1.
Jim Bridger
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He was of English ancestry, and his family had been in North America since the early colonial period. Jim Bridger had a constitution that allowed him to survive the extreme conditions he encountered walking the Rocky Mountains from what would become southern Colorado to the Canada–US border. He had conversational knowledge of French, Spanish and several native languages and he would come to know many of the major European American explorers of the early west, including Kit Carson, George Armstrong Custer, Hugh Glass, John Frémont, Joseph Meek, and John Sutter. Bridger was a contemporary of British and American pathfinders including Peter Skene Ogden, Jedediah Smith. In 1830, Smith and his associates sold their fur company to Bridger, Bridger was part of the second generation of mountain men and pathfinders who explored the American West that followed the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. James Felix Bridger was born on March 17,1804, in Richmond and his father, James Bridger, was an innkeeper in Richmond, and his mother was James wife Chloe. About 1812 his parents and the young Bridger moved to the vicinity of St. Louis, at the age of 13 Bridger was orphaned when both his parents died. Receiving no formal education, unable to read or write, Bridger was apprenticed to a blacksmith, Bridger remained illiterate for the rest of his life. Ashleys expedition included fur trapping on the sources of the Missouri River, while continuing his fur trapping venture and employment on the Ashley expedition, the young Bridger played a significant role in the ordeal of Hugh Glass. On June 2,1823 Ashleys men were attacked by Arikara warriors along the Missouri River, fifteen men were killed and the rest of the fur trappers fled down the river and hid in shelters until U. S. military support defeated the Arikara. In August 1823, near the forks of the Grand River in present-day Perkins County, South Dakota, while scouting for game for the expeditions larder, the bear charged, picked him up, and threw him to the ground. Glass shot into the air to scare the bear away and save his trapping partners, Ashley asked for two volunteers to stay with Glass until he died and then bury him. Bridger and John Fitzgerald stepped forward, and as the rest of the party moved on, later claiming that they were interrupted by attacking Arikara Native Americans, the pair grabbed Glasss rifle, knife, and other equipment, and took flight. Bridger and Fitzgerald later caught up with the party and incorrectly reported to Ashley that Glass had died, despite his injuries, Glass regained consciousness. After recovering, Glass set out again to find Fitzgerald and Bridger and he eventually found Bridger at the mouth of the Bighorn River, but apparently forgave him because of his youth. Glass later found Fitzgerald and reportedly spared Fitzgeralds life because of the penalty for killing a soldier of the United States Army, Bridger was among the first white men to see the geysers and other natural wonders of the Yellowstone region. In the winter of 1824-1825, Bridger gained fame as the first European American to see the Great Salt Lake, due to its saltiness, he believed it to be an arm of the Pacific Ocean. In 1843, Bridger and Louis Vasquez built a trading post, later named Fort Bridger, in 1835 he married a woman from the Flathead Indians tribe with whom he had three children
2.
Kansas City, Missouri
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Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri and the sixth largest city in the Midwest. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city had an population of 475,378 in 2015. It is the city of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a Missouri River port at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west, on June 1,1850 the town of Kansas was incorporated, shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued and the name Kansas City was assigned to them soon thereafter. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, but portions spill into Clay, Cass, along with Independence, it serves as one of the two county seats for Jackson County. Major suburbs include the Missouri cities of Independence and Lees Summit and the Kansas cities of Overland Park, Olathe, and Kansas City. The city is composed of neighborhoods, including the River Market District in the north, the 18th and Vine District in the east. Kansas City is also known for its cuisine, its craft breweries, Kansas City, Missouri was officially incorporated as a town on June 1,1850, and as a city on March 28,1853. The territory straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was considered a place to build settlements. The Antioch Christian Church, Dr. James Compton House, the first documented European visitor to Kansas City was Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, who was also the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. Criticized for his response to the Native American attack on Fort Détroit, Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in a village about 90 miles east near Brunswick, Missouri, where he illegally traded furs. In the documents, he describes the junction of the Grande Riv des Cansez and Missouri River, French cartographer Guillaume Delisle used the descriptions to make the areas first reasonably accurate map. The Spanish took over the region in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French continued their fur trade under Spanish license. After the 1804 Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark visited the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, in 1831, a group of Mormons from New York settled in what would become the city. They built the first school within Kansas Citys current boundaries, but were forced out by mob violence in 1833, in 1833 John McCoy established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail,3 miles away from the river. In 1834 McCoy established Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri to serve as a point for West Port. Soon after, the Kansas Town Company, a group of investors, began to settle the area, in 1850, the landing area was incorporated as the Town of Kansas
3.
