PREFATORY. TWENTY years ago, half our continent was an unknown land, and the Rocky Mountains were our Pillars of Hercules. Five years hence, the Orient will be our next-door neighbor. We shall hold the world's granary, the world's treasury, the world's highway. But we shall have no Far West, no border, no Civilization, in line of battle, pressing back hostile savages, and conquering hostile Nature. I have sought to picture a fleeting phase of our national life; not omitting its grotesque, lawless features; not concealing my admiration for the adventurous pioneers who have founded great States from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and made a new geography for the American Union. It is discreditable to Americans-peculiarly so to those with means and leisure for traveling abroad-that they know little of this geography; little of the greatness, richness and beauty of our national inheritance. In exhaustlessness and variety of resources, no other country on the globe equals ours beyond the Mississippi. In grand natural curiosities and wonders, all other countries combined fall far below it. Its mines, forests and prairies await the capitalist. Its dusky races, earth-monuments and ancient cities importune the antiquarian. Its cataracts, canyons and crests woo the painter. Its mountains, minerals and stupendous vegetable productions challenge the naturalist. Its air invites the invalid, healing the system wounded by ruder climates. Its society welcomes the immigrant, offering high interest upon his invest ment of money, brains or skill; and if need be, generous obliviousness of errors past—a clean page to begin anew the record of his life. The themes are fruitful. The Pacific Railroad hastens toward comple tion. We seem on the threshold of a destiny higher and better than any nation has yet fulfilled. And the great West is to rule us. The field is very large. In crossing it here and there, I have only lin gered at some noteworthy points. Future writers will study and depict it, State by State, more minutely and more worthily. NEW YORK, May, 1867. POSTSCRIPT. In view of the unexpectedly large and continuing demand for this work, a revised edition is issued, with a corrected map, a copious alphabetical index, and fifty pages of new reading matter, bringing it forward to the date of the completion of our first railroad across the continent. NEW YORK, June 1869. ILLUSTRATIONS. ARTISTS' NAMES IN SMALL CAPITALS; ENGRAVERS' IN ITALICS. 1 MAP of the region between the Mississippi and the Pacific. (Two pages.) Drawn on wood by TUDOR HORTON; engraved by Fay & Cox.... . . . . 2 Illuminated Title page. THOMAS NAST. 3 The Gray Goose Quill. A. C. WARREN. 4 A Snagged Steamer. A. R. WAUD. J. P. Davis & Speer.. Fay & Cox...... Davis & Speer....... 5 The Grade in Kansas City. A. R. WAUD. Davis & Speer.... 6 Lawrence Kansas, in 1857. THOMAS HOGAN. Davis & Speer....... 7 Waukarusa. GEORGE G. WHITE. Davis & Speer.... 8 Mud Fort. HOGAN. Davis & Speer... 9 Capture of Colonel Titus. WHITE. N. Orr & Company.. PAGE. 17 21 26 35 37 38 40 10 Portrait of James H. Lane. W. WAUD. Davis & Speer... 11 A Prohibitory Law. WHITE. Orr...... 12 City of New Babylon on Paper. WARREN. Davis & Speer... 45 52 59 13 City of New Babylon in Fact. WHITE. Davis & Speer.. 14 Moving Accident by Flood and Field. HOGAN. Davis & Speer...... 15 'You can't hang me but once.' WHITE. Orr. 16 Law and Order Men. BENJAMIN DAY. Davis & Speer.. 60 62 69 72 17 Indians Traveling. J. C. BEARD. J. H. Richardson.. 18 Family Encampment. J. C. BEARD. Orr..... 74 78 19 Governor Robinson's Trial for Treason. H. L. STEPHENS. Richardson..... 22 A Night in the Cabin of Four Miles. (Full page.) NAST. Speer. Face page.... 23 Indian Mode of Burial. 24 Voting in Kickapoo. 25 A Scene Like This.' GRANVILLE PERKINS. Davis & Speer. 26 Old Kaintuck. STEPHENS. Davis & Speer.. 27 About Full Here!' F. BEARD. Davis & Speer.. JOHN R. CHAPIN. Orr..... 28 Navigation of the Kansas River. Davis & 91 97 101 107 110 112 115 Richardson. Face page..... 117 30 The Executive Supporting the Judiciary. CHAPIN. Orr.... 31 Portrait of James Montgomery. W. WAUD. Duvis & Speer.. 32 A Peace Convention at Fort Scott, Kansas. (Full page.) F. BEARD. Davis & PAGE 139 ... 35 A Habitable Dwelling. Miss EMMA DE RYKE. 36 A House Twelve by Fourteen. Miss M. H. VANDERVEER. Fay & Cox..... 140 37 A Bona fide Residence. Miss LIZZIE B. HUMPHREY. Orr.... 38 End of the Bogus Laws. Miss M. JARVIS. Fay & Cox.... 39 What's in a name? A. R. WAUD. Davis & Speer.... 40 An Abolition Emissary. (Full page.) WILLIAM J. HENNESSY. Davis & 53 A Visit from Little Raven. A. R. WAUD. Davis & Speer. |