This
work includes the Lewis and Clark _Journals_, every student of
the West, whether Northwest or Southwest, goes to the
collection sooner or later. It is a commentary on the values
of life held by big rich boasters of patriotism in the West
that virtually all the chronicles in the collection remain out
of print.
An important addendum to the Thwaites collection of _Early
Western Travels_ is "The Southwest Historical Series," edited
by Ralph P. Bieber--twelve volumes, published 1931-43, by
Clark, Glendale, California.
The stampede to California that began in 1849 climaxed all
migration orgies of the world in its lust for gold; but the
lust for gold was merely one manifestation of a mighty
population's lust for life. Railroads raced each other to
cross the continent. Ten million Longhorns were going up the
trails;
from Texas while the last of a hundred million buffaloes,
killed in herds--the greatest slaughter in history--were being
skinned. Dodge City was the Cowboy Capital of the world,
and Chicago was becoming "hog butcher of the world."
Miller and Lux were expanding their ranges so that, as others
boasted, their herds could trail from Oregon to Baja
California and bed down every night on Miller and Lux's own
grass.
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