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The
American West
When we hear the words, "The Old West,"
images of cowboys, Indians, gunslingers, pioneers, and gold seekers immediately
spring to mind. We also commonly associate the Old West with adjectives
like "wild," "untamed," and perhaps "American."
A study of the American West reveals a rich chapter in American history.
No other historical era has captured the imagination of more people than
the fabled era of the exploration and settlement of the United States
west of the Mississippi. An exploration of these resources will provide
a better understanding of the development of the American nation and the
American character as a result of the settlement of the Western Frontier.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The West
A companion to the Ken Burns PBS documentary series, "The West"
views the events, places, and people of the West. It also contains an
archives and an assortment of links dealing with the American West.
Multicultural
American West
This site examines the history of the American West through the lens of
multiculturalism. It offers links to online documents, course syllabi,
journals, resource sites, popular culture sites, and other relevant materials
regarding the American West as a region.
Kid
Info: Pioneers and Westward Expansion
This student-friendly Internet guide offers a collection of annotated
links to resources that discuss westward expansion.
WestWeb
WestWeb is a topically organized web site about the study of the American
West. Under each topic heading, you will find collections of primary and
secondary documents, biographical and bibliographical resources, lists
of hot links to other sites of interest, and images.
Jim
Janke's Old West
This web page focuses on "anything and anybody" associated with
the legend and reality of 19th Century America, west of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers.
The American West
A collection of links of all sorts of peoples and places related to the
American West.
Academic
Info: The American West: Frontier History
This site is a collection of America West history sites for academic research.
People To See
Western
Pioneers, Frontiersmen, Mountainmen and Fur Traders
This site is a metalist of a variety of groups and individuals who figured
significantly in the history of the American West.
Women
of the West
We've all heard a lot about Buffalo Bill and Kit Carson, but what about
Annie Oakley and Elizabeth Simpson Bradshaw? This site focuses on the
women who settled the West.
Native
Web
The Native Web resource database contains information about all of the
Native tribes of the New World including the Aztecs of Mexico. This particular
page also features a geographical index, so you can find tribes associated
with specific regions.
People
of Color on America's Western Frontier
Many of the accomplishments and sagas of African Americans, Native Americans,
Mexican Americans and Asian Americans are neglected in the study of the
American West. This site focuses on providing a more complete picture
of the role of all groups that played a part in the settlement of the
American West.
Mountain
Men and the Fur Trade
Dedicated to the history of the trappers, explorers and traders known
as Mountain Men with a map, images, photos, a library, and more.
Pioneers
Learn what it was like to travel across the US Frontier! You can read
all about life on the trail, tools, pastimes, toys, and dangers in this
cool ThinkQuest site.
Things To Do
In
Search of the Oregon Trail
Check out this PBS site which presents facts, myths, and trivia about
the Oregon Trail.The Oregon Trail was much more than a pathway to the state of Oregon--it
was the only practical corridor to the entire western United States. Choose
the text version of the site from this page or click the map to follow
the graphic version.
Go
West Across America with Lewis and Clark
It is 1804. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson has asked Meriwether Lewis
to lead an expedition across western North America--unknown territory
for all but Indians. The goals: map the rivers, make friends with natives,
open the West to trade, and look for a Northwest Passage (an easy water
route from coast to coast). Lewis and his colleague William Clark have
chosen a special team for the journey, and you're invited!
The Gold Rush
Learn about the frenzied rush of gold seekers to California that started
with the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848. This
web site, a companion to the PBS documentary of the same name, is based
on information provided by The Sacramento Bee newspaper. It presents information
about the Gold Rush, classroom resources, fun facts, and links to other
sites about the Gold Rush.
Adventures
of Wells Fargo
Hold onto your keyboard and ride into the Old West on a Wells Fargo Stagecoach.
Ready to take a time warp and explore the West with Wells Fargo? Now you
can find out what it was like in the days of the Gold Rush. Authentic
stories taken from the historical archives of Wells Fargo that let you
discover life as it was on the Western Frontier. Back then, people loved
to sit around a fire, front porch, or even a saloon table, swapping tales
of the West. Here's your chance to join them.
Trail of Hope:
The Story of the Mormon Trail
This PBS web site about the Mormon Trail includes stories and photos.
