See also rivers/river exploration
geology, role in American settlement, 75–77
George II (king of England), 179
Gilpin, William (explorer), 110–11
Gold Rush of 1848, 261, 263–64
Good Roads (magazine), 283
Gooding, William (engineer), 215–17
Google, 424–26
Grace, William R. (New York mayor), 364
Grand Canyon, 115–25, 174
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (painting, Moran), 138
grand experiment, United States as, xvi
Grant, Ulysses S., 138
Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck), 233
Gray, Robert (fur trader/explorer), 174
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 372
Great Depression of 1930s, 229, 232–33
Great Diamond Fraud (1872)
creating the fraud, 143–46
exposure by Clarence King, 139, 146–51
revisiting site of, 152–53
Great Lakes
early French settlement, 175
Erie Canal, vision and planning, 196–203
linkage to Hudson River, 196–200, 214
linkage to Mississippi River, 214–20
migration of Asian carp to, 220–22
Great Plains, Lewis and Clark discovery, 34–39
Great Sioux Nation, 44–48
Gunnison, John (military officer/explorer), 107
Gunter, Edmund (preacher/astronomer), 12n
Hall, Andrew (Powell expedition survivor), 128
Hammerstein, Oscar, II (songwriter), 162
Harpending, Asbury (adventurer), 145, 150
Hartford, Connecticut, 170
Haslam, “Pony Bob” (Pony Express rider), 335
Hawkins, Billy (Powell expedition survivor), 128
Hawley, Jesse (farmer and merchant), 199–202
Hay, John, 157–58
Hayden, Ferdinand Vanderveer (geologist)
background and early explorations, 129–30
selection for the Great Surveys (1867), 112–13, 151
survey of Yellowstone, 130–39
Hearst, William Randolph (newspaper publisher), 318, 320, 377
He-dow Teton, Randy’L (Shoshone woman), 51
Herrold, Charles and Sybil (radio broadcast pioneers), 393–94
Hertz, Heinrich R. (physicist), 385
Heston, Charlton (actor), 50, 52
highways. See roads/roadways/road building
Hooley, Edgar (road builder), 247
Hoover, Herbert (Secretary of Commerce), 396–97, 409–10
Howe, Daniel Walker (historian), 202
Hudson, Henry (explorer), 165, 171
Hudson River, 170–71, 250–51, 253
Hudson-Mohawk Gap, 196–202, 209–13, 253
Hudson’s Bay Company, 62
Hulsen, Al (radio journalist), 402
Huntley, Chet (broadcast journalist), 414–15
Hutchins, Thomas (surveyor), 12–15
Illinois
Chicago Sanitary Canal, 214–22
Chicago World’s Fair of 1892, 374–75
terminus of Cumberland Road, 244
immigration
Chinese workers for railroads, 269–73
Irish service in the Civil War, 271
See also “settler movement”
incandescent lightbulb. See electricity/electric lights
Independence, Missouri, 97, 101
Insull, Samuel (business magnate), 377, 379–80
Internet
about wonder and potential of, 417–19
accelerating growth, 419–20
ARPANET, origins as, 420–21
computer protocol development, 421–23
creation of World Wide Web, 423–25
unifying role in the world, 425–28
Interstate Highway System. See transcontinental highways
The Invaders (movie), 261n
It’s a Wonderful Life (movie), 289–90
Jackson, Andrew, 255
Jackson, Charles (geologist), 338–39
Jackson, Horatio Nelson (cross-country auto traveler), 298
Jackson, William Henry (photographer), 134–36
James, Edwin (geologist), 93
James River, 168, 184, 186
Janin, Henry (mining engineer), 145, 147, 149–50
Jefferson, Thomas
belief in Manifest Destiny, 30
creation of Monticello, 3–6
creation of United States, xxvi
fascination with American West, 6–8
Louisiana Purchase, 13, 16–17
notions of land ownership, 8–16
as slave-owner, 4, 6
