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INDEX
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
Note: Entries pertaining to footnotes are indicated by the suffix “n” (e.g., 35n).
Adams, Donna (pseudonym, actress), 289
Adams, Henry, 140, 141, 347
Adams, John Quincy, 84, 95, 100
Adams, Samuel (mountebank), 111
Adams, Samuel (President), xiii
airplanes/air travel
beginnings of an industry, 315–16
early cross-country flight, 316–27
Lindbergh crossing Atlantic, 318n
9/11 terrorist attacks, 312–15
nonstop crossing of the Pacific, 318n
Whiteman Air Force Base, 26–29
Alaska Highway, 299, 310–12
Albany, New York, 171
Allegheny River, 182–83
America, unifying forces in
automobiles, 237
Canal Era in America, 413
earth, xxi
electricity/electric lights, 385
ethnicity, xvi–xviii
fire, xxii
Internet, 425–28
Lewis and Clark expedition, xix
metal, xxii
Mississippi River, 227–29
race/race relations, xvii, 403
radio, 395–96, 402–3, 406, 413, 416
railroads, 237, 257–58, 413
rivers/river exploration, 229–30
roads/roadways/road building, 413
steam/steam engines, 237
telegraph, 349–51, 413
television, 407–8, 413–14
water, xxi–xxii
wood, xxi
American Academy of Natural Sciences, 79, 84
American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 397–98
American colonialism
about English feudalism and, 9
British expansion following Treaty of Paris, 178–88
French territory in America, 16, 175–78
Philippines and Pacific Islands, 100
roadbuilding efforts, 241–44
role of river exploration, 165–71
American Guide Series, xxiii–xxiv
American National Biography, 252
American Philosophical Society, 79
American Revolutionary War, 180–81, 190
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 354–55
Ames, Iowa, 287, 297–98
Anderson, Henry (lawyer), 328
Anderson, Sherwood (author), 429
Andrews, Christopher Columbus, xxvi
Angel, John and Mary (residents of Paradise), 223
Anthony, Susan B. (suffragette), 295
Appalachian Mountains
as western boundary of U.S., 7–8
colonial settlements beyond, 9, 176, 198
crossing Eastern Divide, 181–84
exploration to “fall line,” 169–70
explorations beyond “fall line,” 175–80
geological survey, 80–83, 93
“April Snow” (Zapruder), 238
Arkansas River, 176
Armour, J. Ogden (businessman), 317–18
Armour, Philip Danforth (businessman), 316–17
Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. See U.S. Army
Arnold, Philip (con man), 143–50
Arrowsmith, Aaron (mapmaker), 81n
Astor, John Jacob (businessman), 70
Astoria, Oregon, 70–71
Atlantic Monthly (magazine), 153
atomic weapons. See nuclear weapons
Augusta, Maine, 171
automobiles
beginning American industry, 295–96
challenges of cross-country travel, 279–80
development of an industry, 295–96
federal funding of roads, 282–83
replacing rail travel, 278–79
unifying role in America, 237
See also roads/roadways/road building
B-2 Stealth bombers, 28
Bailey, Edd (railroad president), 277–78
Bailey Yard, Nebraska, 277–78
Baldwin, Loammi, Jr. and Sr. (engineers), 189–93
Ball, Lucille (actress), 414
Bangor, Maine, 170–71
Barrin, Roland-Michel (Marquis de La Galissonière), 176–78
Battle Lake, Wyoming, 358–59
Battle of Fallen Timbers, 19
Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876), 46–47
Bell, Alexander Graham, 351–57
Bell Telephone Hour (radio program), 398
Bell Telephone Laboratories, 409
Belloc, Hilaire (poet), 328
“The Benefits of the Electric Light” (Belloc), 328
Berners-Lee, Tim (Internet pioneer), 424
Blake, W. P. (explorer), 94
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 13, 16–17
Bonneville, Benjamin (trapper/explorer), 94
Boston, Massachusetts, 193–94
Bradley, George (Powell expedition survivor), 120, 128
Branley, Éduoard (inventor), 387
Brinkley, David (broadcast journalist), 414–15
Buchanan, James (president), 263, 348
Buffalo, New York, 206
