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Exploration

Explorers

The Arctic Sketches of Russell W. Porter
This study of the papers of Arctic explorer Russell W. Porter, were written by Prologue editor Mary C. Ryan for the Winter 1997 issue.
Clarence King
Portrait of the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey, painted in 1902.
Clarence King
Clarence King was the first head of the U.S. Geological Survey. He led one of the four rival geographical surveys after the Civil War. [University of California, Santa Barbara]
Clarence King Papers
The American Philosophical Society's collection of letters from Clarence King to his friend, Samuel Franklin Emmons, from 1873-1894.
Clarence King Survey of the 40th Parallel
This George Eastman House site features 133 images, taken by Timothy O'Sullivan, of the Clarence King survey.
Discoverers and Explorers: Who Really Found the Oregon Trail?
This site begins, "In 1800, the American West was still wild country--no cities, no railroads and no cattle ranches yet existed. It was quiet and untouched. People in the eastern U.S. had heard stories about the western mountains and the desert, but no Euro-American had been there. Within a very short time that would all change." Lewis and Clark, The Astorians, Pike and Long, and others are described in this web site.
Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden
Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden's work led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. [University of California, Santa Barbara]
John Charles Fremont, 1813-1890
Biography of an influential pioneer in California, and one of that state's first governors.
John Charles Fremont
Written by Mary Lee Spence for the Utah History Encyclopedia, this site provides another point of view into John Charles Fremont's expeditions and exploits.
John Wesley Powell
According to this National Wildlife Foundation web site, John Wesley Powell led explorations of the Colorado River that resulted in land use reform laws in the United States.
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, 2003-2006
The official web site of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Celebration. Includes information about the exhibitions and celebrations around the country, as well as the announcement by the President of the United States designating 2003-2006 as the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
This PBS web site contains information about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Lewis and Clark Across Missouri
Created to commemorate the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, this site was created by the Lewis and Clark Historic Landscape Project at the University of Missouri and the Missouri State Archives. It features the Lewis and Clark journals and early Missouri land surveys.
State Archives of Missouri, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Activities
The Missouri State Archives web site for the Lewis and Clark Expedition including links to the landscape mapping project and the St. Louis Circuit Court Project.
List of Indian presents purchased by Meriwether Lewis
The NARA's Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) exhibit displaying the full text lists of purchases made on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Meeting of Frontiers
Meeting of Frontiers is the Library of Congress's bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
'Bring Back Your Party Safe': Medicine and Health on the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Created by the Historical Collections and Services staff at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia, this site covers the medical aspects of trekking across uncharted territory.
Zebulon Montgomery Pike
Called the "poor man's Lewis and Clark" and the "Lost Pathfinder", Zebulon Pike led several expeditions West.

Surveys

The Four Great Surveys of the West
This USGS site depicts the four great surveys conducted after the Civil War.
Government Surveys
Surveys by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers
Railroad Surveys
This site provides information on the surveys that eventually created the transcontinental railroad.

Westward Expansion

American Originals: Louisiana Purchase
Described as the "greatest real estate deal in history", the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 added 13 states to the United States of America. The National Archives holds the copies of the treaties signed by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Erwin E. Smith, Cowboy Photographer, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
Fearing the true life of the cowboy would be lost, Erwin Smith resolved to honor this tradition by presenting as true a portrayal as possible. Working as a cowhand on Texas ranches, and attending two of the best art schools in the country at Chicago and Boston, Smith honed the skills needed to capture the essence of ranch life with photography. Between 1905 and 1912, he photographed roundups in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. His photographs, showing both the romance and hardship of cowboy life, are some of the best-known images of the southwestern range early in the last century.
The First American West: The Ohio River Valley
The Library of Congress offers 15,000 pages of documents concerning the Ohio River Valley from 1750-1820.
Heading West and Touring West
Based on exhibitions at the New York Public Library, these two sites discuss the mapping of the western territories and performing artists in those territories, respectively.
Historic Railroads: A Living Legacy
This issue of CRM Online, vol. 22, no. 10, is dedicated to the role of railroads in American westward expansion.
Library of Congress American Memory Collection: Travels in America 1750-1920
This site comprises 253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920. The narratives range from the unjustly neglected to the justly famous, and from classics of the genre to undiscovered gems.
Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial, 2003
Celebrating the signing of the Louisiana Purchase by Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, Louisiana offers documents, exhibits, concerts, films, re-enactments, and more.
The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 1803
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School compiled this site of documents and treaties related to the land purchase from France in 1803 that nearly doubled the size of the United States.
Migration North to Alaska
NARA's Teaching with Documents lesson plan includes documents and photographs on the Alaska Purchase Treaty, the Gold Rush, Homesteading, and Statehood.
Oregon History: Federal Interests
A history of the settling of Oregon during the period 1792 to 1846.
Oregon Trail
From the History Channel, this site offers insight into the lives of pioneers who crossed the country in wagon trains.
Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries & Letters, 1846-1869
This Library of Congress site incorporates 49 diaries of pioneers trekking westward across America.
Westward by Sea
This site from the Library of Congress offers documents relating to the relationship between sea travel and westward expansion.

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