Prospector, cowhand, and sodbuster historic places associated with the mining, ranching, and farming frontiers in the trans-Mississippi West
Edited by Robert G. Ferris
- Washington, DC United States Department of the Interior National Park Service 1967
- 320 p
- National survey of historic sites and buildings v. 11 .
Between 1803 and 1853, the new seaboad republic of the United States acquired a vast empire of plains, mountains, and deserts west of the Mississippi River. Its borders fixed on the Pacific, it gloried in its new stature as a continental Nation. But most of the new domain lay unconquered and unknown except to scattered Indian tribes and a few explorers and mountain men. In the next half-century, soldiers, traders, road and railway builders, and other adventurers helped fill in the map of the American West. Overshadowing them all in actually subduing the land, however, were the prospector, cowhand, and sodbuster. Though these three types of pioneers fostered exaggerated stereotypes that still live in American folklore, each shared decisively in shaping the history of the West. And each left tangible evidences of his passage across the land that recall for today's generation the contributions of frontier mining, stockraising, and farming to the making of America. This volume surveys the legacy of historic sites and buildings bequeathed by these actors in the drama of conquering the West. It is one of a series of books designed to make available the findings of the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, a nation-wide program conducted by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior under authority of the Historic Sites Act of 1935. The Survey's purpose is to identify historic and pre-historic places of significance to the Nation. Such places are studied and evaluated by Service field historians and archeologists, screened by a Consulting Committee of outside scholars, and final selections recommended to the Secretary of the Interior by the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments. When approved by the Secretary, sites and buildings judged of national historical significance are eligible for designation as Registered National Historic Landmarks.
--United States--West (U.S.)--West (U.S.) Biography--United States, West--19th century