Primary Source Set: Westward Expansion

Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU
PRIMARY SOURCE SET
WESTWARD EXPANSION
Pony express route April 3, 1860 - October 24, 1861 / W.H. Jackson ; issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in commemoration of the Pony Express Centennial, April 3, 1960 - October 24, 1961.
Historical Background
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS:
Thomas Jefferson was a great supporter of westward
expansion. One of the greatest achievements during his
presidency was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which
doubled the size of the United States (read more about
complex history of the Louisiana Purchase here). People
began to move west in great numbers with the newly
gained information of the western territory from the
Lewis and Clark expedition, the discovery of gold, and
the promise of new hope and opportunities. Several different trails, such as the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon
Trail, aided in opening the West for settlers. Later, the
establishment of the Transcontinental Railroad provided
yet another route and means of transportation connecting the East to the West. Remnants of the trails still exist
today and are both important reminders of American
history and contributions to the historical landscape of
America.
The Library of Congress has many different types of
primary sources related to westward expansion. Sources
can be found in the American Memory Collection and
the Prints and Photographs Collection. This primary
source set contains a collection of sources on several
trails used for westward exploration and expansion:
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Have students locate on a map the many different trails
and routes used to move people west. What were some
of the challenges and struggles people endured while
traveling west? How did westward expansion effect Native American communities?
Assign each student in the class one of the trails included
in this primary source set. Have students create a poster,
brochure, or write an essay on their assigned trail.
Where was the trail? What are some of the important
points of interest on it? Are their any important people
associated with the trail? What is the significance of the
trail in the overall history of America? Does any of the
trail still exist? Have students present their poster, brochure, or essay to the class. What did you learn from
this activity?
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
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Lewis & Clark
Santa Fe Trail
Oregon Trail
Pony Express Trail
Transcontinental Railroad
Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the
Revealing of America
Thomas Jefferson: The West (exhibition)
The Louisiana Purchase: A Legislative Timeline
(presentation)
Primary Documents in American History: Pacific
Railway Act
Built in American Collection (look here for images
of the buildings still remaining on the trails)
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Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark map, with annotations in brown
ink by Meriwether Lewis, tracing showing the Mississippi, the Missouri for a short distance above
Kansas, Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Winnipeg,
and the country onwards to the Pacific
[1803?]
Discovering the legacy of Lewis and Clark : bicentennial
commemoration 2003-2006 / preparation route source:
Frank Muhly. [2003]
Thomas Jefferson peace medal
[1801]
Jefferson’s cipher for the Lewis
and Clark Expedition[1803 ]
Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether
Lewis,
June 20, 1803
Meriwether Lewis, April 20, 1803,
Expedition Estimate
Sitting Rabbit (I Ki Ha Wa He, also known as Little Owl)
[Map of Missouri River from South Dakota-North Dakota boundary to mouth
of Yellowstone River] [1906-1907]
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Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail, Kansas City, MO. [c. 1909]
Santa Fe Route [1825]
Cottonwood Creek, Sunday April 10th 1859
Don Jose Albino Baca
House, Old Santa Fe Trail,
Las Vegas vicinity, San Miguel, NM [c. 1940]
Gregg's Commerce of the prairies,
or, The journal of a Sante Fe trader,
1831-1839 [1905]
3
Oregon Trail
Devil’s Gap, Sweetwater rocks, Sweetwater River, Oregon Trail [between 1880 and 1900?]
Arapahoe camp : Near Casper, Wyo. On the site of the old
Oregon Trail [between 1800 and 1910?]
Wagon tracks on Old Oregon Trail.
Scottsbluff, Nebraska [1941]
Topographical map of the road from Missouri to Oregon, commencing
at the mouth of the Kansas in the Missouri River and ending at the mouth
of the Walla-Wallah in the Columbia [1846]
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Shoemaker overland diary [1850]
Pony Express Trail
Pony express route April 3, 1860 - October 24, 1861 / W.H. Jackson ; issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in commemoration of the Pony Express Centennial, April 3, 1960 - October 24, 1961.
No. 14. Old Fort Bridger - Built by Jim Bridger in 1843
in Wyoming. Served as Pony Express and Telegraph
Station and later as an army post.
Hollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles
south of Nebraska border, Hanover vicinity, Washington, KS [after 1933]
Pony Express Stables, 914 Penn Street, Saint Joseph,
Buchanan, MO [after 1933]
Granger Stage Station, Old Route 30 North,
Granger, Sweetwater, WY [1974]
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Transcontinental Railroad
John Chinaman on the rail road : Union Pacific Rail Road: From Miscellaneous Selections : Chinese and Westward Expansion [1867?]
Union Pacific Railroad Company.
Progress of Their Road.
New York: Brown & Hewitt, Printer: 1867
New map of the Union Pacific Railway,
the short, quick and safe line to all points
west. [1883]
"Work on the Last Mile of the Pacific Railroad -- Mingling of European with Asiatic
Laborers": From Harper's Weekly: Harper's
Weekly, Vol. 13 [1869]
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CITATIONS: WESTWARD EXPANSION
Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is
supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is March 4, 2011.
Discovering the legacy of Lewis and Clark: bicentennial commemoration 2003-2006/preparation route source: Frank Muhly. Map. Philadelphia: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, 2003. From Library of Congress: Map Collections. http://memory.loc.gov/
cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4127l+ct001114)).
