delivery time of just 10 days. To achieve this remarkable speed, company owners William H.

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What the Oregon Trail Looks Like Today From Above | Air & Space Magazine

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What the Oregon Trail Looks Like Today From Above | Air & Space Magazine

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History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places Smithsonian Magazine

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The link you followed may have been removed or is broken. Please visit our homepage or enjoy one of our site’s most popular stories.

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The Start of the California Gold Rush (1849)

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America the Story of Us: Gold Rush | History

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In January 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River northeast of present-day Sacramento. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but caused little stir as most did not believe the account.

The spark that ignited the gold rush occurred in May 1848 when Sam Brannan, a storekeeper in Sutter's Creek, brandished a bottle filled with gold dust around San Francisco shouting 'Gold! Gold! Gold from American River!' The residents of the city now had proof of the discovery and the stampede to the gold fields was on. San Francisco's harbor was soon cluttered with derelict ships deserted by their crews. Workers abandoned their jobs - San Francisco's two newspapers were forced to close their doors as their staffs were struck by gold fever. The populations of many of the coastal towns were depleted as prospective prospectors headed to the gold fields.

The New York Herald printed news of the discovery in August 1848 and the rush for gold accelerated into a stampede. Gold seekers traveled overland across the mountains to California (30,000 assembled at launch points along the plains in the spring of 1849) or took the round-about sea routes: either to Panama or around Cape Horn and then up the Pacific coast to San Francisco. A census of San Francisco (then called Yerba Buena) in April 1847 reported the town consisted of 79 buildings including shanties, frames houses and adobes. By December 1849 the population had mushroomed to an estimated 100,000. The massive influx of fortune seekers Americanized the once Mexican province and assured its inclusion as a state in the union.

S. Shufelt was one of those gold-seekers. All that we know about Mr. Shufelt is contained in a letter he wrote from the gold fields to his cousin in March 1850. We don't know if he struck it rich or whether he ever returned to his wife and home - we don't even know his first name. On May 11, 1849 he boarded the steamer Panama in New York City along with about 200 fellow fortune hunters risking all on a gamble in California. Behind him he left a wife and child in Windham, NY near the Catskills.

Mr. Shufelt reveals his motivation when he tells his cousin that: "I have left those that I love as my own life behind and risked everything and endured many hardships to get here. I want to make enough to live easier and do some good with, before I return." These same thoughts no doubt inspired the majority of those who made the trek to the gold fields - they were not intending to stay, but planned to make some money and return to their origins.

Mr. Shufelt's letter was discovered at an auction in 1924 and is now part of the collection of the Library of Congress.

On May 11, 1849 Shufelt sailed out of New York harbor headed for the Isthmus of Panama (at the time a part of Columbia). Although he experienced a few days of sea sickness, he describes the voyage as enjoyable. We pick up his story as he makes his way across the isthmus to the Pacific Ocean hoping to find passage on a ship bound for San Francisco:

"(We) proceeded up the river in canoes rowed by the natives, and enjoyed the scenery & howling of the monkeys & chattering of Parrots very much. We pitched our tents at Gorgona & most of our party stayed there several weeks. S. Miller & myself went on to Panama to look out for a chance to get up to San Francisco. Of our ill success you have probably been informed & consequently of our long stay there, & of the deaths in our party. Yes, here Mr. Crooker, J. Miller & L. Alden yielded up their breath to God who gave it.

On the 85th day out we hove in sight of an object that greatly attracted our attention & ere long the green hills of San Francisco bay began to show their highest points, & soon we were gliding smoothly along between them, down the bay, & when the order came to let go anchor, we brought up directly in front of the City amidst a fleet of vessels, of all kinds & sizes."
"We took passage on a small schooner, crossed the bay with a gentle breeze & soon were winding our way up the crooked Sacramento. We soon entered Soosoon bay & our Capt. not being acquainted with the channel we ran on the ground at high tide & a stiff breeze, so that we were fast in reality. As the tide fell our little schooner fell also on her side & filled with water. We clung to the upper side, but were so thick that as night drew on the Capt. thought some of us had better go on shore. Some of our party went, myself among the rest. We came very near getting swamped on the water.

"We hired an ox team to carry our baggage & started for this place then called Hangtown, from the fact that three persons had been hung here for stealing & attempting to murder. Ten miles from the river we passed Sutters fort, an old looking heap of buildings surrounded by an high wall of unburnt brick, & situated in the midst of a pleasant fertile plain, covered with grass and a few scattering oaks, with numerous tame cattle & mules. We walked by the wagon & at night cooked our suppers, rolled our blankets around us & lay down to rest on the ground, with nothing but the broad canopy of the heavens over us & slept soundly without fear or molestation. After leaving the plains we passed over some hills that looked dry & barren being burnt up by the sun & the long droughts that we have here. We reached this place at night on the fourth day, & in the morning found ourselves in the midst of the diggings, being surrounded by holes dug.

"It is found along the banks of the streams & in the beds of the same, & in almost every little ravine putting into the streams. And often from 10 to 50 ft. from the beds up the bank. We sometimes have to dig several feet deep before we find any, in other places all the dirt & clay will pay to wash, but generally the clay pays best. If there is no clay, then it is found down on the rock. All the lumps are found on the rock--& most of the fine gold. We tell when it will pay by trying the dirt with a pan. This is called prospecting here. If it will pay from six to 12 1/2 pr pan full, then we go to work. Some wash with cradles some with what is called a tom & various other fixings. But I like the tom best of any thing that I have seen.

Shufelt lived in a cabin with six other miners. The cabin had windows, a fireplace and an oven. The miners' diet was poor with the result that many suffered from disease, particularly scurvy. Shufelt himself fell seriously ill, became deranged and was not expected to live but recovered in a week's time. He describes life in camp:

"Many, very many, that come here meet with bad success & thousands will leave their bones here. Others will lose their health, contract diseases that they will carry to their graves with them. Some will have to beg their way home, & probably one half that come here will never make enough to carry them back. But this does not alter the fact about the gold being plenty here, but shows what a poor frail being man is, how liable to disappointments, disease & death.

There is a good deal of sin & wickedness going on here, Stealing, lying, Swearing, Drinking, Gambling & murdering. There is a great deal of gambling carried on here. Almost every public House is a place for Gambling, & this appears to be the greatest evil that prevails here. Men make & lose thousands in a night, & frequently small boys will go up & bet $5 or 10 (Equivalent to $115-$225 today) -- & if they lose all, go the next day & dig more. We are trying to get laws here to regulate things but it will be very difficult to get them executed."

References:
Mr. Shufelt's letter is part of the collection of the Library of Congress A letter from a gold miner, Placerville, California, March, 1850; Holliday, J.S. Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California (1999).

How To Cite This Article:
"The California Gold Rush, 1849" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2003).

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In January 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River northeast of present-day Sacramento. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but caused little stir as most did not believe the account.

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How Westward Expansion Affected Native Americans

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How Westward Expansion Affected Native Americans

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How did Westward Expansion affect the Native Americans

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How Westward Expansion Affected Native Americans

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How Westward Expansion Affected Native Americans

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How did Westward Expansion affect the Native Americans

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Fresberg Cartoon – Learning & History for Students

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Trail of Tears for Kids Documentary: Watch our Cartoon for Kids on the Trail of Tears

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August 1, 1770 -
- William Clark, Born

August 18, 1774 -
- Meriwether Lewis, Born

March 6, 1801 -
- Lewis is asked by President Jefferson to be his secretary-aide

Spring, 1803 -
- Lewis picked as commander of expedition. Writes to ask William Clark to join him and share command. Clark accepts.

July 4, 1803 -
- Announcement of Louisiana Purchase.

Summer, 1803 -
- Large keelboat constructed in Pittsburgh, overseen by Lewis. After construction Lewis takes it down the Ohio River picking up Clark and recruits along the way.

Fall/Winter, 1803 -
- Camp Wood established upstream from St. Louis.

May 14, 1804 -
-Expedition begins.

July 4, 1804 -
-Expedition marks first 4th of July west of the Mississippi by firing the keelboat's cannon, and naming Independence Creek.

August 3, 1804 -
- Corps of Discovery meet with representatives of the Oto and Missouri Indians, give peace medals, 15 star flags and other gifts.

August 20, 1804 -
- Near present day Sioux City, Iowa, Sgt. Charles Floyd dies of a probable burst appendix. Captains name hilltops where he is buried Floyd's Bluff and a nearby stream, Floyd's River.

August 30, 1804 -
- Friendly council with Yankton Sioux held.

September 7, 1804 -
- All of the men attempt to drown a never-before-seen prarie dog out of its hole for shipment back to Jefferson.

September 25, 1804 -
- Confrontation with Teton Sioux, who demand one of the expedition's boats as a toll to travel farther upriver. Chief Black Buffalo resolves situation before any fighting. Expedition stays with tribe for 3 more days.

October 24, 1804 -
- Expedition discovers earthlodge villages of the Mandan and Hidatsas Indians. The captains decide to build Fort Mandan across the river from the main village.

November 4, 1804 -
- Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian fur trapper living with the Hidatsas, is hired as an interpreter. His wife, Sacagawea, a Shoshone who had been captured by the Hidatsas and sold to Charbonneau, is also considered helpful as the Shoshones are said to live at the headwaters of the Missouri.