Vincennes, Indiana
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Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the part of the state. According to the 2010 census, its population was 18,423, the vicinity of Vincennes was inhabited for thousands of years by different cultures of indigenous peoples. During the Late Woodland period, some of these peoples used local loess hills as burial sites, some of the prominent examples are the Sugar Loaf Mound. In historic times, prominent local native groups were the Shawnee, Wabash, the first European settlers were French, when Vincennes was founded as part of the French colony of New France. Later on, it would be transferred to the colony of Louisiana, several years later, France lost the French and Indian War, and as result ceded territory east of the Mississippi River, including Vincennes, to the victorious British. Once the area was under British rule, it was associated with the Province of Quebec and it then became part of the Illinois Country of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. Next it became part of Knox County in the Northwest Territory, Vincennes served as capital of the Indiana Territory from 1800 until 1813, when the government was moved to Corydon. The first trading post on the Wabash River was established by Sieur Juchereau, with thirty-four Canadiens, he founded the company post on October 28,1702 to trade for Buffalo hides with American Indians. The exact location of Juchereaus trading post is not known, but because the Buffalo Trace crosses the Wabash at Vincennes, the post was a success, in the first two years, the traders collected over 13,000 buffalo hides. When Juchereau died, the post was abandoned, the French-Canadian settlers left what they considered hostile territory for Mobile, then the capital of Louisiana. The oldest European town in Indiana, Vincennes was officially established in 1732 as a second French fur trading post in this area. The Compagnie des Indes commissioned a Canadian officer, François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, de Vincennes founded the new trading post near the meeting points of the Wabash and White rivers, and the overland Buffalo Trace. De Vincennes, who had lived with his father among the Miami tribe and he also encouraged Canadien settlers to move there, and started his own family to increase the village population. Because the Wabash post was so remote, however, Vincennes had a time getting trade supplies from Louisiana for the native nations. The boundary between the French colonies of Louisiana and Canada, although inexact in the first years of the settlement, was decreed in 1745 to run between Fort Ouiatenon and Vincennes. In 1736, during the French war with the Chickasaw nation, de Vincennes was captured and burned at the stake near the town of Fulton. His settlement on the Wabash was renamed Poste Vincennes in his honor, Louisiana Governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville next appointed Louis Groston de Saint-Ange de Bellerive to command Poste Vincennes
4.
Transylvania University
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Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780, making it the first university in Kentucky and it offers 36 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its medical program graduated 8,000 physicians by 1859 and its enduring footprint, both in national and southern academia, make it among the most prolific cultural establishments and the most storied institutions in the South. Transylvania was the first college west of the Allegheny Mountains, and was the namesake of the Colony of Transylvania, Latin for across the woods, Thomas Jefferson was governor of Virginia when the Virginia Assembly chartered Transylvania Seminary in 1780. Called Transylvania University by 1799, its first sponsor was the Christ Episcopal Churchs rector, the school later became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. Originally situated in a log cabin in Boyle County, Kentucky, the first site in Lexington was a single building in what is now the historic Gratz Park. By 1818, a new building was constructed for students classes. Later, in 1829, that burned, and the school was moved to its present location north of Third Street. Old Morrison, the campus building at the time, was constructed 1830–34, under the supervision of Henry Clay. After 1818, the university included a school, a law school, a divinity school. This school was not affiliated with the modern University of Kentucky, founded by Baptist churches in Kentucky, Bacon College operated from 1837 to 1851. It was also distinct from nearby Georgetown College, another Baptist-supported institution and this school closed in 1860 and its Harrodsburg building burned in 1864. By mutual agreement and an act of the legislature the college was merged with Transylvania University in 1865. It attracted many politically ambitious young men including Stephen F. Austin, following the devastating Civil War, Kentucky University was hit by a major fire, and both it and Transylvania University were left in dire financial straits. In 1865, both institutions secured permission to merge, the new institution used Transylvanias campus in Lexington while perpetuating the Kentucky University name. However, due to questions regarding having a federally funded land-grant college controlled by a religious body, the A&M of Kentucky soon developed into one of the states flagship public universities, the University of Kentucky. Kentucky Universitys College of the Bible, which traced its roots to Bacon Colleges Department of Hebrew Literature, Transylvanias seminary eventually became a separate institution, but remained housed on the Kentucky University campus until 1950. It later changed its name to the Lexington Theological Seminary, in 1903, Hamilton College, a Lexington-based womens college founded in 1869, merged into Kentucky University
5.
