A NE WNATION
ZebulonPikeandtheGreat
AmericanDesert
Whi k·Lew is and Clarkwerecrossingth e plains
and mounta inso ftheAmerican North w est. an-
o ther expedition was exploring th ose o f the
Southwest. Theleaderofthe ex pedition was a
young lieutenant in theAmericanarmynamed
Zebu lo n M. Pike.InNovember1806,Pike and his men reachedth e
RockyMountainsncarwherethecit yofPueblo,
Colorado,no wstands .The followingspri ngPike
traveledfurther i nt othem o un tains,into lan d sthat
werethenruledbySpain.Eventua llyhe wasar-
restedbySpanishso ldiers.Altho u ghth e Span iards
tr eated him withcourtesy. th ey too k a\v ay his
n o tes andpapersand sent hi mbackto theUnited
States.
Pike isremembered to d ay fortwothin gs.One is
P ik esPeak , ahighmountain IIIColo rad o which
hefirstsightedonNovember15, 1806, andwhich
isnamed afterhim.Theotheris for hisopinion
that the entirecentralreg ionofNort hAmerica
betweentheMississippi andtheRockiesw aslittle
betterthana desert and" in capab le of cultivation ."
For years after Pike's jo u rn ey this area was
described on m ap s as " T he Great A merican
Desert. "ButbothPi ke and themapmakc rswere
wrong .Bythe 1870simpro ved seeds and better
methodso f cultivatio nweremaking itpossiblefor
farmerstoturntheselan d s intoo neofthe richest
gram-growin g areasin th eworld.Missouri.atownontheM ississip piRiver.From
Ind ep en denceth ey fo llo wed atwistingtrailofabout
2,000 milesacrossplainsandmountai n sto themouth
oftheColu mbiaRiver,
Thisoverland routetothePacificcoast became
knownastheO reg on Trail. Thewheelso f th e
wagonsthattraveledalongit madedeepruts.These
ruts canstillbe seenin d ryareasofth eAm erican
Westtoday.Butth eOregonTrailwas nev era single
trail.It wasmorea collectio noftrails, all headi ng in
th e sam egen eral d ir ect ion acro ss wcsrcmNorth
America and mee tingoccasionallyat river- crossin g
POllltSand passes th ro u ghthemountai n s.
42J-lolllllaill-mmsNri"gIro1p~fi'rbr''''tr_Settlers facedmanyd an gersallthew ayto Oregon.
Floodsandblizzards, prai ri e firesan daccidents,
diseaseandstarvation-vallthesetoo k m an y lives.
O nesett ler recorded in his diarya com m onsight
along the trail: "Atnoon cameupona frcshgrave
withanotetiedo n a stick ,informin g us it wasthe
graveofJoelH embree,agedsixyears. killedbya
wagon runn in gover hisbody.·'-
B ut ,mspiteofth e danger s.sett ler scontinuedto
makethelongjourney. In 1843" O reg onfever"
cam e tomanyparts oftheU n itedStates.Peo ple left
rhcirworn-alitfarmsintheEas t. packedtheir
possc su oo sonw agons and setofffortheWest. " I
h aveseenhardtimes,facedth e dange rsofdiseaseand
exp os ure and per il sofall kin ds,"w ro teone,"butI
donorcare ab o ut th emifthey enab le metoplace
myselfandmyfami lyincomfortableCircums tan ces
[betterconditions]."
A merican settlerssoon o ut numberedtheBritishm
O rego n.American new spapers an d politicalleader s
beg an toexpressan idea called"manifest destiny. "
T hi swas a claimth atit w asth e clear(vmanifcs t ")
intenti o n of fate(vdcsnny")thattheter rit o ryofthe
U nit edStatesshouldstretchacros sNorthAmerica
fromthe Atl antictothePacific.Supportersof
manifes tdestinyd eman dedthatthe Un itedStates
shouldtak e th e wholeofO regon , all thewaynorth
to theboundary w ithAlaskaatlatitud e 54degrees 40
mmutcs.T heybegan us ing the sloga n"Fifty four
fortyor fight" andthrea ten edth e Britishwithw ar.