December 24, 1804 -
- Fort Mandan completed, expedition moves in for the winter.

February 11, 1805 -
- Sacagawea gives birth to baby boy, Jean Baptiste.

April 7, 1805 -
- Lewis and Clark send the keelboat and approx. a dozen men back downriver, with maps, reports, Indian artifacts and other scientific specimens for Jefferson. The remaining party heads west.

April 29, 1805 -
- Lewis and another hunter kill a large grizzly bear, which had never before been described for science.

May 29, 1805 -
- Clark names the Judith River in honor of a girl back in Virginia he hopes to marry.

June 2, 1805 -
-The expedition comes to a fork in the river. Lewis and Clark believe the south fork is the Missouri, while all of the other men believe it is the north fork. Although they are not convinced that the south fork is the Missouri the captains recount; "they were ready to follow us any where we thought proper to direct."

June 13, 1805 -
- Scouting ahead of the rest of the expedition, Lewis comes across the Great Falls of the Missouri. He also discovers four more waterfalls farther upstream. The expedition will have to portage over eighteen miles, taking nearly a month, to get past them.

Late July, 1805 -
- The expedition reaches the three forks of the Missouri River, and name them the Gallatin, the Madison, and the Jefferson, after the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of State, James Madison, and President Thomas Jefferson. The expedition continues southwest, up the Jefferson.

August 8, 1805 -
- Sacagawea recognizes Beaverhead Rock and says they are nearing the headwaters of the Missouri, and her people, the Shoshones. Lewis and three others scout ahead.

August 12, 1805 -
- The shipment sent from fort Mandan arrives in the East and is delivered to Jefferson. Lewis ascends the final ridge toward the Continental Divide expecting to see plains and a river flowing to the Pacific, but he finds even more mountains.

August 17, 1805 -
- Lewis discovers a village of Shoshones and tries to negotiate for horses. Clark and the rest of the expedition arrives as well, and it is discovered that the Shoshone chief Cameahwait is Sacagawea's brother. Lewis and Clark name the site Camp Fortunate.

August 31, 1805 -
- The expedition sets out with a Shoshone guide called Old Toby, along with 29 horses and a mule.

September 9, 1805 -
- The expedition camps at present day Missoula, Montana, a spot Lewis and Clark called Travelers Rest to prepare for the mountain crossing.

September 22, 1805 -
- After nearly starving in the mountains the expedition emerges near present-day Weippe, Idaho.

October 16, 1805 -
- The expedition reaches the Columbia River.

October 18, 1805 -
- Clark sees Mount Hood in the distance, named by a British sea captain in 1792, proof that they are near the ocean.

November 7, 1805 -
- Clark, who believes he can see the ocean writes his most famous journal entry: "Ocian in view! O! the joy." The expedition is actually still 20 miles from the sea. Terrible storms halt the expedition for nearly 3 weeks.

November 24, 1805 -
- By majority vote the expedition decides to cross to the south side of the Columbia River to build winter quarters.

January 4, 1806 -
- President Jefferson welcomes a delegation of Missouri, Oto, Arikara, and Yankton Sioux chiefs who had met with Lewis and Clark more than a year earlier.

March 7, 1806 -
- The expedition runs out of tobacco. They had run out of their whiskey ration the previous fourth of July.

March 23, 1806 -
- Fort Clatsop is presented to the Clatsop Indian, for which it was named, and the expedition begins the journey home.

May - Late June, 1806 -
- The expedition reaches the Bitterroot mountains, but must wait for the snow to melt before crossing them. During this time the expedition again stays with the Nez Perce, Lewis describes them as "the most hospitable, honest and sincere people that we have met with in our voyage."

July 3, 1806 -
- Having crossed the Bitterroots again, the expedition breaks into smaller groups in order to explore more of the Louisiana Territory. Clark and his group head down the Yellowstone River, while Lewis takes the shortcut to the Great Falls, and then heads north along the Maris River.

July 25, 1806 -
- Near present-day Billings, Montana, Clark names a sandstone outcropping Pompy's Tower, after sacagawea's son, nicknamed Little Pomp. On the rock face Clark enscribes his name and the date.

July 26-27, 1806 -
- While making their way back to the Missouri, Lewis' party encounters eight Blackfeet warriors. They camp together, but the morning of the 27th the party catches the blackfeet attempting to steal their horses and guns. During a fight two of the Blackfeet were killed.

August 12, 1806 -
- All of the parties are reunited downstream from the mouth of the Yellowstone River.

August 14, 1806 -
- The expedition returns to the Mandan village. Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and Jean Baptist stay, while John Colter is granted permission to return to the Yellowstone to trap beaver.

September, 1806 -
- With the current of the Missouri behind them, they are able to cover over 70 miles per day. The expedition also begins meeting boats of American traders heading upriver.

September 23, 1806 -
- Lewis and Clark reach St. Louis.

Fall, 1806 -
- Lewis and Clark are treated as national heroes. They return to Washington, D.C. The men receive double pay and 320 acres of land as reward, the captains get 1,600 acres. Lewis is named governor of the Louisiana Territory, Clark is made Indian agent for the West and brigadier general of the territory's militia.

October 11, 1809 -
- Lewis commits suicide at Grinders Stand, an inn south of Nashville.

December 20, 1812 -
- Sacagawea dies at Fort Manuel. Clark, who is St. Louis, assumes custody of Jean Baptiste, as well as her daughter, Lisette.

September 1, 1838 -
- William Clark dies at the home of his eldest son, Meriwether Lewis Clark. William Clark had married Julia "Judith" Hancock for whom he had named a river while on the expedition.

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On May 14th 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an amazing expedition across the Louisiana Territory.

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prints photographs reading room division library of congress

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Selected images from the Library of Congress relating to the War with Mexico (1846-1848); one chapter from a 1955 publication of the Prints and Photographs Division, Pictorial Americana.

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Trail of Tears | We Shall Remain | PBS LearningMedia

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In this video segment adapted from American Experience: "We Shall Remain," reenactments help tell the story of how the Cherokee people were forced from their lands in the southeast. The U.S. government initially promised the Cherokee and other Native American tribes that if they could assimilate into European Americans lifestyles, they would be considered equals.

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"Map of the United States of Mexico" used in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

"There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective Countries, territories, cities, towns and people, without exception of places or persons." -- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Was Signed In Mexico City
February 2, 1848

Did you know that a large portion of the Western United States used to be a part of Mexico? On February 2, 1848, U.S. and Mexican officials met in Mexico City to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The agreement brought an end to the Mexican War after nearly two years and extended the U.S. west to the Pacific Ocean with 525,000 square miles of former Mexican territory. The new American territory included present-day California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Along with the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, this treaty completed the expansion of the United States to 48 states. Do you know what events led to the signing of the treaty?

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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Was Signed In Mexico City

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"Map of the United States of Mexico" used in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo "There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective Countries, territories, cities, towns and people, without exception of places or persons." -- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848.

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Transcontinental Railroad ‑ Construction, Competition & Impact

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In 1862, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies began building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies raced toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

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Click through the images to learn more.

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The Transcontinental Railroad | Image Gallery

Building the Transcontinental Railroad

The transcontinental railroad's construction touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Some desired it, some built it, and some did everything in their power to stop it. Browse a photo gallery of settlers, Native Americans, and workers whose lives were affected by the railroad as it traversed the West.

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Building the Transcontinental Railroad | American Experience | PBS

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The transcontinental railroad's construction touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Some desired it, some built it, and some did everything in their power to stop it. Browse a photo gallery of settlers, Native Americans, and workers whose lives were affected by the railroad as it traversed the West.

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Click through the images to learn more.

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In its 18 months of operation, the Pony Express became a legend. The service provided a faster way to transport mail across the United States, just before the use of the telegraph.

Subjects

Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography

On April 3, 1860, a rider named Johnny Fry departed on horseback with a bag of mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, in the United States. He headed west on the first leg of a 3,219-kilometer (2,000-mile) route across the continent. The mail arrived in California in nine days and 23 hours. This was the first ride of the Pony Express.

The president of the National Pony Express Association, Les Bennington, compares the advent of the legendary Pony Express to a more recent advance in communication. "The Pony Express was the e-mail of 1860 and 1861, because it would make the trip in the summer months in 10 days," he says.

Before 1860, mail from the eastern United States sent to the West Coast traveled by stagecoach on the Butterfield Overland Mail Trail, a 4526-kilometer (2,812-mile) route through the present-day states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail ended in San Francisco, California. From Missouri, the trail swung south to avoid regions of the west that were frequently covered in snow during the winter months. Delivery took around three weeks.

Mail was also carried by ship down the eastern seaboard, over the Isthmus of Panama-a narrow strip of land that links North America and South America-by train, and up the west coast of Central America, Mexico, and California by boat. That route took an even longer time.

"That would take probably two to three months, so the mail was old-and the news was old-by the time it got there," Bennington says.

Riding the Pony Express

Studded with 153 stations, the Pony Express trail utilized around 80 riders and between 400 to 500 horses to carry mail from the settled Midwest to the new state of California, which had experienced a surge in population after the 1849 gold rush.

In fact, the western end of the Pony Express was the B.F. Hastings Building in Sacramento, California, near where gold was found years earlier. In the large building, the Pony Express office shared space with the California Supreme Court and Theodore Judah, the engineer who is largely responsible for the planning of the first transcontinental railroad.