Lexington, Kentucky
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Lexington, consolidated with Fayette County, is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 61st largest in the United States. Known as the Horse Capital of the World, it is the heart of the states Bluegrass region, with a mayor-alderman form of government, it is one of two cities in Kentucky designated by the state as first-class, the other is the states largest city of Louisville. In the 2016 U. S. Census Estimate, the population was 318,449, anchoring a metropolitan area of 506,751 people. Lexington ranks tenth among US cities in college education rate, with 39. 5% of residents having at least a bachelors degree and this area of fertile soil and abundant wildlife was long occupied by varying tribes of Native Americans. European explorers began to trade with them but settlers did not come in force until the late 18th century, Lexington was founded by European Americans in June 1775, in what was then considered Fincastle County, Virginia,17 years before Kentucky became a state. A party of frontiersmen, led by William McConnell, camped on the Middle Fork of Elkhorn Creek at the site of the present-day McConnell Springs, upon hearing of the colonists victory in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, they named their campsite Lexington. It was the first of what would be many American places to be named after the Massachusetts town, the risk of Indian attacks delayed permanent settlement for four years. In 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, Col. Robert Patterson and 25 companions came from Fort Harrod and they built cabins and a stockade, establishing a settlement known as Bryan Station. In 1780, Lexington was made the seat of Virginias newly organized Fayette County, colonists defended it against a British and allied Shawnee attack in 1782, during the last part of the American Revolutionary War. The town was chartered on May 6,1782, by an act of the Virginia General Assembly, the First African Baptist Church was founded c. 1790 by Peter Durrett, a Baptist preacher and slave held by Joseph Craig. Durrett helped guide The Travelling Church, a migration of several hundred pioneers led by the preacher Lewis Craig and Captain William Ellis from Orange County. It is the oldest black Baptist congregation in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States, I would suppose it contains about five hundred dwelling houses, many of them elegant and three stories high. The country around Lexington for many miles in every direction, is equal in beauty and fertility to anything the imagination can paint and is already in a state of cultivation. Residents have fondly continued to refer to Lexington as The Athens of the West since Espys poem dedicated to the city, in the early 19th century, planter John Wesley Hunt became the first millionaire west of the Alleghenies. London Ferrill, second preacher of First African Baptist, was one of three clergy who stayed in the city to serve the suffering victims, additional cholera outbreaks occurred in 1848–49 and the early 1850s. Cholera was spread by using contaminated water supplies, but its transmission was not understood in those years. Often the wealthier people would flee town for outlying areas to try to avoid the spread of disease, planters held slaves for use as field hands, laborers, artisans, and domestic servants. In the city, slaves worked primarily as servants and artisans, although they also worked with merchants, shippers
6.
Santa Fe Trail
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The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Independence, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a commercial highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880. Santa Fe was near the end of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which carried trade from Mexico City. Comanche raiding farther south in Mexico isolated New Mexico, making it dependent on the American trade. The Trail was used as the 1846 U. S. invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican–American War, the road route is commemorated today by the National Park Service as the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. The trail was used to manufactured goods from the state of Missouri in the United States to Santa Fe. Santa Fe was near the terminus of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. This limited trade traffic transited the site that would become Fort Bent in Colorado and this post was only eight miles east of the site of Fort John on what became the Oregon Trail. The lost fort was on the site where Fort Bernard was later founded in the eastern Oregon Country. That Fort Bernard ran cargo mule trains to the Santa Fe is historically certain, the earlier Fort and its traders are less so, and that gives weight that they might have been independents, and not employees of the large fur companies. Regardless of the lack of documents, it is known the light trading with Mexico used the trail. In 1825 the merchant Manuel Escudero of Chihuahua was commissioned by New Mexico governor Bartolome Baca to negotiate in Washington for opening U. S. borders to traders from Mexico. In 1835 Mexico City had sent Albino Pérez to govern the department of New Mexico as Jefe Politico, New Mexicans had grown to appreciate the relative freedoms of a frontier, remote from Mexico City. The rebels defeated and executed governor Albino Perez, but were ousted by the forces of Rio Abajo led by Manuel Armijo. The Republic of Texas claimed Santa Fe as part of the territory north, in 1841, a small military and trading expedition departed from Austin, Texas representing the Republic of Texas and their president Mirabeau B. Their aim was to persuade the people of Santa Fe and New Mexico to relinquish control over the territory dispute with Mexico. Having knowledge of the recent political disturbances, they believed that they might be welcomed by the faction in New Mexico. Known as the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, the Texans encountered many difficulties and were captured by governor Armijos Mexican army under less than honest negotiations
7.