support of public works projects, 204, 243
See also Lewis and Clark expedition
Johansen, Dorothy (author), 72
Johnson, Andrew, 141
Johnson, Lyndon B., xiii–xiv
Johnson, Philip (architect), 75
Johnson, William [Sir] (trader), 45
Jolliet, Louis (explorer), 175, 215–17
Judah, Theodore Dehone (engineer/visionary), 258–59, 261–68, 275, 433
Judge, Pat and Tom (farmers), 287–89, 290
Kahn, Robert (Internet pioneer), 422–23
Kanawha River, 183–84
Kansas City, Missouri, 24, 29
Keating, William (geologist), 94
Kelley, William (congressman), 137
Kennebec River, 171
Kennedy, John F. (presidential candidate), 414
King, Clarence Rivers (geologist)
director of U.S. Geological Service, 151
exposing Great Diamond Fraud, 139, 143–51
fascination with dark-skinned women, 141, 153–54
marriage to black woman, 154–58
racially passing as black man, 158–60
selection for Great Surveys (1867), 112–13, 141–43
King’s Highway, 241
Lafayette, Marquis de [Gilbert du Motier] (French general), 337
Land Ordinance of 1785, 10
Langford, Nathaniel Pitt (explorer/historian), 132
Larkin, Philip (poet), 125
Latrobe, Benjamin (engineer), 189
League of American Wheelmen, 283, 295
Leaves of Grass (Whitman), 238
Ledyard, James (explorer), 19n
Lewis, Meriwether (explorer), 18–19, 40
Lewis, Samuel (mapmaker), 81–82
Lewis and Clark expedition
about idea for, 17–20
America, beginning mapping of, 81n
beginning expedition, 22–25, 29–30, 32–40
bicentennial celebration, 25
congressional authorization, 20–22
crossing Continental Divide, 60–62
encounter with Indians, 41–48
legacy and legend of Sacagawea, 49–52
linkage to Manifest Destiny, 30
overwintering in North Dakota, 52–53
reaching Montana and the Rockies, 54–60
reaching Pacific Ocean, 62–71
seeking Northwest Passage, 70
unifying role in America, xix
See also Jefferson, Thomas
Licklider, Joseph (Internet pioneer), 420–21, 422–23
Life on the Mississippi (Twain), 236
light bulbs. See electricity/electric lights
Lincoln, Abraham, 266–67, 270n, 349
Lindbergh, Charles, 318n
Lipchitz, Jacques (sculptor), 75
Little Falls, New York, 209–10
Litton, Jerry (rancher, congressman), 25–26
Long, Stephen (military officer/explorer), 105
Long Depression of 1873-1879, 255
Lorentz, Pare (poet/filmmaker), 229–30
Louisiana Purchase, 13, 16–20
Lowell, Massachusetts, 193–95
MacDonald, Thomas Harris (road builder), 295–305, 310, 312
Mackenzie, Alexander
(Sir), 17–18
Maclean, Norman (author), 57
Maclure, William (geologist/philanthropist)
arrival in America, 77–80
beginning mapping of America, 80–83
creation of New Harmony experiment, 83–87
as father of American geology, 88, 90
Madison, Wisconsin, 396–98, 401
mail/postal service, 241, 248, 320, 324, 343
Manifest Destiny
border with Mexico (Gadsden Purchase), 107
completing mapping of the West, 109–10
Continentalism and, 100
Louisiana Purchase (1803), 13, 16–20
Mexican Cession (1848), 106
Oregon Territory (1846), 106
Texas, annexation of (1845), 106
See also frontier thesis
Manual of Mineralogy (Dana), 94
mapmaking. See geological survey and mapping
Marconi, Guglielmo (inventor), 370, 386–87, 390
Marcy, Randolph B. (military officer/explorer), 94
Marquette, Jacques (Jesuit priest), 175
Marshall, Orsamus Holmes (historian), 177
Marxism, 84
Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890), 47–48
McAdam, John Loudon (road builder), 245–47
McCarthy, Joseph (Senator), 414
McClellan, George B. (military officer/explorer), 94
McKinley, Henry (engineer), 243