Riders for the Pony Express carried the mail in saddlebags along the trail for about 120 to 160 kilometers (75 to 100 miles) before transferring the mail to another rider at a home station. Home stations could vary from a nice shelter, like a hotel, to a more primitive rest stop such as a dugout near a creek. The more elite home stations were usually located along the eastern route, which had stable urban areas. The west was still being settled with permanent residents, and western home stations were often spartan.

Along their section of trail, riders would stop every 16 to 24 kilometers (10 to 15 miles) to hop onto a fresh horse at the four to six relay stations on their leg.

Jackie Lewin, the executive director of the St. Joseph Museums and the co-author of On the Winds of Destiny: A Biographical Look at Pony Express Riders, says that most of the riders were small, lightweight men around 20 years old. The most popular rider associated with the mail company is William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who later became known for his Wild West stage show. There are some historians who dispute Cody's claim that he was employed by the Pony Express, however.

Pony Express riders rode over rugged terrain that included passes high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but Lewin believes the most difficult part of the trail was its desert regions.

"I would say the hardest section would be the Utah Territory, which would be today's [states of] Utah and Nevada, because it was pretty isolated and has extreme temperatures," she says. "That's the area where the Paiute Indians attacked the line."

Even though riders from the Pony Express had to deal with everything from tornadoes to bison stampedes, the greatest difficulty for the mail carriers occurred in May of 1860 with the eruption of the Pyramid Lake War. A flood of white settlers seeking silver in Nevada brought the newcomers into conflict with the region's native inhabitants, the Paiute. The Paiute, who realized that the settlers would permanently disrupt their way of life, began attacking Pony Express stations in the area. The Pyramid Lake War caused the Pony Express to suspend operations from Carson City, Nevada, to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a month.

"The company had to rebuild stations and restock them," Lewin says. "It cost about $75,000. It really did hurt the company."

Bennington, president of the National Pony Express Association, says that the station keepers of the Pony Express, not its riders, were most susceptible to attacks by the Paiute. "We had quite a few station keepers killed," he says. "We know one rider was killed by Indians. Overall, we didn't lose many riders that were actually carrying the mail. There were some other ones that were killed just defending the stations."

Yet it wasn't conflict with the Native Americans that caused the demise of the Pony Express just 18 months after it first began delivering mail. Rather, it was a technological development: the construction of telegraph lines that ended up sewing the West to the rest of the nation. This development had actually been expected by the owners of the Pony Express, who always viewed the service as a temporary one.

Legacy of the Pony Express

Even though the Pony Express had a relatively short run, it has secured a prominent position in the history of the U.S. West. Bennington, whose organization has conducted a re-ride over the Pony Express Trail every year since 1980, is still in awe of the Pony Express riders 150 years after Fry's first ride.

"It was no small undertaking when you start to look back and see what these people had," he says. "I mean there's no place colder than on the back of a horse when it's brutally cold. You gotta keep in mind they didn't have down-filled jackets or hats made for snowy conditions."

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express, the city of St. Joseph hosted a Buffalo Bill Look-a-Like Contest, some Pony Express re-enactments, and a parade with the Budweiser Clydesdales. In addition, the National Pony Express Association embarked on a special 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) re-ride of the trail.

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In its 18 months of operation, the Pony Express became a legend. The service provided a faster way to transport mail across the United States, just before the use of the telegraph. Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography On April 3, 1860, a rider named Johnny Fry departed on horseback with a bag of mail from St.

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Media Credits

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other

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Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. other

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History.com Video Jefferson Expands Presidential Power

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History.com Video Jefferson Expands Presidential Power

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For a mere $15 million, Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States, buying 800,000 square miles from the French that stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

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Library of Congress: Primary Source Documents of Louisiana Purchase

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Library of Congress: Primary Source Documents of Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed in Paris on April 30, 1803. The ratification of the treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion.

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Research Guides: Louisiana Purchase: Primary Documents in American History: Introduction

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The Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed in Paris on April 30, 1803.

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Lewis and Clark: Expedition, Purpose & Facts - HISTORY

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

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Table of Contents

1. France in the New World

2. Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

3. Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

4. Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

France in the New World

Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region.

By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the present-day United States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to modern-day Montana.

In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana during the next three decades.

Louisiana Territory Changes Hands

In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off Spain from America. And in 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return the Louisiana Territory to France.

Reports of the retrocession caused considerable unease in the United States. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans.

U.S. officials feared that France, resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to U.S. minister to France Robert Livingston, President Thomas Jefferson stated, "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans...we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."

Livingston was ordered to negotiate with French Finance Minister Barbé-Marbois for the purchase of New Orleans.

Louisiana Purchase Negotiations

France was slow in taking control of Louisiana, but in 1802 Spanish authorities, apparently acting under French orders, revoked a U.S.-Spanish treaty that granted Americans the right to store goods in New Orleans.

In response, Jefferson sent future U.S. president James Monroe to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans purchase talks. In mid-April 1803, shortly before Monroe's arrival, the French asked a surprised Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory.

It's believed that the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable British naval blockade of France - combined with French economic difficulties - may have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United States.

Negotiations moved swiftly, and at the end of April the U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land.

The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2. In October, the U.S. Senate ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France transferred authority over the region to the United States.

Legacy of the Louisiana Purchase

The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jefferson's most notable achievements as president. American expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established.

Jefferson soon commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to explore the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first state to be carved from the territory - Louisiana - was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.
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Louisiana Purchase - Definition, Facts & Importance | HISTORY

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The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 introduced about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France into the United States, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Explore the facts about this important acquisition and its lasting legacy on Thomas Jefferson's presidency.

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Before the resort town of Cannon Beach, Oregon, a Tillamook tribal village-NeCus'-sat along the tiny brackish bay where Ecola Creek crosses the sandy beach. The Lewis and Clark Expedition journals provide a tantalizing but fragmentary glimpse of this community.

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Latest Additions The Trail Eastern Beginnings → Down the Ohio → Up the Mississippi → Winter at St. Louis → Starting Up the Missouri → Past the Omahas → Among the Yanktons → Crossing the Lakotas → Winter at Fort Mandan → Along the Northern Reach → Portaging the Falls → Gates of the Rockies [...]

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Thirteen/WNET, PBS, Wall to Wall Television, Thirteen Online, David McCarthy, Sabina Daley, Debra Kaufman, Karen Mattson, Brian Santalone, Micah Fink, Anthony Chapman, Beth Hoppe

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Frontier House is a PBS program, produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, that sends three families to experience life on the American Frontier in 1883.

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Sutter's Mill

On January 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, found flakes of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California.

At the time, Marshall was working to build a water-powered sawmill owned by John Sutter, a German-born Swiss citizen and founder of a colony of Nueva Helvetia (New Switzerland, which would later become the city of Sacramento). As Marshall later recalled of his historic discovery: "It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold."

Did you know? Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush.

Days after Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and leaving California in the hands of the United States-a remarkable twist of fate with important ramifications for an America eager for westward expansion.

At the time, the population of the territory consisted of 6,500 Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican descent); 700 foreigners (primarily Americans); and 150,000 Native Americans (barely half the number that had been there when Spanish settlers arrived in 1769).

Sutter, in fact, had enslaved hundreds of Native Americans and used them as a free source of labor and makeshift militia to defend his territory and expand his empire.

Gold Fever Strikes

Though Marshall and Sutter tried to keep news of the discovery under wraps, word got out, and by mid-March at least one newspaper was reporting that large quantities of gold were being turned up at Sutter's Mill. Though the initial reaction in San Francisco was disbelief, storekeeper Sam Brannan set off a frenzy when he paraded through town displaying a vial of gold obtained from Sutter's Creek.

By mid-June, shops and businesses stood empty, as some three-quarters of the male population of San Francisco had abandoned the city for the gold mines, and the number of miners in the area ballooned to some 4,000 by August.

As news reports-many wildly overblown-of the easy fortunes being made in California spread worldwide, some of the first migrants to arrive were those from lands accessible by boat, such as Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru and China.

Polk Spreads Gold Fever

When the news reached the East Coast, press reports were initially skeptical. Gold fever kicked off nationwide in earnest, however, after December 1848, when President James K. Polk announced the positive results of a report made by Colonel Richard Mason, California's military governor, in his inaugural address.

As Polk wrote, "The accounts of abundance of gold are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service."

The '49ers Come to California

Throughout 1849, people around the United States (mostly men) with gold fever borrowed money, mortgaged their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they left their families and hometowns. In turn, women left behind took on new responsibilities such as running farms or businesses and caring for their children alone.

Thousands of would-be gold miners, known as 49ers for the year they arrived, traveled overland across the mountains or by sea, sailing to Panama or even around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America.

By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000, (as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848). To accommodate the needs of the 49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune.

The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling, alcoholism, prostitution and violence. San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.

Gold Rush Politics

The Gold Rush undoubtedly sped up California's admission to the Union as the 31st state. In late 1849, California applied to enter the Union with a constitution that barred the Southern system of racial slavery, provoking a crisis in Congress between proponents of slavery and anti-slavery politicians.

According to the Compromise of 1850, proposed by Kentucky's Senator Henry Clay, California was allowed to enter as a free state, while the territories of Utah and New Mexico were left to decide the legal status of slavery for themselves.