Oregon Trail
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The Oregon Trail is a 2, 170-mile historic east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of the state of Kansas. The western half of the trail spanned most of the states of Idaho. The Oregon Trail was laid by fur traders and traders from about 1811 to 1840, by 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho. From the early to mid-1830s the Oregon Trail and its offshoots were used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers. The eastern half of the trail was used by travelers on the California Trail, Mormon Trail. Use of the trail declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, making the trip west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer. Today, modern highways, such as Interstate 80 and Interstate 84, follow parts of the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to serve those using the Oregon Trail. Although Lewis and William Clark found a path to the Pacific Ocean, it was not until 1859 that a direct and practicable route, the first land route across what is now the United States was mapped by the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1804 and 1806. On the return trip in 1806 they traveled from the Columbia River to the Snake River and they then traveled overland up the Blackfoot River and crossed the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass and on to the head of the Missouri River. This was ultimately a shorter and faster route than the one they followed west and this route had the disadvantages of being much too rough for wagons and controlled by the Blackfoot Indians. They did show the way for the men, who within a decade would find a better way across. Founded by John Jacob Astor as a subsidiary of his American Fur Company in 1810, two movements of PFC employees were planned by Astor, one detachment to be sent to the Columbia River by the Tonquin and the other overland under an expedition led by Wilson Price Hunt. Hunt and his party were to find possible routes and trapping territories for further fur trading posts. Upon arriving at the river in March 1811, the Tonquin crew began construction of what became Fort Astoria, the ship left supplies and men to continue work on the station and ventured north up the coast to Clayoquot Sound for a trading expedition. While anchored there, Jonathan Thorn insulted an elder Tla-o-qui-aht who was elected by the natives to negotiate a mutually satisfactory price for animal pelts. Soon after the vessel was attacked and overwhelmed by the indigenous before being blown up, killing all the crew, from there they went over the Teton Range via Teton Pass and then down to the Snake River into modern Idaho. They abandoned their horses at the Snake River, made dugout canoes, after a few days travel they soon discovered that steep canyons, waterfalls and impassable rapids made travel by river impossible
8.
Missouri River
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The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle, the Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region, pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding, during the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, from the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, three streams rise to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The longest begins near Browers Spring,9,100 feet above sea level, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Jefferson in the Centennial Mountains. Flowing west then north, it runs first in Hell Roaring Creek, then west into the Red Rock, swings northeast to become the Beaverhead and these two streams then flow north and northwest into Montana. The Missouri River officially starts at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison in Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, Montana, the Missouri then passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. Issuing from the mountains near Cascade, the flows northeast to the city of Great Falls, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Missouri. Farther on, the passes through the Fort Peck Dam, and immediately downstream. At the confluence, the Yellowstone is actually the larger river, the Missouri then meanders east past Williston and into Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by Garrison Dam. Below the dam the Missouri receives the Knife River from the west and flows south to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota and it slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. While it continues south, eventually reaching Oahe Dam in South Dakota, the Missouri makes a bend to the southeast as it winds through the Great Plains, receiving the Niobrara River and many smaller tributaries from the southwest
9.
Floodplain
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In other words, a floodplain is an area near a river or a stream which floods when the water level reaches flood stage. Flood plains are made by a meander eroding sideways as it travels downstream, when a river breaks its banks and floods, it leaves behind layers of alluvium. These gradually build up to create the floor of the flood plain, floodplains generally contain unconsolidated sediments, often extending below the bed of the stream. These are accumulations of sand, gravel, loam, silt, and/or clay, and are often important aquifers, geologically ancient floodplains are often represented in the landscape by fluvial terraces. These are old floodplains that remain relatively high above the present floodplain and it is probable that any section of such an alluvial plain would show deposits of a similar character. The floodplain during its formation is marked by meandering or anastomotic streams, oxbow lakes and bayous, marshes or stagnant pools, and is occasionally completely covered with water. When the drainage system has ceased to act or is diverted for any reason. The floodplain differs, however, because it is not altogether flat and it has a gentle slope downstream, and often, for a distance, from the side towards the center. The floodplain is the place for a river to dissipate its energy. Meanders form over the floodplain to slow down the flow of water, in terms of flood management the upper part of the floodplain is crucial as this is where the flood water control starts. Artificial canalisation of the river here will have a impact on wider flooding. This is the basis of flood management. Floodplains can support particularly rich ecosystems, both in quantity and diversity, tugay forests form an ecosystem associated with floodplains, especially in Central Asia. They are a category of riparian zones or systems, a floodplain can contain 100 or even 1,000 times as many species as a river. Microscopic organisms thrive and larger species enter a rapid breeding cycle, opportunistic feeders move in to take advantage. The production of nutrients peaks and falls away quickly, however the surge of new growth endures for some time and this makes floodplains particularly valuable for agriculture. River flow rates are undergoing change following suit with climate change and this change is a threat to the riparian zones and other flood plain forests. These forests have over time synced their seedling deposits after the peaks in flow to best take advantage of the nutrient rich soil generated by peak flow
10.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
