New-York tribune., 1902-01-02
OUT WEST.
TWENTY THREE HISTORIC TOWNS.

HISTORIC TOWNS OF THE WESTERN STATES
Edited by Lyman j. Powell illustrated. Oc-
tavo, pp. SxXvi, 702. 6. p. Putnam's Sons.
After French dominion had been overthrown
in the New World, the English Crown strictly
forbade further settlement in the back coun-
try. and it was vigorously repressed as a matter
OF policy. But no sooner had Independence been
established than this order of things was ruth
lessly upset, the barriers were swept away, and
the TIDE Of immigration set flowing which ulti-
mately reached the Western confines of the ma
tion immensely extended as they were for its
accommodation. Towns sprang Up where had
been only forests and praries. and the tiny dots
OF civilization previously marked upon the map
by the French and Spaniards served only to
designate the sites for larger beginnings and
Tor more strenuous development by the stronger
nation.
This. in part. with much more in elaboration
Of the theme. is set forth a kind OF over
ture. by Mr. Reuben G. Thwaites. TO the sep
arate chapters by various writers in the His
toric Towns of the Western States" the fourth
and final volume in the American Historic
Towns SERIES of which the Rev. Lyman P
Powell is the general editor It may be re-
marked that Mr.. Thwaites. who is an undls-
puted historical authority. is peculiarly happy in
revealing the forces which form the Western
towns into characteristic group by themselves
and the editor has been less felicitous in MAX
ing his group Of historic towns Of the West so
broadly comprehensive as 10 include those from
the Ohio River TO the Pacific Ocean, and from
the Great Lakes TO the Mexican border. It
might appear. at first sight that the mid-coun-
try towns of Marietta Cleveland and Cincinnati
had nothing in common with those of the farther
West, but the basis of inclusiveness has been
the truly historic rather than the geographic
o%. .,.,s#--
beginnings Of that great development Of the
West which is still operative the Pacific
Slope and in the Middle West. The beginnings
at Detroit and Vincennes were, to be sure, far
earlier but these sporadic beginnings OF
an ephemeral existence. and the life that
TO be lasting and evolutionary yet to be i'm
parted to them by the Anglo-American expan-
sion
The editors present scheme gives the reader
a far larger number OF sketches of historic
towns than were traversed in any one OF the
preceding volumes-to be exact, twenty-three in
all-whereas the several volumes on the historic
cities Of the New-England States. the South
and the Middle States, contained only about
dozen chapters each, many cities. This
interesting example Of history in the composite
and concrete-history localized and localized"
the editor calls it-has engaged the pens of
more than a score of writers. for the most part
fairly representative Of the towns de-
scribed." DR.. Thwing. president Of Western
Reserve University. writes of Cleveland; Milton
Z. Allies. of Cincinnati; Sias Farmer. Of Detroit;
Perry S. Heath, of Detroit: Lyman J. Gage. OF
Chicago; Charles B. Elliott, of Minneapolis and
ST Paul; William Marion Reedy. of st. Louis;
Edwin Markham, of San Francisco. But some
of the best chapters those the smaller
towns William Henry Smiths Vincennes,
Mr.. Thwaites Madison. Sara Andrew Shaffer's
Mackinac. Harold Bolce's Monterey and Spokane.
The volume is literally illustrated but not 80
profusely as to crowd the text.