California's Mines

After 1850, the surface gold in California largely disappeared, even as miners continued to arrive. Mining had always been difficult and dangerous labor, and striking it rich required good luck as much as skill and hard work. Moreover, the average daily take for an independent miner working with his pick and shovel had by then sharply decreased from what it had been in 1848.

As gold became more and more difficult to reach, the growing industrialization of mining drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor. The new technique of hydraulic mining, developed in 1853, brought enormous profits but destroyed much of the region's landscape.

Though gold mining continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when some $81 million was pulled from the ground. After that year, the total take declined gradually, leveling off to around $45 million per year by 1857. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end of the decade the state's population was 380,000.

Impact of the Gold Rush

New mining methods and the population boom in the wake of the California Gold Rush permanently altered the landscape of California. The technique of hydraulic mining brought enormous profits but destroyed much of the region's landscape.

Dams designed to supply water to mine sites in summer altered the course of rivers away from farmland, while sediment from mines clogged others. The logging industry in the area was born from the need to construct extensive canals and feed boilers at mines, further consuming natural resources.

In 1884, hydraulic mining was outlawed by court order, and soon agriculture became the dominant industry in California, and it remains so today. While a few mines and Gold Rush towns remain, much of the heritage of that era is preserved at places such as Bodie State Historic Park, a decaying ghost town, and at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, where Sutter's Mill once stood.

Sources

Environmental Impact of the Gold Rush. Calisphere.org.
After the Gold Rush. National Geographic.

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Gold Rush: California, Date & Sutter's Mill - HISTORY

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The Gold Rush in California started in 1848 after gold was found at Sutter's Mill. Within a year, hundreds of thousands of 49ers seeking fortune poured into the state.

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Major “Strikes” in the California Gold Rush | American Experience | PBS

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An astounding amount of gold was pulled from the ground during the California gold rush.

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The Erie Canal is a 363-mile waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River in upstate New York. The channel, which traverses New York state from Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie, was considered an engineering marvel when it first opened in 1825. The Erie Canal provided a direct water route from New York City to the Midwest, triggering large-scale commercial and agricultural development-as well as immigration-to the sparsely populated frontiers of western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and points farther west. The canal transformed New York City into the young nation's economic powerhouse, and in 2000 the U.S. Congress designated the Erie Canal a National Heritage Corridor.

Early explorers in America had long searched for a water route from East Coast population centers to the resource-rich lands of the Midwest and Great Lakes.

The Northwest Territory-which later would become the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin-had timber, minerals, furs and fertile land for farming, but the Appalachian Mountains stood in the way.

Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, it took weeks to reach these resources overland. Bulk transportation of goods was limited by what teams of oxen could pull by wagon. The lack of an efficient transportation network confined populations and trade to coastal areas.

Jesse Hawley

Beginning in 1807, Jesse Hawley-a flour merchant from western New York who went broke trying to get his product to market in the Atlantic coastal cities-published a series of essays from debtor's prison. In them, Hawley advocated for a canal system that would span nearly 400 miles from Buffalo, New York, on the eastern shore of Lake Erie, to Albany, New York, on the Hudson River.

Hawley's eloquent essays caught the attention of New York politicians, including New York City mayor DeWitt Clinton. Clinton believed that the canal was crucial to the economic advancement of his city.

Clinton saw his plan come to fruition in 1817 after he became the governor of New York. Workers first broke ground on the Erie Canal on July 4, 1817, near Utica, New York.

An Unprecedented Engineering Feat

The construction of the Erie Canal, through mountainous terrain and dense rock proved as challenging as the political environment.

Throughout construction, Dewitt Clinton's political opponents ridiculed the project as "Clinton's Folly" or "Clinton's ditch."

It took canal laborers-some Irish immigrants, but most U.S.-born men-eight years to finish the project. They cleared the land by hand and animal power and blasted through rock with gunpowder. (Dynamite wasn't invented until the 1860s by Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel.)

The original Erie Canal was just four feet deep and 40 feet wide, though it was considered a major engineering feat at the time of its completion in 1825. It traversed nearly 400 miles of fields, forests, and rocky cliffs, and contained 83 locks-structures used for raising and lowering boats between canal stretches with different water levels.

Project engineers had little experience building canals. The military academy at West Point in New York offered the only formal engineering program in North America at the time the Erie Canal was built.

The project provided practical schooling for a new generation of American engineers and builders, and led to the founding of the nation's first civil engineering school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, in 1824.

Erie Canal engineers devised new equipment to uproot trees and stumps and developed a cement that could set and harden underwater.

Erie Canal's Economic Impacts

The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. A fleet of boats, led by Governor Dewitt Clinton aboard the Seneca Chief sailed from Buffalo to New York City in record time-just ten days.

The canal transformed New York City into the commercial capital it remains today. Prior to the canal's construction, the ports of Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans outranked New York in size.

But the construction of the Erie Canal gave New York City (via the Hudson River) direct water access to the Great Lakes and regions of the Midwest. As the gateway to these resource-rich lands, New York soon became the nation's economic epicenter and the primary port of entry to the United States for European immigrants.

New York City's population quadrupled between 1820 and 1850. Financing of the Erie Canal's construction allowed the city to eclipse Philadelphia as the country's most important banking center.

The Erie Canal also provided an economic boost to the entire United States by allowing the transport of goods at one-tenth the previous cost in less than half the previous time. By 1853, the Erie Canal carried 62 percent of all U.S. trade.

For the first time, manufactured goods such as furniture and clothing could be shipped in bulk to the frontier.

Farmers in western New York and the Midwest now had cash to purchase consumer goods, because they could more cheaply ship wheat, corn and other crops to lucrative East Coast markets.

The Erie Canal also helped to stimulate America's nascent tourism industry. It attracted vacationers, including Europeans such as Charles Dickens. Thousands of tourists floated down the canal on excursions from New York City to Niagara Falls.

Impact on Native Americans

The building of the Erie Canal and subsequent population explosion along its route accelerated the dispossession-or removal-of Native Americans in western New York and the Upper Midwest.

The Erie Canal traversed the ancestral homelands of several groups, including the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.

From the early years of the canal era to the peak of New York's canal boom in the 1840s and 1850s, state and federal policies promoted the removal of indigenous populations from developing portions of New York.

Native Americans were sent to reservations in isolated portions of New York and other eastern States. Others were sent to unfamiliar outlying territories in the American Midwest.

Erie Canal Today

The Erie Canal was enlarged twice to fit wider and deeper boats. Some parts were rerouted to make way for more ship traffic in 1918. Portions of the original canal are still operable, though tourism is now the main source of boat traffic along the Erie Canal.

Commercial and shipping traffic declined abruptly after the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. The new waterway along the United States-Canadian border allowed large ships to enter the Great Lakes directly from the Atlantic Ocean, bypassing the Erie Canal.

In 2000, Congress designated the Erie Canal a National Heritage Corridor to help preserve New York State's historic waterway and the communities along its banks.

SOURCES

History and Culture; Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
Canal History; New York State Canal Corporation.
Erie Canal; Albany Institute of History and Art.

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Jesse Hawley Beginning in 1807, Jesse Hawley-a flour merchant from western New York who went broke trying to get his product to market in the Atlantic coastal cities-published a series of essays from debtor's prison. In them, Hawley advocated for a canal system that would span nearly 400 miles from Buffalo, New York, on the [...]

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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On a gloomy December afternoon in 1803, a boat crept along the banks of the Mississippi River and landed at the mouth of the Wood River in what is now the state of Illinois. A group of men climbed out and began to set up camp under a dark canopy of oak trees. Suddenly a violent storm moved in, pelting the area with snow and hail.

The men didn't turn back though. Instead, they hunkered down and spent the next five months here preparing for the trip they were about to embark on,in which poor weather would be one of the many dangers they'd face.

Among these men were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, co-leaders of an expedition tasked with exploring land that the United States had recently acquired. Their trip would turn into an epic 8,000-mile-long trek-and the first big step in the United States' westward expansion.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

When Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States in 1801, the country basically stopped at the Mississippi River. France controlled much of the land to the west of this waterway.

President Jefferson wanted to acquire the Port of New Orleans, in what is now the state of Louisiana, from the French. Its prime location made it a key spot for trade. In 1803, Jefferson made what's known as one of the greatest real estate deals in history: the Louisiana Purchase.

After negotiations, France agreed to sell the entire city of New Orleans, which included the port, to the United States for $10 million; they threw in the rest of the territory they owned for an additional $5 million. The agreement-which gave the United States approximately 828,000 square miles of land-almost doubled the size of the nearly 30-year-old nation.

The United States only paid about three cents an acre for the land, which stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Spain still owned much of the southwestern part of what's now the United States, stretching from the area that would become Texas to present-day California.

Purchasing this enormous amount of land was one thing, but exploring it was another. Jefferson wanted to plan an expedition to investigate the territory. He called the proposed mission the Voyage of Discovery and began assembling a team of explorers called the Corps (KOR) of Discovery. The president chose Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark to lead the expedition. Lewis, President Jefferson's personal secretary, was an officer in the United States Army and spoke several Native American languages. Lewis recommended Clark-a retired officer who had served alongside him in the Army-as the expedition's co-leader.

