The difficulties in settling the west

Abstract

Introduction: For long years the problem of what was to be done with the land lying between the Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains was a very important one. To the overage mind of fifty years ago it stretched away in the imagination a desert land, the feeding ground of the American bison and the home of the aboriginal tribes of the continent. The mere suggestion that small day this waste would be the home of a prosperous people or that on the plain would rise great and handsome cities, that from these arid wastes, as it was then pictured, would come a large part of the food stuffs of the world, would have been laughed to scorn and derided as the dream of a fanatic. But time, energy, bravery, and determination alloyed with a large percent of good sense and brains have brought this, yes, and even more than this to pass.