Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Footnote 1 in the section "DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO" is missing.
There are two [7] anchors for Footnote 7 in the section "SWORD AND GOWN IN CALIFORNIA".
There are two [3] anchors for Footnote 3 in the section "THE LOST COLONY: ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS". The second appears to be a printer's error.
No map was identified in the text showing the Santa Fé and Oregon trails.
No section was found referring to the "Edmunds Bill".
The following alternate spellings were identified and retained:
- practise and practice
- Pekitanoüi and Pekitanoui
- Clarke and Clark
- Compte and Comte
- Nicolet and Nicollet
- Cortes and Cortez
- Chicasaw and Chickasaw
- New-England and New England.
THE
MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST
1512-1883
BY
SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
London
GIBBINGS & COMPANY, Ltd.
18 BURY STREET, W.C.
1894
Copyright, 1887, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston, U.S.A.
PREFACE.
"Time's noblest offspring is the last."
This history is intended to meet, so far as it may, thewant for brief, compact, and handy manuals of the beginningsof our country.
Although primarily designed for young people, the facthas not been overlooked that the same want exists amongadult readers, to whom an intelligent view of the subject,in a little space, is nowhere accessible.
For the purpose in hand, the simplest language consistentwith clearness has been made use of, though I have neverhesitated to employ the right word, whenever I could commandit, even if it were of more than three syllables.
As in the "Making of New England," "this book aimsto occupy a place between the larger and lesser histories,—toso condense the exhaustive narrative as to give it greatervitality, or so extend what the narrow limits of the school-historyoften leave obscure as to supply the deficiency.Thus, when teachers have a particular topic before them,it is intended that a chapter on the same subject be read tofill out the bare outlines of the common-school text-book.
"To this end the plan has been to treat each topic as aunit, to be worked out to a clear understanding of its objectsviiia