The American Heritage History of the Great West

New York: American Heritage Publishing. Company, 1965. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good/fair.. Ralph K. Andrist (Pictorial Commentary), David Gre. 29 cm. 416 pages. Profusely illusustrated (some color). Maps (some color fold-out). Index. Former owner's name and date inside front board. Front DJ flap price clipped. Some underlining noted. Writing on bottom edge. The Western United States has been populated by Native Americans since at least 11,000 BC, when the first Paleo-Indians arrived. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as Yellowstone National Park since around 1000 AD. Major settlement of the western territories developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely through the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush of 1849. California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory. Both Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period. Omaha, home to the Union Pacific Railroad and the Mormon Trail, made its fortunes on outfitting settlers; St. Louis built itself upon the vast fur trade in the West before its settlement. The 1850s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, issues leading to the Civil War. The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. The image of the cowboy, the homesteader, and westward expansion took real events and transmuted them into a myth of the west which has shaped much of American popular culture since the late 19th century.