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America's Westward Expansion is triggered by Lewis and Clark and continued by mountain men, missionaries, and explorers. Gold is discovered in California.
Lewis, Clark, and PikeLong before gold was discovered in California a few adventuresome souls migrated across the Great Plains. Some of these brave folks, such as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, beginning in 1803, went as far as the Pacific Northwest. Some, like Zebulon Pike, went down into New Mexico along the Santa Fe Trail with the purpose in mind of opening trade with Mexico. The Fur TradeHowever, most of those brave, or foolish, souls that trekked westward in those early years were involved in the fur trade like Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, and Joe Meek. Even so, their numbers then were so few, in comparison to the Native Americans, that they made little effect. What wild Plains creatures the mountain men killed for meat and furs in no way even began to decimate the animal population, any more and in fact less than the Indians had already accomplished, at least not for a couple of decades to come. Most of the Plains Indians welcomed these whites for they brought eastern goods to trade. The MissionariesThings began to change in about the mid-1830s. It was then that Missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were massacred by Indians in Oregon Country, but this didn't stop the flood of whites coming across the Plains to settle and farm in Oregon, not in the least. In fact, soon the flood of immigrants heading West would become a torrent. Wagons WestBy the 1840s wagon trains began snaking across the Plains. Most people were headed for Oregon but folks were starting to get the idea that California was the place to be. Then gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in north central California. Soon the flood of warm bodies was on, moving westward, looking for those cold and bright rivers of gold. Gold Discovered in CaliforniaIn 1849, following the discovery of gold in California, more people crossed the Plains westward than had made the continental crossing in all previous years. It's not surprising that a newspaper editor, during this time, informed his readers that if The United States government acquired territory on the moon, "the Yankees would contrive some plan to emigrate to it." He well could have added that if gold were discovered on the moon it would have the same effect. An Unending Stream of WhitesAfter gold was discovered in California, in 1849, the Native Americans got a full dose of the determined and adventure-driven white people that were invading their homelands. That the Indians possessed this same staunch stubbornness in their endeavor to hold their lands and keep the whites out, history leaves no doubt. However, the whites, vastly outnumbering and outgunning the Indians, produced a replenishing stream by means of immigration from Europe and other lands. This was an advantage the Indians did not have, along with helping to create their own downfall by warring with each other in stead of banding together against a common enemy-the whites. Forts Along the Oregon TrailEven before the discovery of gold in California the government deemed it necessary to establish a means of protection for those whose destination and determination was fertile land in Oregon Country or in converting the less fertile souls of the Red Men. In 1846 well over $87,500 was authorize to establish military forts along the Oregon Trail. These funds were also intended to man and equip the forts, while $2,000 of the money was to compensate the Indian tribes who claimed possession of the lands where each fort would be built. They Headed West: America's Westward Expansion continues with The Gold Rushes: Gold Discovered in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.
The copyright of the article They Headed West in American History is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish They Headed West in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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