WAY OUT WEST

In the spring of 1804, Lewis, Clark, and dozens of other men left St. Louis, Missouri, by boat. They traveled westward through what is now Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

In November they reached Knife River Village in present-day North Dakota. There they met a young Shoshone Native American woman called Sacagawea (Sa-kuh-juh-WEE-uh) and her fur-trader husband, Toussaint Charbonneau (Too-SAHNT SHAR-bon-oh). The couple joined the expedition as interpreters, translating the language of the local tribes for Lewis and Clark's men.

Sacagawea didn't just serve as an interpreter during the trip, however. She helped Lewis and Clark's men obtain essential supplies and horses, identified edible plants and herbs, and prevented hostile relations with other tribes simply by being with the group-all while carrying her newborn baby on her back.

After meeting Sacagawea and her husband, the Corps traveled west from North Dakota, 15 to 20 miles a day on foot and by boat, toward the mountains. Day after day, the exhausted, freezing team braved rough rivers and perilous peaks, getting by on very little food. They wouldn't see the Pacific Ocean until November 1805-over a year after they first left Missouri.

COMING HOME

After a long winter waiting out the bad weather, the Corps was able to start making their way back east in March 1806. After returning Sacagawea and her husband to North Dakota, the remainder of the Corps arrived back in Missouri in late September, more than two years after they started their expedition.

Lewis and Clark's team mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They brought back journals filled with details about Native American tribes and scientific notes about plants and animals they'd never seen before. They also brought back stories-tales that made other Americans dream about heading west.

Many Americans did more than dream. The great westward expansion was about to begin.

Text adapted from The Journals of Lewis and Clark; The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today; and Sacagawea

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How Lewis and Clark-along with a Native American guide, Sacagawea-explored the newly expanded United States

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The Homestead Act was a big leap forward for settlers who dreamed of having their own land to look after; the Act was also yet another sectional conflict that necessitated a war to succeed.

As the population of the United States grew, so did the hunger for heading west to explore new lands, find new homes, and pursue freedoms-from religion persecution or economic discrimination or ethnic or racial discrimination. Since the early days of the U.S., people wanted to stake out their own claims and look after their own interests. Many people were prevented from doing that by their circumstances: Many people were poor, many were unwelcome immigrants, many were freed (or even runaway) slaves.

Southern states were suspicious of efforts to increase the political influence of non-southerners. The Missouri Compromise had set a precedent of keeping some sort of balance between "slave states" and "free states." Any sort of concerted effort to encourage settlement of the West, as a homestead act would naturally produce, had the potential to upset that "slave" or "free" balance, and so southern interests were firmly in the mind to disapprove of homesteading acts.

Proponents of homesteading kept up the pursuit, and the House of Representatives passed such a bill in 1858; the Senate, defeated the bill, by one vote. A similar bill in 1859 passed both houses of Congress but met the veto of President James Buchanan. It took the election of a new President and the secession of the South to create favorable conditions for a homesteading bill that would become law.

And so it was that both house of Congress (minus the Southern states, of course, who had seceded by this time) approved the Homestead Act on May 17, 1862; three days later, President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law.

The Homestead Act of 1862 provided for a claim for up to 160 acres of federal land. The land was free, and it was open to any adult citizen, including freed slaves, who was head of a family, was at least 21 years old, and had never taken up arms against the Government. (This did not preclude single women because they could qualify as head of a household.)

The applicant had to pay a small registration fee and promise to live on the land for five years straight. After that five years was up, the land-worker had first right to buy the land. Such an application, to the General Land Office, was looked on much more favorably if the applicant had improved the land by growing crops and building a house, which had to be of a livable size. Some sources say that the minimum size was 12 feet by 14 feet.

Part 2: The Reality

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The Homestead Act was a big leap forward for settlers who dreamed of having their own land to look after; the Act was also yet another sectional conflict that necessitated a war to succeed.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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The California Gold Rush

The discovery of gold in California in the mid-19th Century ushered in one of the largest migrations in American history, as tens of thousands of hopeful, excited, and just plain desperate participated in the California Gold Rush.

It all began on January 24, 1848, on the South Fork of the American River, near what is now the California town of Coloma. John Sutter had hired a number of people to build a saw mill in the area, and James Marshall was one of the people doing the constructing. On that fateful day, Marshall saw tiny pieces of gold in the runoff millwater. He collected some of the gold pieces and showed them to Sutter, who swore Marshall to secrecy.

Despite this agreement, the story got out, possibly because Marshall wouldn't have been the only one to notice the gold in the millwater. Nevertheless, the story was soon a well-travelled one, with a publisher named Samuel Brannan soon walking up and down the streets of San Francisco holding a jar full of gold. The first major East Coast newspaper to report Marshall's discovery, the New York Herald, did so on August 19. President James K. Polk told the nation about the gold discovery in an address to Congress on December 5. Before long, the rush was on and '49ers, as they were called (after the year in which they set out, 1849), descended on California by the tens of thousands.

In 1849, the gold-motivated migrants numbered 80,000. Most of those were Americans in 1849, but the following few years saw gold-seekers come from all over the world. By 1856, more than 300,000 people had followed their gold dreams to what they hoped were the gold fields of California.

In the beginning, prospectors could find gold nuggets by sifting through the top one or two layers of dirt or in streams and riverbeds, using methods such as panning. As the gold supply dwindled and desire for gold increased, prospectors employed more sophisticated methods.

Many of the '49ers and other prospectors who came to California in search of a dream found they liked the place enough to stay. San Francisco went from an 1846 population of 200 to an 1852 population of 36,000. Other California cities and towns experienced similar growth. As a result, California became a state, in 1850, its infrastructure growing by leaps and bounds: Schools, churches, roads, and businesses rose from empty land, as many people found themselves earning a good living by providing goods and services to prospectors. Supply stores, warehouses, taverns, and hotels dotted the landscape, surrounding the areas where gold was known to be.

Modern-day estimates from the U.S. Government put the amount of gold discovered in the first five years of the California Gold Rush at 12 million ounces, worth more than $16 billion in today's dollars.

Many settlers made homes for themselves by displacing (and, in some cases, ending the lives of) Native Americans, continuing a Manifest Destiny trend that had begun in the East and continued in the Midwest and South.

Many others chasing their dreams found nothing but frustration. Many prospecting hopefuls spent all of the money that they had on the search for great wealth and ended up with none of their own. For many, the travel to California would have cost a steep price, especially if they had come from Latin America or Europe or China or Australia, as a great many did. The Americans who migrated westward generally crossed the Rocky Mountains or the Isthmus of Panama to get to gold country. People who came from other countries made great use of boats that docked in San Francisco and other, more southern ports.

The legality of various prospectors' claims to gold was not at all straightforward. When Marshall first found gold, on January 24, the land was still technically owned by Mexico, although that country had surrendered to U.S. forces, ending the Mexican-American War. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the war, went into effect on February 2. Even then, California was under the control of the U.S. Military.

American soldiers did not roam the gold fields, however. The areas were largely self-policed, which allowed for all sorts of varied rules of law. As towns sprang up, rural law enforcement made its presence felt.

What this meant for the initial waves of prospectors, however, is that the gold was theirs for the taking, no questions asked, no taxes assessed, no price to be paid other than the hard labor expended to find the gold in the first place. Protecting that find proved problematic for many. The only real solution to the lawlessness that existed in some areas was the drying up of the gold deposits, making it unpalatable for anyone looking for quick and easy wealth.

The California Gold Rush was not kind to Sutter or Marshall, either. Unequipped with his own private security force, Sutter could do little to stem the tide of prospectors who camped on the land on which he had intended to complete his sawmill. He saw his dreams of an agriculture bonanza dry up in the dust left by prospectors' boots and horses' hooves. Marshall had little luck prospecting, either. Both men died poor and forgotten, except for the part that they played in setting off the Gold Rush in the first place.

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The California Gold Rush The discovery of gold in California in the mid-19th Century ushered in one of the largest migrations in American history, as tens of thousands of hopeful, excited, and just plain desperate participated in the California Gold Rush.

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition Part 1: Friends Get Ready to Go

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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and to travel all the way to the Pacific Ocean and back.

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At the turn of the 19th Century, Americans were moving further westward. Settlers had crossed the Appalachian Mountains and headed for parts known and unknown. Pioneers like Daniel Boone had blazed trails and roads, allowing families to travel to new places. Soon, the Northwest Territory and other places were bustling with Americans.

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The Trials and Successes of the Erie Canal

Part 1: Coming to America
With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States doubled in size. This huge land deal also doubled the American people's desire for exploration and commerce.

By the beginning of the 19th Century, the U.S. included much more than the original 13 Colonies. Kentucky and Tennessee were now states, as was most of the former Northwest Territory, the area around some of the Great Lakes. This area, in particular, was a real favorite among settlers, and the populations of the cities in these newly created states grew rapidly.

Also at this time, Americans were finding new ways to travel. The railroad was still in its infancy. One way that many Americans were finding easier to navigate was water travel. Rivers and lakes were natural waterways that formed boundaries between some states and also connected cities to other ports of call, for both settlers and goods to make their way from place to place.

Emerging technology, mainly the steam engine, enabled Americans to dig their own waterways, canals. Within just a few years, a huge network of canals had sprung up all over the country. One of the largest and most famous of these was the Erie Canal, which linked Lake Erie to New York's Hudson River. When it was completed, goods (and people) could travel, by boat, from Buffalo to New York City.