Learn about the sights, sounds, smells, and dangers of life on the trail.
The
Donnor Party
This transcript of a PBS documentary leads you almost step-by-step along
the route taken by the Donner expedition, from the first days of enthusiasm
and optimism, across the plains and a desert to the mountains and a horrifying
snow-bound winter of starvation and extreme cold.
The
Old West Web Ride
Take a ride with "Bubba" on the Old West Web Ride. Although
the site takes a long time to load, you can read biographies and see pictures
of the people that made the "Old Wild West," including mountain
men, Native Americans, outlaws, lawmen, and gunslingers.
Western History
Photography Collection
View a selection of historic photographs from the collections of the Denver
Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department and the Colorado Historical
Society. These collections, which contain more than one million items,
document the history of Colorado and the American West. The on-line collection
contains some 70,000 images and catalog records of Native Americans, pioneers,
early railroads, mining, Denver and Colorado towns.
Schoolhouse
Rock Lyrics: "Elbow Room"
Read the lyrics to the SchoolHouse Rock song "Elbow Room," which
describes westward expansion in America.
Teacher Resources
Show
Me the Way
Students will be able to create and identify map legends and symbols by
creating a map of the Mormon Trail using landscape features that occurred
along the Mormon Trail. This lesson plan is intended for students in the
third grade.
Famous
People of the West
Students will learn about two famous people who made an impact on the
westward expansion and create a cartoon strip using the information.
Roads
of the Past and Present
This unit, for third graders, focuses on the effects the pioneer trails
had on the paths of today's freeways. The students will have the opportunity
to compare the paths taken by the pioneers with those taken today.
Education
on the Trail
This is an activity the students can do to increase interest in the pioneers.
They will be expected to invent ways to teach pioneer children on the
trail.
What
does a Mormon Pioneer Need to Know to Survive the Trek?
Students will identify health problems of the Mormon trek and recognize
ways they could have been avoided.
Map
Scale and the Pioneer Journey
Using a map, ruler, and calculator, students will be able to calculate
the distance the pioneers traveled from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake
Valley.
Create
Your Own Pioneer
Students will become involved with the pioneer experiences as each creates
an individual and writes a brief history of that person.
Go
West: Imagining the Oregon Trail
Tell your students to put on their traveling shoes and prepare for the
journey of their lives! In this lesson, students compare imagined travel
experiences of their own with the actual experiences of 19th-century pioneers.
On
the Oregon Trail
In this lesson, students work with primary documents and latter-day photographs
to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail.
Oregon
Trail Diary
As America expanded across the continent, her settlement of the west by
the pioneers was one of the major accomplishments of the 19th century.
This diary simulation provides dual opportunities for students to write
their own historical fiction as well as to gain a deeper understanding
of the various landmarks and trails of the Oregon Trail.
City
Life During the Gold Rush
California's rapid and dramatic change during the Gold Rush was especially
evident in San Francisco. Throughout these lessons students are guided
to compare the development of San Francisco to the development of the
city in which they live.
Pushing
the Boundaries: The Pioneer Spirit
Through a debate, students will determine the advantages and drawbacks
of traveling west using original sources and descriptions of the attitudes,
beliefs, and experiences of the pioneers.
Mountain
Man Rendezvous
Participating in a rendezvous, students will gain hands-on experience
with some activities relating to this time period. Students will demonstrate
a working knowledge of basic mountain man skills as they go from station
to station at the school rendezvous.
Donner
Online
The plight of the Donner Party remains one of the most poignant episodes
in the history of westward expansion during the 19th Century. "Donner
Online" is a type of Web-based activity in which you learn about
a topic by collecting information, images, and insights from the Internet,
and then you "paste" them into a multimedia Scrapbook (a HyperStudio
stack or a Web page) to share your learning with others.
Lewis
and Clark Classroom Resources
A series of lessons and activities from the PBS site about the Lewis and
Clark Expedition.
Adventure
into the Unknown
In this webquest, students research about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
After learning about the famous trek, students make a board game that
reflects what they've learned.
Westward
Expansion WebQuest
Learn more about the people who traveled to and lived in the West. View
some of the documents, letters, diaries, and pictures in order to get
a better understanding of Westward experiences.
