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178:", which was written on Pike's map just above "not a stick of timber". The giant herds and teeming wildlife of the Great Plains were well known by the time the term Great American Desert came into common use, undermining the idea of a wasteland; however, the relevant concept inherent in the reports of the region was that it could not be farmed, something the reports generally agreed on. By the middle of the 19th century, as settlers migrated across the plains to
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a region of desolation and silence. Nor is Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district. It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged cañons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are grey with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.
169:
of Asia, has not inaptly been termed The Great
American Desert. It spreads forth into undulating and treeless plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye in their extent and monotony." Descriptions such as Irving's led some geography textbooks of the time to show sand dunes and camels in
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In the central portion of the great North
American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilisation. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is
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By the mid-19th century, people had begun settling in the region despite its poor reputation. The local inhabitants came to realize the area was at the time well suited for farming, due in part to the fact that large portions of the region sit atop one of the world's largest groundwater reservoirs,
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The region's relative lack of water and wood affected the development of the United States. Settlers heading westward often attempted to pass through the region as quickly as possible, on the way to what was considered to be better land farther west. These early settlers gave telling names to the
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I do not hesitate in giving the opinion, that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course, uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence. Although tracts of fertile land considerably extensive are occasionally to be met with, yet the scarcity of wood and
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The meaning of the term "desert" has varied through time and across cultures. The term was sometimes used to describe any uninhabited or treeless land, whether or not it was arid, and sometimes to refer to hot and arid lands, evoking images of sandy wastelands. European colonists believed that
560:
Account of an expedition from
Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and 1820, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the
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173:
While many other travelers reported similar conditions and conclusions, there were problems in the interpretation and the use of the word "desert", as descriptions of the
American High Plains almost always included comments about "Innumerable Herds of
230:. Some current estimates predict the usefulness of the aquifer for agriculture to lessen and become useless, perhaps as soon as the early parts of the mid-21st century, leading some farmers to turn away from aquifer-irrigated agriculture.
215:. Experts of the era proposed theories that maintained the earlier reports had been accurate and the climate had changed. Some even credited the settlers themselves as having caused the change by planting crops and trees. The slogan "
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148:, a government surveyor and leader of the next official exploration expedition, produced a map labeling the area as the "Great American Desert." In the report that accompanied the map, the party's geographer
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wrote "these vast plains of the western hemisphere, may become in time equally celebrated as the sandy deserts of Africa". His map included a comment in the region, "not a stick of timber". In 1823, Major
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various streams of the region, such as "Sweet water Creek" or "Poison Creek". Because it was not considered desirable, the area became one of the last strongholds of independent
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Whether the agricultural productivity of the region in modern times can continue for much longer is in doubt. It has been demonstrated that while there is an abundant amount of
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332:(1920) Syracuse-Lakin folio, Kansas. United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Folios of the Geologic Atlas, No. 212, 10 pp. (See Plate 2)
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interests seeking rights-of-way through the region also benefited from the popular belief that the land was commercially valueless.
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in the
Ogallala Aquifer, it is slow to replenish itself, with most of the water in the aquifer having been there since the
186:, the wasteland connotation of "desert" was seen to be false, but the sense of the region as uninhabitable remained until
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The
Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 2: Continental America, 1800-1867.
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119:, but in the 19th century, the area's relative lack of water and wood made it seem unfit for settler farming.
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water, almost uniformly prevalent, will prove an insuperable obstacle in the way of settling the country.
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and railroad transportation made up for the lack of surface water and wood.
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or circular depression in the level surface. (Photo by W.D. Johnson, 1897)
27:
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refers to the Great
American Desert, but he is applying the term to the
100:, thus the term desert also had the connotation of "unfit for farming."
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Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State
History, Embracing Events, Institutions
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Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the
American West
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Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the
American West
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165:, who wrote in 1836 "The region, which resembles one of the ancient
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contains a reference to a "desert" in the center of North America:
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111:. Today much of the region supports agriculture through the use of
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Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p.210; cited in
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Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press. p.92.
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wrote of the "immense and trackless deserts" of the region.
16:
Historical term for the High Plains region of North America
75:, and the original term is sometimes used to describe the
23:"Great American Desert," mapped by Stephen H. Long in 1820
564:. Vol 3. London: Longman, Hurst, Pees, Orre & Brown.
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Chicago: Standard Publishing Company. pp. 784–785
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Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier
83:, which includes parts of northwestern Mexico and the
586:"Country drained by the Mississippi, western section"
219:" described this belief, which today is discredited.
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was used in the 19th century to describe the part of
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68:which put the Great American Desert on the map.
430:. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.68-69.
378:Billington, Ray Allen and Ridge, Martin (2001)
35:, showing a treeless semi-arid grassland and a
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170:the area of what is now Kansas and Nebraska.
71:Today the area is usually referred to as the
474:"Major Long and the 'Great American Desert'"
456:New Haven: Yale University Press. p.76<.
500:. New York: Oxford University Press. p.69.
103:The High Plains region is mostly semi-arid
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405:"The Myth of the Great American Desert"
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659:History of United States expansionism
570:in Blackmar, Frank Wilson ed. (1912)
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31:Historic photo of the High Plains in
519:"Ogallala aquifer - Water hot spots"
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127:When the region was obtained by the
544:Part II: The Country of the Saints.
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14:
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679:19th century in the United States
654:Pre-statehood history of Nebraska
644:Pre-statehood history of Colorado
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161:These perceptions were echoed by
96:treeless lands were not good for
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342:Meierhenry, Mark (March 2008).
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639:Deserts of the United States
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588:, Kansas Historical Society
488:, Todd, Edgeley ed. (1964)
476:, Kansas Historical Society
364:"The Great American Desert"
291:High Plains (United States)
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194:Settlement and development
66:1820 scientific expedition
257:In Chapters 20 and 27 of
403:Welsch, Roger L. (1971)
674:Environment of Nebraska
664:Environment of Colorado
568:"Great American Desert"
91:The concept of "desert"
344:"The Old Growth Pines"
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159:
61:. It can be traced to
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33:Haskell County, Kansas
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669:Environment of Kansas
349:South Dakota Magazine
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217:rain follows the plow
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152:wrote of the region:
57:to approximately the
47:Great American Desert
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557:James, Edwin (1823)
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536:Doyle, Arthur Conan
135:in 1803, President
610:30.000°N 107.000°W
541:A Study in Scarlet
486:Irving, Washington
246:Arthur Conan Doyle
241:A Study in Scarlet
234:In popular culture
133:Louisiana Purchase
85:American southwest
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311:Patagonian Desert
269:Forty Mile Desert
163:Washington Irving
63:Stephen H. Long's
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301:Prairie madness
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224:fossil water
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146:Stephen Long
141:Zebulon Pike
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53:east of the
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613: /
260:Roughing It
150:Edwin James
123:Description
98:agriculture
77:arid region
73:High Plains
628:Categories
317:References
265:Mark Twain
244:(1887) by
188:irrigation
184:California
117:irrigation
286:Dust Bowl
176:Buffaloes
137:Jefferson
105:grassland
45:The term
523:BBC News
452:(1993).
280:See also
263:(1872),
205:Railroad
601:107°0′W
538:(1887)
496:(1985)
490:Astoria
426:(1985)
167:steppes
113:aquifer
598:30°0′N
504:
460:
434:
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180:Oregon
115:water
109:steppe
561:party
502:ISBN
458:ISBN
432:ISBN
386:ISBN
211:the
182:and
107:and
79:of
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