How the Erie Canal was created and financed is the story of one man's desire and many people's skepticism.

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The Trials and Successes of the Erie Canal

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The Trials and Successes of the Erie Canal Part 1: Coming to America With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States doubled in size. This huge land deal also doubled the American people's desire for exploration and commerce. By the beginning of the 19th Century, the U.S. included much more than the original 13 Colonies.

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Independence |Courthouse Rock | Chimney Rock | Fort Laramie | Independence Rock | Fort Bridger | |Soda Springs | Fort Hall | Fort Boise | Whitman Mission | The Dalles | Oregon City |

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“Old Hickory” increased presidential powers and was the first self-made man to become president, but his Indian Removal Act and support for slavery make him a complicated figure.

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Epic Books: The Railroad Fuels Westward Expansion

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Epic Books: The Railroad Fuels Westward Expansion

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Epic Books: Manifest Destiny and the Journey West

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Epic Books: Manifest Destiny and the Journey West

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Epic Book: The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion

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Epic Book: The Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion

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The Indian Removal Act Explained in 5 Minutes: US History Review

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This page describes the Mexican-American War and the subsequent acquisition of what is now the American Southwest.

Zachary Taylor

Polk Declares War of Mexico

As a result of the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845, hostilities between the two nations exploded. Although officials in Mexico wanted peaceful negotiations, vigorous demands from Mexican centralists pressured them to refuse. On April 25, 1846, Mexican soldiers attacked U.S. troops along the southern border of Texas. On May 13, president James K. Polk declared war on Mexico. Meanwhile, the Mexicans had attempted two other attacks on American soldiers near the Rio Grande. Both ended in failure. The failures were devastating to the Mexicans, who had a larger and better trained army than the Americans.

The Mexicans Miss Their Opportunity

In a series of battles at Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma (near current-day Brownsville, Texas), the army of General, and future president, Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican forces and began to move south. In August of 1846, Taylor began formulating plans to attack the Mexican stronghold of Monterrey. Meanwhile, nearly 20,000 American volunteers had gathered near the Rio Grande. Sub-tropical diseases such as dysentery and malaria ravaged the makeshift American military forces. If Mexico would have attacked during this time (July or August), the Mexican War may have very well been won by the Mexicans. Unfortunately for the Mexicans, the country was in civil disarray and the collapse of their central government, combined with numerous militant rebellions in central Mexico, prevented them from organizing any serious offensives. The rebels even offered to help Zachary Taylor defeat the Mexican army. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the same man who surrendered to the Texans, took over as president and commander of the Mexican army.

Taylor and Scott Advance Through the Heart of Mexico

On September 21, 1846, General Zachary Taylor and 2,000 soldiers easily took Monterrey. Soon after, Saltillo and Parras, Mexico were also taken. In February of 1847, general Winfield Scott, who had taken Veracruz, Mexico, began an advance toward the Mexican capital of Mexico City. American forces led by future heroes Robert E. Lee, George McClellan and others, routed Mexican resistance under General Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo on their way to the Mexican capital. The Mexicans suffered 3,000 casualties. On May 14-15, American forces easily took Puebla. After routing Mexican forces at Churubusco, Winfield Scott and soldiers defeated Santa Anna's army from the Mexican Military College on the fortified hill of Chapultepec in Mexico City. The Mexicans suffered terrible casualties and were forced to surrender. American forces would next occupy New Mexico and California amidst sporadic resistance.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

On March 10, 1848, the Americans and Mexicans signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which resulted in the addition of 1.2 million square miles of territory for the United States (virtually all of the American southwest and Texas). It also set the Rio Grande as the border between Mexico and the United States. America agreed to pay Mexico 15 million dollars.

Mexican-American War Articles and Activities

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Growth of a Nation - Mexican-American War

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This page describes the Mexican-American War and the subsequent acquisition of what is now the American Southwest. Zachary Taylor As a result of the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845, hostilities between the two nations exploded. Although officials in Mexico wanted peaceful negotiations, vigorous demands from Mexican centralists pressured them to refuse.

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This article describes the chilling Donner Expedition along the California Trail.

Truckee Lake Camp

What was the Donner Party?

The Donner Party was a group of American explorers who planned a long migration journey in the mid-1840s that didn't exactly end up going as planned. In spring of 1846, the party of 89 left Springfield Illinois, for the California Trail. Two brothers named Jacob and George were the leaders of the group, as well as for whom the party was named.

A Deadly "Shortcut"

The party followed the California Trail at first, but not for long. A guidebook author named Lansford Hastings convinced the group to try a shortcut path that went through the Wasatch Mountains and the Salt Lake Desert of what is now Utah. Mountain man James Clyman warned the group not to follow Hastings' advice, as not even Hastings had tried the path with the wagons used by the Party. The group, however, agreed to take the "shortcut," and all 20 of their wagons were diverted to the path indicated by Hastings. The Donner group quickly learned that their new route was full of unforeseen hazard such as tall trees on the trail itself. Group members were forced to cut them down, which caused delays. While crossing the barren Salt Lake Desert, members of the group nearly died of thirst, others were severely weakened. All in all, Hastings' supposed shortcut added almost a month to the Donner Party's journey.

George Donner

Trapped in the Mountains

By the time Jacob and George's wagons reached the Sierra Nevada mountains in November 1846, an enormous blizzard had covered the mountains in several feet of snow and blocked off all of the mountain trails. There was no way for the wagons to pass through the mountains, and they were therefore forced to spend the winter in the frigid mountain climate. The Party traveled to the nearby Truckee Lake to spend the winter in tents, having already lost much of their supplies and livestock. Over time, the conditions deteriorated, and the settlers began to starve. Their only option was to resort to cannibalism, so the members of the party began to eat others who had frozen to death or died of malnutrition. In December 1846, 15 of the ablest party members tried to travel past the mountains in search of help. Only seven of them reached a California ranch to coordinate a rescue; their journey became known as the Forlorn Hope.

"Living Skeletons"

In February and March of 1847, rescue parties arrived to save the remaining 45 members of the Donner Party-only half of the original travelers. According to witnesses, the survivors looked like living skeletons.

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This article describes the chilling Donner Expedition along the California Trail. The Donner Party was a group of American explorers who planned a long migration journey in the mid-1840s that didn't exactly end up going as planned. In spring of 1846, the party of 89 left Springfield Illinois, for the California Trail.

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2023 MrNussbaum.com is a copyright of the Nussbaum Education Network,LLC.

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Mr. Nussbaum - Explorer Legends, Goals, and Destinations - Scurvy

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Scurvy is a horrible disease that results from an acute lack of Vitamin-C over time. Vitamin-C is most commonly found in fruits and vegetables. During the Age of Exploration, sailors on long ocean voyages often contracted Scurvy

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Disease

By far, the most common cause of death along the westward trails was by disease. Diseases such as those described below spread quickly among families and camps because of the unsanitary conditions or lack of nutrition that prevailed.

Scurvy is a condition caused by a lack of Vitamin-C over time. Sailors during the Age of Exploration, with inadequate and contaminated food supplies, were particularly vulnerable. Scurvy results in the formation of painful sores, bleeding from the gums, and eventually, organ failure. It can easily be reversed with Vitamin-C, although during the Age of Exploration, it was thought scurvy was contracted through contaminated air of swamps and marshes. Scurvy is thought to have killed over two million sailors in the Age of Exploration.

Yellow Fever is a deadly virus caused by infected mosquitoes. It shuts down the kidneys and liver and makes the skin yellow from jaundice. It results in a high fever and is often fatal.

Dysentery is a virus that spreads in unsanitary conditions (such as those found on crowded ships). It attacks the intestines and results in severe, bloody diarrhea. Some people who get dysentery die of dehydration.

Cholera is similar to dysentery and spreads in unsanitary conditions. People get cholera from contaminated food or water (often when human waste comes in contact with food or water). Those who contract cholera get diarrhea, vomiting, and high fevers. It can be fatal from dehydration.

Typhoid is another disease that is spread in unsanitary conditions. Like cholera and dysentery, it results in severe fevers, diarrhea, or internal bleeding. Typhoid can also cause a rash on the chest.

Wagon Mishaps

Wagon crashes, particularly at river crossings were among the most common and deadly dangers that pioneers faced. At any given time on the Oregon Trail, there were numerous rivers that required crossing. Crossing the rivers could be very dangerous. Sometimes, often after rainstorms, rivers could be swollen and moving swiftly. Such rivers could cause the oxen that pulled the wagons to tip over or panic mid-crossing. This could result in the drowning of passengers and oxen, or the catastrophic loss of supplies or damage to the wagon.

In addition, the wagons could be dangerous, especially for children. Hundreds of children are known to have died along the trails from falling from the moving wagons, or, from being pinned under the wheels of the wagon. Because the wagons were so overloaded, people were often forced to walk alongside them. A simple trip, slip, or stumble, could result in death by being crushed by wagon wheels.

Both adults and children were killed by guns along the trails. Most of the time, such deaths were accidental and resulted from the unintentional discharge of the weapon, or, from carelessness during hunting.