King, Nicholas. [Lewis and Clark map, with annotations in brown ink by Meriwether Lewis, tracing showing the Mississippi, the Missouri for
a short distance above Kansas, Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Winnipeg, and the county onwards to the Pacific]. Map. c. 1803. From Library of Congress: Map Collections. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band
(g4126s+ct000071)).
United States Mint: Thomas Jefferson peace medal, 1801. Special presentation. 1801. Courtesy of the Oklahoma State Museum of
History. From Library of Congress: Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America. http://www.loc.gov/
exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html.
Jefferson’s cipher for the Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803. 1803. From Library of Congress: Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis and Clark and
the Revealing of America.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html.
Lewis, Meriwether. Meriwether Lewis, April 20, 1803, Expedition Estimate. 1803. From Library of Congress: The Thomas Jefferson
Papers Series 1. General Correspondence. 1651-1827. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?
collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page028.db&recNum=182.
Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803. 1803. Special Presentation. From Library of Congress:
Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html.
Rabbitt, Sitting. Sitting Rabbit (I Ki Ha Wa He, also known as Little Owl)
[Map of Missiouri River from South Dakota-North Dakota boundary to mouth of Yellowstone River], 1906-1907. 1906-1907. Special
Presentation. Courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismark. From Library of Congress: : Rivers, Edens,
Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html.
“Santa Fe Trail, Kansas City, Mo.” Photograph. c. 1909. From Library of Congress: Panoramic Photographs. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/pan:@field(NUMBER+@band(pan+6a07230)).
Brown, Joseph C. Santa Fe route. Map. 1825. From Library of Congress: Map Collections. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/
query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4052s+ct000190)).
Gregg, Josiah. Gregg’s Commerce of the prairies, or, The journal of a Sante Fe trader, 1831-1839. 1831-1839. From Library of Congress: American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbtnbib:@field
(NUMBER+@od1(lhbtn+th020_0023)).
Jenks, Daniel A, artist. “Cottonwood Creek, Sunday April 10th 1859.” Drawing. 1859. From Library of Congress: Drawings
(Documentary). http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004661630/.
“Don Jose Albino Baca House, Old Santa Fe Trail, Las Vegas vicinity, San Miguel, NM.” Photograph. From Library of Congress: Historic American Building Surveys, Engineering Records, Landscape Surveys. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/NM0043/.
“Devil’s Gap, Sweetwater rocks, Sweetwater River, Oregon Trail.” Photograph. Between 1880 and 1900. From Library of
Congress: History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10021920)).
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CITATIONS, cont.
“Arapahoe camp: Near Casper, Wyo. On the site of the old Oregon Trail.” Photograph. Between 1880 and 1910. From Library
of Congress: History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10032362)).
Wolcott, Marion Post, photographer. “Wagon tracks on Old Oregon Trial. Scottsbluff, Nebraska.” Photograph. 1941. From
Library of Congress: America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8c31720)).
Frémont, John Charles. Topographical map of the road from Missouri to Oregon, commencing at the mouth of the Kansas in the Missouri
River and ending at the mouth of the Walla-Wallah in the Columbia. Map. 1846. From Library of Congress: Map Collections. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4127o+mf000054)).
Shoemaker overland diary, 1850. Book. 1850. From Library of Congress: Trail to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 18461869. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/upboverbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(dia3408)).
Jackson, William Henry. Pony express route April 3, 1860-October 24, 1861/W.H. Jackson; issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in commemoration of the Pony Express Centennial, April 3, 1960-October 24, 1961. Map. 1951. From Library of Congress: Map
Collections. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4051p+tr000221)).
“Hollenberg Pony Express Station, Route 243, 6.9 miles south of Nebraska border, Hanover vicinity, Washington, KS.” Photograph. 1991. From Library of Congress: Built in America. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field
(DOCID+@lit(KS0146)).
Jackson, William Henry, artist. “No. 14 Old Fort Bridger—Built by Jim Bridger in 1843 in Wyoming. Served as Pony Express
and Telegraph Station and later as an army post.” Watercolor. From Library of Congress: Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries
and Letters, 1846 –1869. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/upboverbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(pho51)).
“Granger Stage Station, Old Route 30 North, Granger, Sweetwater, WY.” Photograph. From Library of Congress: Built in
America. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(WY0029)).
Boucher, Jack E., photographer. “Pony Express Stables, 914 Penn Street, Saint Joseph, Buchanan, MO.” Photograph. after
1933. From Library of Congress: Built in America. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field
(DOCID+@lit(MO1103)).
Anthony, E & H. T., photographic firm. “John Chinaman on the rail road: Union Pacific Rail Road: From Miscellaneous Selections: Chinese and Westward Expansion.” Photograph. c. 1867. From Library of Congress: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk3107)).
New Map of the Union Pacific Railway, the short, quick and safe line to all points west. Map. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company,
1883. From Library of Congress: Map Collections. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field
(NUMBER+@band(g3701p+rr005950)).
“’Work on the Last Mile of the Pacific Railroad—Mingling of European with Asiatic Laborers’: From Harper’s Weekly:
Harper’s Weekly, Vol. 13.” Harper’s Magazine Co., 1869. From Library of Congress: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk5355)).
Union Pacific Railroad Company. Progress on Their Road. New York: Brown & Hewitt, 1867. From Library of Congress: Rivers,
Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-after.html.
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