An Atlas of Trails West of the Mississippi River

I don’t know why but, ever since I was a child I have loved maps. If pushed, I could probably psychoanalyze the reason maps interest me so; however, I prefer to stay naive on the issue and simply continue to enjoy maps as though they are works of art. It may just be this love of maps, along with a genealogist’s care for history, that I have so enjoyed recently reviewing a number of large-format atlases describing early trails and pathways that become the infrastructure of early America. Here are the atlases I have already reviewed:

• An Atlas of Northern Trails Westward From New England
• An Atlas of Appalachian Trails to the Ohio River
• An Atlas of Southern Trails to the Mississippi

Another atlas has fallen on my desk, with more great history and insight to early American trails and the roads they became, ever leading further west. An Atlas of Trails West of the Mississippi River reviews the “opening of the west.” The trails, the settlers, the events, and the countries who owned or laid claim to the western territories are all part of the history and the maps covered in this edition.

The first paragraph of the introduction may best summarize America’s migration westward, in terms of years and miles:

“American migration expanded and accelerated as the population moved westward across the continent. There is no definite date when one migration period ended and another began, nor due to the terrain, is there a definite line of advance. the first push, between 1625 and 1775, was almost entirely east of the Appalachian Mountains within the original thirteen colonies and was undertaken mainly on foot or horse. The second period of expansion, from 1765 to 1815, extended the trails through the mountains and opened wagon roads into the Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Cumberland River valleys. The third period, 1790 to 1840 consolidated the lands east of the Mississippi River through river and canal transportation and improved roads. Improved transportation allowed rapid expansion from New England along the Great Lakes and through lower Mississippi and Alabama. It took one hundred-fifty years to reach the Ohio River. Seventy-five years later by 1825, Americans had moved into the Mississippi Valley and occupied most of the one thousand miles between it and the Atlantic coast. The next twenty-five years were spend exploring the Far West. In 1849 discovery of gold in California opened in one year more than twice the land Americans had settled in the previous two hundred and twenty-five years.”

In large part, this book covers the exploration and some early migrations during the twenty-five years or so leading up to the 1849 gold rush.

At 11″ x 17″ this Atlas offers maps at a size which are easy to read. Mixed with the maps are an extensive background to the early settlers, their migrations, and the importance of these towns and trails. With two columns per text page, each the size of a standard page, this book is the equivalent to a book twice as thick. Below are the Table of Contents followed by a listing of the Maps and Illustrations in the order in which they appear in the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A. North American Control

1. Spain and Mexico
2. France and Great Britain
3. American Indians

B. Hazard West of the Mississippi

1. Physical Barriers
2. Climate and Vegetation
3. Distance and Isolation

C. Opening the Great West

1. Settlers in the Mississippi Valley 1800-1820
2. Trappers and Traders 1810-1830
3. Gone to Texas 1820-1830
4. Overland Trail 1840-1850
1. Oregon Trail
2. California Travel
3. Utah and the Mormons
4. The Mexican War
5. Miners and Mineral Wealth
6. The Trails
7. Improving Life
8. Communication and Transportation
9. Texas Cattle Trails
10. Inventions & Western Growth

Conclusion

Western Forts

Bibliography

Maps and Illustrations

1. Control of North America
2. Expansion of the United States 1783-1853
3. Mexico’s Northern Boundary
4. Distribution of Indian Tribes
5. Western Vegetation
6. Physical Regions of the United State
7. Precipitation
8. The Advancing Frontier
9. Mountain Man Territory
10. Trails Through Mexican Territory
11. Gone to Texas
12. Western Trails 1840-1850
13. California Routes 1841-1846
14. Trails Used in the Mexican War
15. California Gold Country Trails
16. California’s Mother Lode
17. Trails of the Miners
18. Western Trails 1850-1865
19. Rivers, Rails and Cattle Trails
20. Major Migration Routes
21. Three Families West

Order a copy of An Atlas of Trails West of the Mississippi River from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: CE04, Price: $19.60.