The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1873-01-31


Plains are rrn1crapd New Ad-
ventures Of tlic Men who have
Isridgcd the Continent.
DENVER, CoLoRADo, Jan. Z.
II is now nearly four hundred years
since the first Caucasian ciltctually sot
his foot uron American soil. Before
him was an unbrokon Wilderness, into
aud through which, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and from Alaska to Cape
Horn, his race was destined 10 penetrate,
carrying civilization with it, by arms
and then by arts, until at last the whole
continent should he prepared for, should
achieve and finally should surpass, the
culture and enlightenment Of the Old
World. The Italian Columbus, the
Spanish Cortcs. AMI the Engli.h rcfu-
gee. in the MAY Flower did not, Of
course. rccognil, the result, which were
10 follow in the wake Of their alvcniur-
ous voyages. and A. little did they dream
OF the vast extent Of country over which
these result. should in time be spread.
Probably it is true that Columbus wished
merely 10 verify II mathematical calcula-
iion that Cortcs though; only Of the
faith aud an III Dorado, and that the
Pilgrims sought only land where they
might live in peace in Nay- that seemed
good to them, bat having once achieved
their immediate objects. il can not but
b. thst before their eyes passed golden
visions Of all the wonders thst should be-.
The mighty dreamer died in neglected
old sge; the fiery Spsnisri. the hero of
the terrible drama Of the Nochc Tr,tc,
persisted a miserable and whining seeker
for his kigg'' favor, more difficult TO find
than ,he gold cf lAe yreiohcd Guatemo-
gin. but the sturdy Saxon remained upon
the land be once had placed beneath bis
feet. and thus was typical Of his race it
is in the line Of English civilization TINT
American civilization has been and !.
now pursuing its course. 1t is the Sax
on. dream which !. here rapidly bccnm-
ing a reality what might have been the
dream Of Drake or Raleigh. but never Of
Cortcs or of Fcriinsnd; the Saxon loves
land bccau.c he eau own it and live ON
it, hut the Latin races gencrslly hecausc
il may hn conquered or because il T.
beautiful In Ices ihRn four hun.
drcd years handful of settlers has he.
come. in the United States alone, nearly
forty millions Of citi1cns; We hsve had
10 make room for ourselves, and Of late
years that room has had To be made in
great part through country nearly, il
not wholly. as wild and uncultiyatod as
that in which the first adventures found
themselves.
The story is romantic one from be-
ginning 10 end, and one the early part Of
which has been often and graphically
told. The settlers were weak and the
savages were many and cruel the win
ters were deadly cold; the forests were
dense and filed with Wild beasts; the
mountains were rugged and high; the
rivers were wide, and civilized man was
battling with strong and relentless na-
ture, now gaining foothold and now
apparently crushed and starved out, Yet
the end of the conflict was not doubtful
as the conflict itself was not equal, the
savages were edged or into the wilder
ness, forests gave place TO settlements,
villages, towns, and finally great cities
the mountains were crossed and tunneled,
and the broad rivers pressed into the
service of the hardy pioneers; and yet
at the time Of the revolution against
Great Britain the thirteen States were
but anarrow strip cut oir from the cont,
nent along the Atlantic coast, and behind
was the wilderness. The civilized-popu-
lation numbered only three millions
hundred years ago, where now irnum.
bers over twelve times as many. In
1897 we held the territory northwest of
the Ohio; in 1890 the territory south, /
and in 1912 the Mississippi territory,
and in 1903 we gained possession of that .
immense tract of land known as the
Province of Louisiana, stretching from
the British possessions to the Gulf of
Mexico, and from the Mississippi to the
Pacific ocean. In 1913 the cessions made
by Mexico completed the territory now
held by the United States, with the ex-
ception of Alaska, which we bought
from Russia in 1868. Yet when thi.
land was ours, for long time much of
il was more a terra incognita than Alaska
noN Is, aud nearly as much unknown as
the very interior Of Africa is at the pres
ent day; and 50 late as 1913 the country
beyond the Rocky mountains was utterly
unexplored, Yet at this day the Allan
tic and Pacific are connected by rail 4; the
West is almost a network of railways;
commerce, education, and the arts -four
ish, and the wilderness blooms and bios
SONS like the rose. The aboriginal
Inhabitants have nearly passed away,