I got into an interesting discussion with a gentleman the other day about what exactly is the American Frontier and how people have very strong opinions about dates reflecting times of the frontier. We were sitting at the Bucket of Blood saloon in Virginia City, which is what led to our little talk.
For many in the great plains and east, talk of the frontier is about 1870s, ‘80s, and ‘90s while in the far west, frontier times were well before that.
While California was still a Spanish territory, many Americans moved into the territory. That was in the 1830s and ‘40s. It was the fur trade that opened Oregon and Washington lands to development by way of families moving in.
While wars with Indians in the plains were raging, San Francisco was a cosmopolitan city of wealth and style. Virginia City was filled with banks, large stately hotels, a railroad, and a stock exchange with direct connection to San Francisco in the early 1860s.
Magnificent land and vital business opportunity initially led people into the far west and then the discovery of vast amounts of gold and silver brought the multitudes. The frontier of the far west was considerably different from the frontier of the Great Plains and separated by decades.
There is of course another frontier era that must be included in a discussion like this and that is the Texas era, which would probably begin with the founding of New Orleans and the Mexican government welcoming American immigrants.
Agricultural opportunity brought them in and they flourished, which of course led to the trailing of cattle north and the building of towns and cities on the railroads that were building. Thus that frontier era.
I think it would be safe to say there is no one great American frontier nor is there one specific time of that frontier. The great southwest, the far west, and the Great Plains expansions all took place at different times, separated by decades. The causes of expansion are considerably different as well.
It would be safe to say that economics was the leading cause, but those economic factors would be different. Mining, agriculture, cattle ranching, and railroads were the major economic drivers of the American frontier.
All of that can probably relate back to the fur trade, which had its origins at the very beginning of the settlement of the New World. Fur was the economic driver along with opportunity to own land that moved men and women into the west originally.
Some made the big jump, in sailing ships around the horn and into California, while others came across the vast continent in prairie schooners on the Donner Trail or the Oregon Trail.
Along the way, some settled in various areas that answered their questions of where and how to live.
The American Frontier started when the first colonizer, way back sometime in the 1600s moved his family a little farther inland and it didn’t stop until there were American cities and towns spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Until next time, read good books and stay regular
Johnny Gunn
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