Western Expansion (2 results)

Condition: Very Good. 26 pages. An authentic standalone article, extracted from a larger volume. Not a reprint or reproduction, but an original work in its own right. Preserved in a modern card cover, prepared for practicality - an unassuming but serviceable presentation that favours function over finery. Size: 18 x 25 cms. Category: Economic History Review; Cosmo Books : 29 years on ABE, 47 years taking care of customers. A bookseller you can rely on. Softcover (Booklet - Unbound Pages).…

Thomas Hart Benton's argument for a central transcontinental route, issued as Congress was moving toward the government surveys that would dominate the Pacific railroad question during the next several years. Benton had been promoting a government-backed "central national highway" since 1849, running west from Missouri toward California. Writing to his former Missouri constituents on March 4, 1853, Benton argues that the accumulated western explorations had already demonstrated the practicality of a central route. He gives particular attention to the country approaching the Rocky Mountains and to the search for a usable pass near the headwaters of the Arkansas and Rio Grande, drawing heavily on the western travels of his son-in-law John C. Frémont. The final eight pages form an appendix bringing together evidence for the route. They include Frémont's 1850 letter to the Philadelphia Railroad Convention and, more notably, a statement made to Benton by the veteran trader and guide Antoine Leroux. Leroux recounts his early years in the West, his association with the fur-trading expeditions of Ashley and Henry, and his long residence at Taos. Graff describes this as the probable first printing of Leroux's statement. A useful piece of western railroad literature with substantial Frémont and New Mexico content, published on the eve of the federal Pacific railroad surveys. Howes B368; Graff 270; Wagner-Camp 221; Sabin 4186. . Good, with considerable wear and chipping at the edges, some soiling and early pencil notations. 24 pp. measuring 6 ½ x 10 inches. Stitched and untrimmed. …