Recalling the period of Western settlement,

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner

observed that as we trudged on,

American innovation grew on,

and with it, redefined the America spirit.

While this might be somewhat true,

settlement of the West was not

all good and well.

Some prospered, and some

wished it never happened.

Here are their stories.

We, the weary, toiling immigrants,

men and women are the members

of the Union Pacific and central Pacific

railroad crews.  In the years of

1862 and 1864, we received requests

to extend the rails west for the

new settlers that were coming.

So, we did.

Now that they’re here, we begin to hear

of silver and gold in Nevada.

Too excited to let this

“prospect” (no pun intended) slip away,

we rush to Pike’s Peak and Comstock to get rich.

We are the people of Western industry.

We, the farmers of the West,

inspired by the yeoman ideology of Jefferson,

took to the great plains to reap new land and prosper.

We didn’t expect, however, the

harsh winters or that we’d have to live in houses of sod;

Not to mention the horrors of those darn

bonanza farms taking our crops and our business,

or those ranchers who run their

cattle through our land.

We are the mistreated and

fiercely let down.

We are the common people.

We are the women settlers,

some widowed, responsible for our husband’s land,

some with families working at home,

while our husbands do the providing.

We love this new land still,

we no longer have to suffer without suffrage.

We are the minorities of the West,

the Exo-dusters, the Jim Crow escapees,

the Israelites leaving Egypt for Canaan,

only to have little success.

We are the Sioux people.

The plains are our home and

the white man of the West push us out.

Even if we resist, they use their guns and strength,

killing our brothers until we yield and

we are forced onto reservations.

They took our buffalo and

our Ghost Dance didn’t bring them back.

We fought at Little Big Horn, and

were brave at Wounded Knee,

but to no avail.

Our chief, Sitting Bull, has passed, yet will forever live in us.

We are the scarred, persecuted, the formerly at peace.

We are the Natives of the West.

Even though the Whites force us to South Dakota, we have to make do.

It’s the only thing to do.

So, as you can see,

Western expansion was not nearly as beautiful as Turner said.

Though it led to the mining industry boom,

women’s suffrage, and peace for all blacks,

all of this came at a great price:

mass killing and exile of peaceful peoples,

decline of small farms and poor living

and working conditions for the common people.

All of this so we could have more land.

All of this so the government could make more money with crops and industry.

Turner was wrong, but …

Soon the Progressive Era will come, and with it …

Change.