~God's Glory~ Ranch - THE END OF THE FRONTIER

Sep. 19, 2006

THE END OF THE FRONTIER

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FRONTIER?

It disappeared. By 1890, so many pioneers had come west that most open lands had been settled.

The last area to be settled was the Oklahoma Territory. The Oklahoma Land Rush was a sight to see! At high noon on April 22, 1889, thousands of people lined up on the border of the territory. At the sound of a pistol, they charged on horseback, wagon, and on foot to claim land. {Those who "jumped the gun" and took off the night before the rush were called "Sooners." That's where Oklahoma getsd its nickname, the Sooner State.} Twelve hours later, what had been just an expanse of rairie became Guthrie, a city of 10,000 people complete with 500 houses and thousand of tents.

WHAT DID THE PIONEERS LEAVE US?

They left us wagon-wheel ruts on the Oregon Trail, for one thing! {Yes, you can still see them in some places.} More importantly, the pioneers left us with a sense of who we are as Americans. Many people say that the "pioneering spirit"--of curiosity, hard worrk, determination, resourcefulness, individualism, and love of freedom--is what America is all about.

Well this is the end of this book, "The Pioneers" except for important dates, which I will post next time, {cause it is 2 pages long, so it will take me a bit to type!!!} I hope you all enjoyed and learned as much as I did . I will say this also the more I learned the more I really got a bit mad...we Americans seem to have ALWAYS been mean, rude, hateful and a bit arrogant people. The way "white man" treated the Indians, blacks, and any other nationality, is just a crying shame!!! I am so disgusted with the "white man" and ashamed of the way people are!!!

Kelly KJV

Deuteronomy 6:5-9*Proverbs 31:28*Titus 2:5*
Psalm 19:14*Joshua 24:15*I Corinthians 15:58

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Comments

Sep. 19, 2006 - good book

Posted by deedee06

It was fun to learn more about pioneers. Thanks for posting the info. I have been reading a book by Kathleen Norris called Dakota. It was written in the 1990s, so it isn't about pioneer times, but it is very interesting. She describes things about the prairies that I haven't taken the time to truly appreciate. Bless you today..........Denise (prairiemom)

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Sep. 19, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by morningsunshine

let me start by saying that I have enjoyed reading your posts about our pioneer ancestors. The pioneers of the 19th century were the focus of my under-graduate thesis, and it is a topic of great interest to me, and for which I have much passion.
that being said, there are two points I would like to make. on this post you mentioned the frontier being "closed." I would recommend that you do a search for Fredrick Jackson Turner, who in 1893 said that the not only was the frontier closed, the availability of the frontier was what made Americans American, and that with no new frontier, Americans would turn into Europeans (small-minded and crowded into dirty cities) - a fair prediction, wouldn't you say?
The other thing.... your rant against the "white man"... it is justified, kind of. there were people who thought that "the only good injun is a dead injun," but that attitude was not generally held by the people in the beginning. In fact, much of what Jefferson thought about gov't for/by/of the people comes from the practices of the iroquois nations. there are a lot of factors that went into turning the americans against the NA (native americans), including, the french-indian war, silly jamestown inhabitants burning NA crops (because they would not sell said crops to the settlers), the welcoming attitude the tribes had to escaped slaves, and, of course, the fear of rape of white women by NA men. some of my favorite books on this include _Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee_ by Dee Brown - this will not improve your opinion of the whites, but it is a great treatas on relations between the two cultures, and _American Slavery, American Freedom_ by Edmund S. Morgan, which deals a bit with the NA issue, but mostly the history of indentured servitude and slavery in the Virginia colony.
I guess I have come to terms with this feeling in myself. It is hard to feel that your ancestors were rotton, bigoted, mean people. I think that is not the case in most instances.... I think that most of the peopel in the 19th century were jsut trying to eake a living out of a harsh environment, and many looked to their native neighbors for assistance and tips. It was a few men - as now - who wanted the land for railroads, gold, cattle grazing, in other words, money, who stirred up the media and the popular culture with the "need to exterminate."
anyway, just some thoughts to ponder. again, thank you for your posts on this subject.

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