Native Americans

For the most part, relations between the pioneers and various native groups were peaceful and based on trade. There are many documented instances of Native Americans rescuing pioneers stuck in their wagons, rescuing drowning pioneers, or even helping them round up cattle. The vast majority of violence between the Native Americans and pioneers was precipitated by pioneers. In 1863, for example, 400 Shoshone men, women, and children were killed in an organized pioneer attack that included California soldiers known as the Bear River Massacre.

Wildlife

Wildlife along the westward trails could be pose problems for pioneers. The most dangerous situations were when wagons were caught in the path of stampeding buffalo, which could reduce a wagons to a pile of boards and kill riders. Pioneers were sometimes bitten by rattlesnakes when they ventured outside of wagons. While painful, such bites were usually not fatal. Bears, mountain lions, and wolves, rarely posed any serious threats.

Weather

Much of pioneer travel occurred through a region of America called the Great Plains. The Great Plains is well-known for its unpredictable and severe weather. Pioneers were often caught in severe thunderstorms, which could include golf-ball sized hail, brutal dust storms, and even tornadoes. At least six pioneers were documented to have been killed by lightning strikes. The incredible heat from the treeless plains could cause severe dehydration and sunburn. Without modern-day lip balm or Chap Stick, pioneers had to rub axle grease on their lips to keep them from splitting. In addition, the heat wrought havoc on the wagons and caused wood to shrink. Pioneers had to go to great lengths to ensure the metal wagon rims were wet enough to stay on the wheels.

Donner Pass - Site of where the Donner Party was trapped

Occasionally, especially if timing was poor, wagon trains became trapped in blinding snow storms in the mountains. The Donner Party is the most famous example of such circumstances. The Donner's, and several other families, became trapped in the deep snows of the Sierra-Nevada Range during the winter of 1846-1847. The snow was so deep and so relentless that their progress toward California was completely halted for the entire winter. When the family inevitably ran out of food, many died, and others were forced to result to cannibalism to survive. The story of the Donner Family is perhaps the most famous example of the hardships and potential problems pioneers faced.

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By far, the most common cause of death along the westward trails was by disease. Diseases such as those described below spread quickly among families and camps because of the unsanitary conditions or lack of nutrition that prevailed. Scurvy is a condition caused by a lack of Vitamin-C over time.

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Don't Tell Anyone!

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, near present-day Sacramento. Marshall, who was working in a lumber mill for John Sutter, happened upon a shiny metal. Marshall brought an example of the metal to Sutter. Tests on the metal revealed it was indeed gold! Sutter, however, wanted to keep the news quiet as he was worried word of gold would create a frenzy that would threaten his dream of an agricultural empire in California.

Here Come the 49ers! Thanks, President Polk

Sutter, however, could not contain news of the discovery. In December of 1849, President James K. Polk confirmed to the world that gold was discovered in California in an address to Congress. The news quickly spread, and soon, settlers, known as 49ers, arrived by the tens of thousands via wagon and ship, to search for gold in California. Sutter's land would quickly be overwhelmed by gold seekers who ruined his land, stole his crops, killed his livestock, and destroyed his plans. California became a lawless place as racism, violence, disease, and mining accidents collectively added to the tension.

The Rush to California

Of the 90,000 estimated settlers who arrived in California in 1849, 60,000 were thought to be American, and the remainder came from foreign countries. Many billions of dollars worth of gold were reportedly found, making many families instantly wealthy. Furthermore, at the genesis of the gold rush, there were no fees, rules, or taxes that governed the collection of gold. It was free for the taking on a first come first serve basis. As more and more settlers poured into the state, California developed a constitution and government. As part of the Compromise of 1850, California joined America as a free state and soon ranching and agriculture expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the its burgeoning population. The city of San Francisco, with little more than a few hundred settlers in 1848, boomed to a population of over 25,000 by 1850. By 1855, at least 300,000 settlers had relocated to California. By this time, however, most of the gold that could be easily retrieved by individuals was gone and larger mining outfits took over with the technology required to further extract gold.

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On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, near present-day Sacramento. Marshall, who was working in a lumber mill for John Sutter, happened upon a shiny metal. Marshall brought an example of the metal to Sutter. Tests on the metal revealed it was indeed gold!

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This page describes the concept of manifest destiny and how it was used to justify expansion throughout the continent, and the expense of Native Americans and other nations.

The Spiritual Embodiment of Manifest Destiny

Nationalism Grips America

Following the War of 1812, American entered a period of history known as the Era of Good Feeling. During this time, America articulated its first foreign policy through the Monroe Doctrine and a growing sense of nationalism gripped the population. Americans started believing that they were morally and culturally superior to their Native, Mexican, and British neighbors and that it was God's will and the people's duty to spread American virtues from "sea to shining sea."

It Justifies Everything

In 1845, newspaper editor John O' Sullivan first coined the term "Manifest Destiny," to describe the mindset of American expansion. The idea of Manifest Destiny was reflected in the 19th century by the mass migration of Americans from the eastern United States to the west through the great emigrant trails such as the Oregon, California, Santa Fe, and Mormon Trails. It was used to justify the corrupt treaties and wars that resulted in the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral land. It was also used to justify the Mexican-American War, resulting in the annexation of 1.2 million square miles of land in the American West.

Will Lead to Civil War

Manifest Destiny also accelerated the onset of the Civil War as it touched off intense sectional dramas between southern states hoping to expand slavery into new territories and northern states hoping to prevent the spread of slavery.

Across the Continent

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Following the War of 1812, American entered a period of history known as the Era of Good Feeling. During this time, America articulated its first foreign policy through the Monroe Doctrine and a growing sense of nationalism

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2023 MrNussbaum.com is a copyright of the Nussbaum Education Network,LLC.

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This is a complete biography on Texas hero Sam Houston.

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Mr. Nussbaum - Growth of a Nation - Battle of the Alamo

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In 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and 6,000 troops marched to Texas to subdue the Texans. On February 23, Santa Anna besieged the mission known as The Alamo in San Antonio. Santa Anna’s demand for surrender

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This page describes the history and impact of the Erie Canal on Westward Expansion.

The Erie Canal

Transportation Between the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes

During the early 1800's, the new United States of America began to develop plans to build a waterway to transport goods from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes region through the imposing Appalachian Mountains. Prior to construction of the Erie Canal, the transportation of goods to the western states was cumbersome and very expensive.

New York to Pay for Construction of the Erie Canal

In 1816, a plan was formulated to make the Erie Canal. The canal would link the major port of New York City to the Hudson River near Troy, New York. From Troy, the canal would then link the Hudson River to western cities in New York such as Rome, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. From Buffalo, on Lake Erie, goods could be transported to the canal from the western Great Lakes. Hence, goods could be shipped from anywhere in the Great Lakes to major urban centers such as New York City. Although the plan was rejected by president James Monroe, the New York State Legislature approved the plan and planned to pay for the canal by charging tolls for those who used it. Governor DeWitt Clinton was a major proponent of the plan.

Seven Years in the Making

The canal took over seven years to complete. Laborers had to literally dig the massive canal with simple shovels through mountainous areas. Farmers who lived along the canal often contracted workers to build portions of the canal through their land. Many foreign immigrants were paid well to help build the canal. The 363 mile-long, 40 foot wide Erie Canal was completed on October 25, 1825.

The Erie Canal Prompted the Growth of Cities near the Great Lakes

The Erie Canal revolutionized life for many in America. Not only did its construction result in drastic differences in shipping costs, but it prompted huge population growths in the Great Lakes region. People began to move closer to large cities because goods could easily be transported via the Erie Canal to urban areas, and goods could also be shipped west from the cities. The $7,000,000 cost of the canal was quickly covered by tolls. Tolls were eliminated soon after the cost of the canal was reclaimed.

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This page describes the history and impact of the Erie Canal on Westward Expansion. The Erie Canal During the early 1800's, the new United States of America began to develop plans to build a waterway to transport goods from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes region through the imposing Appalachian Mountains.

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Mr. Nussbaum: Tour of Lewis and Clark Part 2

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Mr. Nussbaum: Tour of Lewis and Clark Part 2

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This page contains a description of the early parts of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Forming the Corps of Discovery

On May 14, 1804, the westward journey of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and 38 hunters, cooks, and frontiersmen began at St. Charles on the shores of the Missouri River. Lewis was chosen by Thomas Jefferson to explore the western lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis then turned to William Clark to accompany him and to recruit members who would be beneficial to the expedition. Together, the travelers would be referred to as the Corps of Discovery. Goals of the expedition included charting new animals and plants, documenting the different Native American groups of the regions, and, to find a water passage to the Pacific Ocean known as the Northwest Passage.

Independence Day

The Corps traveled on average 20 miles per day against the current on the Missouri River. On May 20, the expedition sailed past La Charette, the last White settlement on the Missouri River. On July 4th, the expedition celebrated the first Independence Day west of the Mississippi River. To salute the young nation's birthday, the cannons from the keelboats were fired and a creek near present-day Atchison, Kansas was named Independence Creek.

Did You Know?

Because the Missouri River rises east of the Continental Divide, the Corps of Discovery was forced to travel against the current of the mighty Missouri River until they reached the divide in the Rocky Mountains.

At 2,341 miles in length, the Missouri River is considered the longest river in the United States.