Burnham, Daniel (World’s Fair planner), 374
California
development of railroads, 261
Gold Rush of 1848, 263–64
Great Diamond Fraud (1872), 139, 143–51
Survey of 1864, 140–41
California Trail, 24, 292
Calzecchi Onesti, Temistocle (physicist/inventor), 386
Canada
British exploration, 18
building Alaska Highway, 299, 310–12
establishment as British possession, 176–78
fur trading/fur trappers, 62
surveying U.S. boundary with, 107
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 401
Canal Era in America
early American efforts, 186–87, 189–95
engineering techniques and problems, 188–89, 192–93
Erie Canal, beginning plans, 196–203
Erie Canal, building phase, 203–6
Erie Canal, celebrating completion, 206–9
Erie Canal, revisiting, 209–14
linking Chicago to Mississippi River, 214–22
Panama Canal, 201n, 205
unifying role in America, 413
Washington’s role in, 180, 185–86, 187–88
See also water
Carroll, Charles (signer of Declaration of Independence), 254
Carson, Christopher H. “Kit” (frontiersman), 94
Carson, Johnny (television entertainer), 407, 408, 412
Carter, Jimmy, 26
Cartier, Jacques (explorer), 165, 169
cartography. See geological survey and mapping
Carver, George Washington (former slave, educator), 288
Cather, Willa (author), 38
Céloron de Blainville, Pierre-Joseph de (French naval officer), 176–78
Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Company. See Pony Express
Central Pacific Railroad, 117, 266, 267–77. See also transcontinental railroad
Cerf, Vint (Internet pioneer), 422–23
Charbonneau, Jean-Baptiste “Pomp” (son of Sacagawea), 51
Charbonneau, Toussaint (fur trapper), 49–50
Charles II (king of England), 241
Charleston, South Carolina, 192
Chicago, Illinois
linking Great Lakes to Mississippi River, 214–22
as railroad hub, 257, 317
World’s Fair of 1892, 374–75
China
immigrant role in railroad construction, 269–73
searching for ocean passage to, 168, 169n
US Exclusion Act of 1882, 269n
US wartime assistance, 100
Yangtze comparison to Mississippi River, 230
Citizen Kane (movie, 1941), 377
City upon a Hill sermon (Winthrop, 1630), 30
Civil War
American unity tested by, xvi–xviii
disruption of western exploration, 103–4, 106, 108, 129
impact on railroad expansion, 255, 257–58
Irish immigration for service in, 271
secession and beginning of, 348–49
Clark, William (explorer), 21–23, 32–33, 39. See also Lewis and Clark expedition
Clay, Henry (presidential candidate), 345
Clemens, Samuel. See Twain, Mark
Clinton, DeWitt (NY governor), 202–3, 207–8
coal/coal deposits, 53–54, 88–90, 93–95
Cody, William (“Buffalo Bill”), 271, 278, 335
Colden, Cadwallader (surveyor), 198
Colles, Christopher (inventor), 198, 242, 249
colonialism. See American colonialism
Colorado, Great Diamond Fraud, 148–50, 152–53
Colorado River, discovery and exploration, 115–29, 173–74
Columbia, South Carolina, 192
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 397–98
Columbia River, discovery and exploration, 174–75
Columbian Exposition (World’s Fair of 1892), 374–75
communications. See mail/postal service; telegraph; telephone
Connecticut River, 170, 191
Continentalism and Manifest Destiny, 30–32, 100, 109
Cooke, Morris Llewellyn (engineer), 379–81
Copeland, Ada (wife of Clarence King/James Todd), 155–60
Cornell, Ezra (founder of Western Union), 348n
Coronado, Francisco, 42n, 173–74
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 401
Corps of Discovery. See Lewis and Clark expedition
Council Bluffs, Iowa, 43, 266, 270, 276–77, 289, 291, 424–25
Coy, Wayne (FCC chair), 412
Crazy Horse (Sioux warrior), 46
Cronkite, Walter (broadcast journalist), 414–15
Cumberland Trail (U.S. National Road), 243–48
Custer, George A. (General), 46
Dana, James (mineralogist), 94
de Soto, Hernando (Spanish conquistador), 173
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, 420–21