The
Westward Movement
These lesson plans geared for 7th to 9th graders revolve around the move
Westward in covered wagons. They are designed to give a better understanding
of the geographical region of the Great Basin while gaining an insight
on what a trip West in a covered wagon might have been like. Includes
very detailed, step-by-step instructions for conducting the lessons. Background
information, bibliography, quiz questions, mapping activities, and homework.
There are also suggested situations which call for creative problem solving.
Union
Pacific Rail Road-History
This is the story of the first transcontinental railroad; the greatest,
most daring engineering effort the country had yet seen. The idea was
to span the west with iron rails from Omaha to Sacramento.
Living
Edens: Canyonlands
These classroom activities were created to parallel the one-hour television
documentary "Living Edens: Canyonlands." Each of the four lessons
includes: recommended time needed to complete the lesson, a list of necessary
materials, clear learning objectives, a teaching procedure, assessment
recommendations, extension ideas, and relevant national standards. Each
lesson also contains recommended Web resources.
WebQuests
Bibliography
- Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson,
and the Opening of the American West. Touchstone Books, 1997.
- Bial, Raymond. Frontier Home. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
- Carlson, Laurie. Westward Ho! : An Activity Guide to the Wild West.
Chicago Review Press, 1996.
- Cox, Clinton. Forgotten Heroes: The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Point, 1996.
- Duncan, Dayton. The West: An Illustrated History for Children. Little,
Brown and Company Boston, 1996.
- Erickson, Paul. Daily Life in a Covered Wagon. Puffin, 1997.
- Greenwood, Barbara and Heather Collins. A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily
Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
- Hatt, Christine. The American West. Peter Bedrick Books, New York,
1998.
- Hill, William E. The Mormon Trail : Yesterday and Today. Utah State
University Press, 1996.
- Hill, William E. The Oregon Trail : Yesterday and Today : A Brief
History and Pictorial Journal Along the Wagon Tracks of Pioneers. Caxton
Press, 1987.
- King, David C. and Bobbie Moore. Pioneer Days : Discover the Past
With Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes. John Wiley &
Sons, 1997.
- Knight, Amelia Stewart et al. The Way West : Journal of a Pioneer
Woman. Aladdin Picture Books, 1999.
- Krensky, Stephen and Anna Divito: Striking It Rich : The Story of
the California Gold Rush (Ready-To-Read). Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996.
- Levine, Ellen and Elroy Freem. If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon.
Scholastic, 1992.
- Lewis, Meriwether et al. The Essential Lewis and Clark. Ecco Press,
1999.
- Maguire, James H. et al. A Rendezvous Reader : Tall, Tangled, And,
True Tales of the Mountain Men, 1805-1850. University of Utah Press,
1997.
- McMorrow, Catherine and Michael Eagle. Gold Fever (Step into Reading.
Step 3 Book). Random House, 1996.
- Milner, Clyde A., II et al. The Oxford History of the American West.
Oxford University Press, 1996.
- Morley, Jacqueline and David Dalsriya, David Antram. How Would You
Survive in the American West? Franklin Watts, Incorporated, 1997.
- Penner, Lucille Recht and Bryn Barnard. Westward Ho! : The Story of
the Pioneers. Random House, 1997.
- Roop, Peter and Connie Roop. Westward Ho, Ho, Ho! The Millbrook Press,
Brookfield, Connecticut, 1996.
- Schanzer, Roszlyn. Gold Fever! Tales from the California Gold Rush.
National Geographic Society, 1999.
- Schmidt, Thomas. National Geographic's Guide to the Lewis and Clark
Trail. National Geographic Society, 1998.
- Slaughter, Michael Landon and William W. Slaughter. Trail of Hope
: The Story of the Mormon Trail. Shadow Mountain, 1997.
- Steedman, Scott and Mark Bergin. Frontier Fort on the Oregon. Peter
Bedrick Books, 1994.
- Stegner, Wallace Earl. The Gathering of Zion : The Story of the Mormon
Trail. University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
- Trinklein, Michael. Fantastic Facts about the Oregon Trail. Boettcher/Trinklein,
1995.
- Wilder, Laura Ingalls and Renee Graef. Going West (My First Little
House Books). Harpercollins, 1997.
- Vestal, Stanley. Jim Bridger, Mountain Man. University of Nebraska
Press, 1970.
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