The Death of Charles Floyd

On August 3rd, the Corps encountered Native Americans for the first time - the Yankton Sioux in the Great Plains, near present-day Omaha, Nebraska. The Yankton Sioux were presented with various medals and flags and were told of their "Great Father to the East," Thomas Jefferson. On August 20th, Kentucky frontiersman Charles Floyd died, most likely from a burst appendix brought on by appendicitis. Amazingly, Floyd's death would prove to be the ONLY death on the entire two-year expedition. A funeral for Floyd was held on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The location was named Floyd's Bluff in his honor. Although appendicitis is usually diagnosed by doctors today before the appendix bursts, in Floyd's time, appendicitis was invariably fatal.

Lewis and Clark Articles

Lewis and Clark Activities

Animal Discoveries from the journal of Meriwether Lewis - The section provides an introduction to the journal of Meriwether Lewis along with excerpts of his notes regarding observations of various birds and animals.

Lewis and Clark Interactive - This section provides an interactive map of the Lewis and Clark route to the Pacific. Simply click and learn! Perfect as an introduction to the expedition or for younger kids.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Main Idea Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Contextual Vocabulary Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Sequencing Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Details Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Main Idea Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Contextual Vocabulary Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Sequencing Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Details Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Sacagawea Reading Comprehension - This resource includes a historical passage and ten multiple choice questions.

Sacagawea Reading Comprehension - Online - This resource includes a historical passage and ten multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback. In addition, when you click the "listen" button, you can hear the passage while it highlights the text.

Lewis and Clark Cloze Reading - Online - This contextual vocabulary exercise requires students to insert the vocabulary words from the word bank that complete the paragraph.

Lewis and Clark Correct-me Passage - This fun activity requires students to correct a passage about Lewis and Clark that has nine factual errors. Students first must discover the errors, then click on them and select the correct answer from the drop down menu.

Meriwether Lewis Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a Meriwether Lewis passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

William Clark Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a William Clark passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

Sacagawea Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a Sacagawea passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

Comparing and Contrasting Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - This activity requires students to compare and contrast Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Students must evaluate ten statements to determine if each is associated with Lewis, Clark, or Both.

Lewis and Clark - The Dynamic Duo - This printable exercise requires students to compare Lewis and Clark to other "dynamic duos" in literature, movies, or even sports.

Lewis and Clark - The Climb - This printout requires students to consider a time when they thought they were at the cusp of finishing something great, only to learn there was MUCH more work to do - ALA Miley Cyrus.

The Lost Journal Pages of Lewis and Clark! - When Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast Louisiana Territory, he had visions that they'd find exotic creatures such as wholly mammoths and undiscovered landforms such as mountains made of salt. While Lewis and Clark discovered over three hundred species of animals and plants, and even sent a magpie and prairie dog as pets to Thomas Jefferson, they never found the kind of creatures that legends are made of (though they did find massive grizzly bears). What if Lewis and Clark actually did discover an unworldly plant, animal, and landform, but those pages were somehow lost from Lewis' journal forever when their keelboat capsized? In the spaces provided below, use your imagination to name, draw, and describe these lost discoveries.

A Long-lost Picture of Sacagawea - Did you know that there are no known drawings of depictions of Sacagawea? All of the images you see of her today are simply guesses. This activity shows three different depictions of Sacagawea and challenges students to author their own "authentic" sketch of Sacagawea.

Sacagawea - the Unsung Hero - This activity explains the idea of Sacagawea as an unsung hero. Students must then write about an unsung hero they select from movies, literature, sports, or their own lives.

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Part 2: Lewis and Clark In Depth Tour - Into the Wild

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This page contains a description of the early parts of the Lewis and Clark expedition. On May 14, 1804, the westward journey of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and 38 hunters, cooks, and frontiersmen began at St. Charles on the shores of the Missouri River.

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Mr. Nussbaum: Tour of Lewis and Clark Part 1

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Mr. Nussbaum: Tour of Lewis and Clark Part 1

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This page contains a stirring introduction into the realities of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Imagine This:

* Your arms are numb from fighting the raging current of the Missouri River for eight hours each day;

* Your life and the lives of every member of the expedition are threatened by hostile Native Americans;

* You've endured a winter in which soul-piercing temperatures regularly fell to -45 Fahrenheit, not including the wind;

* Vicious animals such as Grizzly Bears and rattlesnakes and thundering herds of Buffalo were constant threats;

* Torrential rains threatened to wash out the expedition and rock-sized hailstones relentlessly pounded on you from above;

* Scorching temperatures during arduous summer portages tested every fiber of your being;

* Fleas, lice, and dense swarms of mosquitoes sucked away your blood;

* Needle-sharp spines from pesky prickly pears, seemingly destined to pierce your feet did their job and destroyed your moccasins at the same time;

* Miles and miles of towering snow-capped mountains stood in your way. Crossing them would result in frostbite, near-starvation, and the hopeless realization that the ranges might never end, and you may die, lost forever among the rocky peaks and snowdrifts.

* Finally, after you managed to survive and endure all of the hardships and physical and mental challenges, and at the climax of an epic journey, you spend an entire winter devoid of sunshine, soaked by an unrelenting, cold rain in a 50 square foot, fetid cabin with at least 40 other people.

Does this sound like an EPIC dystopian novel or movie that sounds incredible? This journey was every bit as amazing as those from the Hunger Games or Divergent, except it was real. This was the reality of any of the 42 members of the Corps of Discovery in the Lewis and Clark adventure. Can you imagine?

The 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark journey was a real-life adventure story that could rival any in fiction or non-fiction today. It is a story of adventure and discovery, of reunion and redemption, and perseverance and innovation. Over the course of two years, William Clark, Meriwether Lewis and 40 other pioneers traversed and mapped the unexplored Louisiana Territory by boat and by foot and documented over 300 new species of animals and plants as well as numerous Native American groups. Miraculously, only one member of the Corps of Discovery died during the two-year journey, and he died of a burst appendix early in the journey. Learn all about this amazing, true story by taking the MrNussbaum.com EPIC journey of Lewis and Clark.

Lewis and Clark Articles

Lewis and Clark Activities

Animal Discoveries from the journal of Meriwether Lewis - The section provides an introduction to the journal of Meriwether Lewis along with excerpts of his notes regarding observations of various birds and animals.

Lewis and Clark Interactive - This section provides an interactive map of the Lewis and Clark route to the Pacific. Simply click and learn! Perfect as an introduction to the expedition or for younger kids.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Main Idea Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Contextual Vocabulary Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Sequencing Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Online Reading Comprehension - Details Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Main Idea Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Contextual Vocabulary Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Sequencing Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Lewis and Clark Printable Reading Comprehension - Details Focus - This resource includes a historical passage and five multiple choice questions.

Sacagawea Reading Comprehension - This resource includes a historical passage and ten multiple choice questions.

Sacagawea Reading Comprehension - Online - This resource includes a historical passage and ten multiple choice questions. It gives immediate feedback. In addition, when you click the "listen" button, you can hear the passage while it highlights the text.

Lewis and Clark Cloze Reading - Online - This contextual vocabulary exercise requires students to insert the vocabulary words from the word bank that complete the paragraph.

Lewis and Clark Correct-me Passage - This fun activity requires students to correct a passage about Lewis and Clark that has nine factual errors. Students first must discover the errors, then click on them and select the correct answer from the drop down menu.

Meriwether Lewis Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a Meriwether Lewis passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

William Clark Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a William Clark passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

Sacagawea Fact or Fiction - Printable - This fun activity requires students to read a Sacagawea passage and then, to sort 10 statements into those that are facts and those that are fiction.

Comparing and Contrasting Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - This activity requires students to compare and contrast Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Students must evaluate ten statements to determine if each is associated with Lewis, Clark, or Both.

Lewis and Clark - The Dynamic Duo - This printable exercise requires students to compare Lewis and Clark to other "dynamic duos" in literature, movies, or even sports.

Lewis and Clark - The Climb - This printout requires students to consider a time when they thought they were at the cusp of finishing something great, only to learn there was MUCH more work to do - ALA Miley Cyrus.

The Lost Journal Pages of Lewis and Clark! - When Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast Louisiana Territory, he had visions that they'd find exotic creatures such as wholly mammoths and undiscovered landforms such as mountains made of salt. While Lewis and Clark discovered over three hundred species of animals and plants, and even sent a magpie and prairie dog as pets to Thomas Jefferson, they never found the kind of creatures that legends are made of (though they did find massive grizzly bears). What if Lewis and Clark actually did discover an unworldly plant, animal, and landform, but those pages were somehow lost from Lewis' journal forever when their keelboat capsized? In the spaces provided below, use your imagination to name, draw, and describe these lost discoveries.

A Long-lost Picture of Sacagawea - Did you know that there are no known drawings of depictions of Sacagawea? All of the images you see of her today are simply guesses. This activity shows three different depictions of Sacagawea and challenges students to author their own "authentic" sketch of Sacagawea.

Sacagawea - the Unsung Hero - This activity explains the idea of Sacagawea as an unsung hero. Students must then write about an unsung hero they select from movies, literature, sports, or their own lives.

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Part 1: Lewis and Clark In Depth Tour - Introduction

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This page contains a stirring introduction into the realities of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

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Newsela: Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

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Newsela: Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

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Newsela | Time Machine (1869): Completion of the Great Transcontinental Railroad

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela: The California Gold Rush sparked a frenzy to the new frontier

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Newsela: The California Gold Rush sparked a frenzy to the new frontier

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.