Delaware River, 180–81, 190, 249
Denison, Iowa, 289–90
Dewey, George (Admiral), 220
Dickens, Charles (author), 225
Douglas, Kirk (actor), 407
Durant, Thomas (railroad president), 274–75
Duryea, Charles and Frank (auto builders), 295–96
Dust Bowl era, 11n, 37, 232–33, 377
Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. See transcontinental highways
E pluribus unum, xv, xvi, 403, 426
earth
as one of five classical elements, v, xx
unifying role in America, xxi
East Liverpool, Ohio, 10–12
Eaton, Amos (mapmaker), 89
Eddy, Clyde (explorer), 123n
Edison, Thomas A. (inventor), 358, 360–69, 371–74, 385, 410–11
Edison Electric Illuminating Company, 364, 374
The Education of Henry Adams (Adams), 140n, 347
education/educational system
attraction of William Maclure to, 76, 79, 84–85
creation of New Harmony experiment, 85–87
espousing a free system in America, 87
land grant colleges, 399–400, 439–40
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (general/president), 280–94, 304–5, 308, 414
electricity/electric lights
birth at Battle Lake, Wyoming, 357–59
development and marketing, 361–64
electrification of New York City, 364–67
electrification of rural America, 376–85
generation and distribution, 359–61, 375–76
unifying role in America, 385
war over AC vs. DC, 367–69, 371–75, 410–11
See also radio; telegraph; telephone
Ellsworth, Annie, 346
Ellsworth, Henry Leavitt (patent commissioner), 346
Erie Canal
about American efforts prior to, 189–95
beginning plans, 196–203
building phase, 203–6
celebrating completion, 206–9
impact of railroads on, 253
revisiting, 209–14
ethnicity, as unifying force, xvi–xviii
Exclusion Act of 1882, 269n
Facebook, 425
Fall River, Maine, 171
Farnsworth, Philo (inventor), 410
Farny, Henry (artist), 328, 333
Featherstonhaugh, George (geologist), 94
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, 305
Fessenden, Reginald Aubrey (engineer), 387–92, 406
fire. See also airplanes/air travel; automobiles; steam/steam engines
fire
as one of five classical elements, v, xx, xxi–xxii
unifying role in America, xxii
See also airplanes/air travel; automobiles; steam/steam engines
On First Seeing the Grand Canyon (Powell), 72
“First Sight” (Larkin), 125
Fitch, John (creator of paddleboat), 249, 251
five classical elements, v, xx
Floyd, Charles (Sergeant, Corps of Discovery), 43–44
Ford, Henry (auto maker), 278, 282, 296, 298
Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station (Nebraska), 41
Fort Clatsop (Oregon), 70–71
Fort Thompson, South Dakota, 39
Four Great Surveys of the West, 112–13, 151, 160
49th Parallel (movie), 261n
Frankenheimer, John (television director), 407
Franklin, Benjamin, 79, 336
Frémont, John Charles (military officer/explorer), 94, 100, 105–6
French and Indian War (aka Seven Years’ War), 178–79
frontier thesis, 24–32, 377–79. See also Manifest Destiny
Fulton, Robert (engineer/inventor), 250–51
fur trading/fur trappers, 62, 93
Gallatin, Albert (Treasury secretary), 195, 243
Gallatin River, 59, 130–31
Gardiner, James (surveyor), 148
gender
frontier thesis and, 30
recognizing men for achievement, xix
See also women
General Electric Company (formerly Edison Electric), 374–75
General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas (the “Yellow Book”), 305–9
geological survey and mapping
attraction of William Maclure to, 77–80
beginning mapping of America, 10–14, 80–83
building Cumberland Road, 243–44
completing mapping of the West, 104–13
Four Great Surveys of the West, 112–13, 151, 160
governmental role in, 89–91
Louisiana Purchase, 16–17
Northwest Territories, 14–16
role of David Dale Owen, 88–91
role of “settler movement,” 91–96
Survey of California (1864), 140–41
transcontinental railroad routes, 258
US Army Corps of Engineers, 233
Warren Map (1858), 108–10