Meier, Richard (architect), 75
Merrimac River, 170
metal
as one of five classical elements, v, xx
unifying role in America, xxii
See also electricity/electric lights; radio; telegraph; telephone; television
The Metallic Wealth of the United States (Whitney), 95
Mexican Cession (1848), 106
Michaux, Andre (botanist), 19n
Minow, Newton (FCC chair), 416–17
Minuteman missiles, 27–28
Mississippi River
discovery and exploration, 173, 175–76
enduring loveliness of, 229–30
flood control and power of, 233–37
linkage to Great Lakes, 214–20
steamboat era, 251
unifying role in America, 227–29
Missouri Breaks, 54–55
Missouri River
beginning of western trailheads, 96–99
bridge crossing over, 270, 276, 289
crossing High Plains, 37–38
extension of Cumberland Road to, 247
floods/flood control, 233–34, 290–91
Lewis and Clark expedition, 22–24, 33–35, 40, 59
Native American settlement, 231
origins in Montana, 130–31
starting transcontinental railroad at, 266–67
Montana
Beaver’s Head rock, 60
Corps of Discovery entry, 54–56
Gates of the Mountains, 56–58
land boom of 1990s, 63–65
Lemhi Pass, 60–62
Mann Gulch Fire (1949), 57
Missouri Breaks, 54–55
Three Forks, 59
Monticello (Jefferson estate), 3–6
Montréal, Canada (“fall line” of St. Lawrence River), 169
Moran, Thomas (artist), 133–36, 138
Morgan, J. P. (financial baron), 362, 366, 374–75
Morris, Gouverneur (American founding father), 198
Morse, O’Reilly v. (U.S. Supreme Court, 1853), 341n
Morse, Samuel B. (inventor), 328, 337–47, 350, 433
Motier, Gilbert du (Marquis de Lafayette), 337
Mount Adams, 67
Mount St. Helens, 67–68
Mullenger, Donna. See Reed, Donna (actress)
Murrow, Edward R. (broadcast journalist), 414–15
Natchez Trace (road), 242
National Atlas of the United States, 223, 225, 441
National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 397–98, 407–9
National Electric Signaling Company (NESCO), 390
National Highways Association, 302–3
National Public Radio (NPR), 399–406
Native Americans
about tribal unity of, xvi–xvii
concept of land ownership, 8–9
connection and unity with rivers, 231
dispossession from tribal lands, 14–15
encroachment of white settlement, 331–33
Lewis and Clark first encounters with, 41–48
Meriwether Lewis knowledge of, 19
questioning origins of, 20
resistance to railroad expansion, 271
as slave-owners, 50
Trail of Tears, xxiii
Neale, Walter (explorer), 170
New Harmony, Indiana, 75–77, 84–88, 89
New York American (newspaper), 318
Nicollet, Joseph (geographer), 107–8
9/11 terrorist attacks, 312–16
Nixon, Richard M. (presidential candidate), 414
North Platte, Nebraska, 278, 291, 294
Northwest Territories
concept of land ownership, 8–9
early settlement, 7–8
survey and land sales, 9–16
nuclear power plants, 41
nuclear weapons, 26–29, 234, 420
Obama, Barack, xv, 46
Ohio/Ohio River Valley
British-French struggle over, 176–80
early settlement, 7–8
exploration by George Washington, 181–84
Point of Beginning (survey marker), 10–12
steamboat era, 251
Omaha, Nebraska, 41, 97, 270, 276–77, 286–87, 289, 291
An Ordinance for Ascertaining the Mode of Disposing of Lands in the Western Territory (Land Ordinance of 1785), 10
Oregon Territory (1846), 106
Oregon Trail, 24, 72, 96–100, 110, 131, 242, 292
The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life (Parkman), 96–98
O’Reilly v. Morse (U.S. Supreme Court, 1853), 341n
Owen, David Dale (geologist), 88–91
Owen, Robert (social reformer), 76–77, 83–86, 88
Oxford History of the United States (Howe), 202
Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, 267
Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860, 348
Panama Canal, 201n, 205
Paradise, finding the American, 154, 222–25, 276–77
Parkman, Francis, 96–98
Parton, James (Jefferson biographer), 6
Patent Act of 1790, 253
Peck, Mizuo (actress), 50
Penobscot River, 171
Philippines and Pacific Islands, American colonization/annexation, 100
Pine Ridge Reservation (South Dakota), 47–48
Piscataqua River, 170
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 181, 183
Pocahontas (aka Matoaka, Algonquian princess), 167–68
Point of Beginning (survey marker), 10–12
Pony Express, 292, 334–35
postal service/mail delivery, 241, 248, 320, 324, 343
Potomac River, 168
Powell, John Wesley (geologist), 72
background and education, 113–15
director of U.S. Geological Service, 151
experiences in military and teaching, 115–16
exploration of Colorado River, 121–28
exploration of Green River, 116–21
naming of Grand Canyon, 128–29
selection for Great Surveys (1867), 112–13
Powell, Walter (Powell expedition survivor), 128
Powhatan (Algonquian chief), 167
Prescott, Benjamin (canal engineer), 191
Prohibition, xxiii
Promontory Summit, Utah, xiii, 103, 117, 272
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, 401
public radio stations/network, 397, 400–406
Public Works Administration (PWA), 382–83
Quequechan River,
171
race/race relations
as unifying aspect in America, xvii, 403
classification as “American” instead of by, 159–60
frontier thesis and, 30
inter-racial relationships/marriage, 141, 153–58
origins of discrimination, 288
racial passing, 158–60
See also slaves/slavery
radio
about discovery and principles, 385–87
AM/FM, defined, 388
contributions of Tesla to, 370, 387
development and experimentation, 387–90
first transmission demonstration, 391–92
launch of broadcast programming, 393–95
launch of commercial programming, 396–400
role of educational/public stations, 397, 400–406
unifying role in America, 395–96, 402–3, 406, 413, 416
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 396
Railroad Act of 1862, 267
Railroad Act of 1863, 270n
railroads
application of steam technology, 251–52
beginning mapping of the West, 109–10
canal and river traffic replaced by, 257
Chicago as nexus, 317
economic and social impact, 255–57
freight traffic, 277–78
impact of Interstate Highway System, 310
limitations on moving military vehicles, 284
passenger traffic, the automobile and, 278–80
role of slavery, 263
unifying role in America, 237, 257–58, 413
See also transcontinental railroad
Ralston, William (banker), 143–50
Randolph, Isham (engineer), 215, 219–20
Rappahannock River, 168–69
Raynolds, William F. (military officer/explorer), 108
Reed, Donna (actress), 50, 52, 289–90
regionalism, frontier thesis and, 30
Rennie, John (canal engineer), 189
Richmond, Virginia (“fall line” of Potomac River), 168–70, 184
The River (documentary film, 1938), 229–30, 233
rivers/river exploration
Allegheny River, 182–83
Arkansas River, 176
beyond “fall line,” 175–80
Connecticut River, 170
crossing Eastern Divide, 181–84
flood control and power of, 233–37
Hudson River, 171, 196–202
James River, 168, 184
Kanawha River, 183–84
Kennebec River, 171
Mississippi River, 175–76
Mohawk River, 196–202
Ohio River, 176–80, 183–84
Penobscot River, 171
phenomenon of “fall line,” 169–70
Piscataqua River, 170
Potomac River, 168
Quequechan River, 171
Rappahannock River, 168–69
Saint Lawrence River, 169