The Forgotten History of America’s Permanent Indian Frontier

A good plan thwarted by settlers

(By Seifert Gugler & Co. — “Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1876 by Seifert Gugler & Co. with the librarian of Congress at Washington D. C.” File copied from http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/35616, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15269312)

There was a time when no one conceivably believed that Americans would cross the Mississippi River in any great number. Today, that notion seems ridiculous, considering that Texas and California are two of the most populated states in the Union, but at the time, the idea of a mass migration westward seemed out of the question. The Mississippi was seen as the great natural boundary for America’s western frontier. The only things beyond the Mississippi were natives, uninhabitable plains, Mexicans, and deserts. Who would want to live there?

When explorers crossed the Mississippi and ventured into the Central Plains, Texas, and the Rockies, they saw nothing desirable. Compared to the lush forests of Ohio and the verdant fields of Virginia, the West offered nothing of value. The mountains were too tall, the weather was simultaneously too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, and the amount of suitable farmland seemed bleak. This is why policymakers thought it was a good idea to ship native tribes that were a hindrance to American expansionism in the East out past the Mississippi River. Many people truly believed at the time that sending them beyond the final frontier would allow them to live separately from American settlers.