Years Of This Land - A Geographical History Of The United States

Years of This Land B wP f pir, - d, At i Land of long distances and few people. TO Annie and Sunny Acknowledgments THE writers wish to express their deep appreciation to Dr. Kirtley F. Mather for reading and criticism of the manuscript of this book, and for his encourage ment during the months of arduous and often dis couraging preparation. The illustrations came from many sources. Thanks are extended herewith to the Union Pacific Railroad for use of illustration facing page 193 and the view of the Grand Tetons opposite page 103. The United States Soil Conservation Service courteously fur nished the views of misused and properly farmed lands opposite pages 168 and 169. The Nevada State Highway Commission supplied the frontispiece, a panorama of desert landscape, and the United States Bureau of Reclamation contributed the picture of Boulder Dam opposite page 192. The aerial view of a Corn Belt farm near Galesburg, Illinois, facing page 22, was taken by Perry Gliessman that of the Lime stone Valley of Virginia, opposite page 23, by George A. Grant, United States Department of the Interior. The maps on pages 3, 20, and 25 are used by per mission of Dr. Carey Croneis and the Chicago Uni versity Press from Down To Earth by Croneis and Krumbein. H. R. M. D. M. D. Contents 1. THY ROCKS AND RILLS 1 2. THROUGH THE MIST OF THE DEEP ... 35 3. ILL TAKE MY STAND 56 4. LET ALL THAT BREATHE PARTAKE ... 76 5. THE TWAIN SHALL MEET ..... 90 6. WHAT THEY WASTED EVERY DAY . . . 116 7. HARD TIMES COMES A-KNOCKING . . . 158 8. STARS IN THEIR COURSES 195 9. UNMANIFEST DESTINY 218 INDEX 239 Maps PAGE The glaciers covered half of North America . . 3 Ancient seas spread across America from these troughs beforethey became mountains ... 20 The Appalachians are no longer young, but the Rockies still preserve their figure .... 25 Distribution of mountains, plains, and deserts in the United States 33 Did these pieces once fit together 37 Circuit of wind, water, and commerce in the North Atlantic 40 Diagram of the geographical situation of the United States immediately after the Revolu tionary War 65 Expansion of the Cotton Kingdom 73 The country traversed by the Oregon Trail during the first years it was used 101 A translated map of the United States .... 113 How state laws regarding twenty-ton trucks carve up the Union 199