Susquehanna River, 169
unifying role in America, 229–30
Wisconsin River, 175
Youghiogheny River, 182–83
See also geological survey and mapping; water
roads/roadways/road building
early colonial postal roads, 241–42
government role and funding, 243, 283, 296–97, 300
National Road, building of, 243–48
unifying role in America, 413
western migration trails, 242
See also automobiles; transcontinental highways
Roberts, Larry (Internet pioneer), 421, 423
Rodgers, Calbraith Perry (aviation pioneer), 315–16, 318–27
Rolfe, John (early colonial figure), 167
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (president), 301, 304–5, 376–81
Roosevelt, Theodore (president), 125–26
Rothschild, Walter (Lord), 146
Ruggles of Red Gap (movie), 276
Rural Electrification Administration (REA), 376–85
Russia. See Soviet Union
Saarinan, Eero (architect), 226
Sacagawea (Shoshone woman), 49–52
Saint Lawrence River, 169
Sam 951 (Charolais bull), 25
Sandisfield, Massachusetts, 429–32
Sandisfield Times (newspaper), 429–32
Santa Fe Trail, 24, 96, 103
Sarnoff, David (radio pioneer), 398, 411
Savery, Thomas (inventor), 253
Scammon, Eliakim (military officer/ explorer), 105
Schoolcraft, Henry (geologist), 93, 227
Seattle, Washington, 174–75
Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA), 314–15
Senf (Swedish engineer), 192
September 11 terrorist attacks, 312–16
“settler movement”
about role of geology, 75–77
attraction to “Promised Land,” 91–96
Continentalism and Manifest Destiny, 30–32, 100, 109
early beginnings of, 6–9
encroachment on Indian lands, 331–33
following trails west, 96–104
survey and land sales, 9–16
See also immigration
Seven Years’ War (aka French and Indian War), 178–79
Sherman, William Tecumseh (General), 115
Sho-kup (Shoshone chief), 331–32
Sibley, Hiram (telegraph investor), 347–48, 350–51
Siemering, William (founder of public radio), 399, 401–2, 404–5
Sitting Bull (Sioux chief), 46–47
Slack, John (con man), 143–50
slaves/slavery
as early American institution, 7, 92
expansion to new western states, 258, 263
Jefferson as slave-owner, 4, 6
Lewis and Clark expedition, 21
Native American ownership, 50
secession and beginning of Civil War, 348
See also race/race relations
Sliney, Ben (air traffic controller), 313–16
Smeaton, John (canal engineer), 189
Smith, Jedediah (trapper/explorer), 94, 96, 99
Smith, John (explorer), 166–67
Smith, William (mapmaker), 82
Smithsonian Institution, 116, 138, 352
“Song of the Open Road” (Whitman), 238
Song of the Talking Wire (Farny), 333
Soviet Union
Cold War threat/weaponry, 27, 31, 420
early ideals of Marxism in, 84
launch of space exploration, 419
Spain, exploration and colonization, 12–13, 62, 106, 242
Spalding, Eliza (missionary), 93
Spanish conquistadores, 35n, 42n, 173–74
Spotted Elk (Sioux chief), 48
Springfield, Massachusetts, 295
St. Louis, Missouri, 22–23, 51n, 54, 70, 226, 228n, 251
Stanford, Leland, 273–75
Stanley, William (engineer), 372
Stansbury, Howard (explorer), 94, 108
Stanton, Edwin (secretary of war), 141
steam/steam engines
early inventions and development, 249
launch of steamboat era, 250–52
properties and use of, 248
unifying role in America, 237
See also water
Steinbeck, John (author), 233, 301
Stevens, John (father of American rail), 252–55
Stewart, James (actor), 289
Stone, William Leete, Sr. (journalist), 209
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), 27
Strong, Daniel (merchant), 263–65
Stuart, Robert (explorer), 94n
Sumner, Jack (Powell expedition survivor), 128
A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (Colles, 1789), 242–43
survey/surveying expeditions. See geological survey and mapping
Susquehanna River, 169
Syracuse, New York, 205
telegraph
beginnings of an industry, 331–35
development by Samuel Morse, 337–41
electricity and its use for, 335–37
first public message, 328, 345–47
government role and funding, 343–44
overcoming technical problems, 341–45
rival systems to Morse, 347–48
undertaking cross-country construction, 348–49
unifying role in America, 349–51, 413
telephone
about invention and patenting, 351–53
beginnings of an industry, 326–27
comparison to telegraph, 351
development, 355–57
first successful demonstration, 353–54
first transcontinental call, 354–55
television
beginnings of an industry, 412–13
derided as “vast wasteland,” 416–17
first public demonstration, 409–10
impact of cable networks, 415–17
predictions for its future, 410–12
unifying role in America, 407–8, 413–14
See also electricity/electric lights
Telford, Thomas (canal engineer), 189
Tesla, Nikola (inventor), 369–72, 387
Texas, annexation by U.S. (1845), 106
Thompson, Benjamin (aka Count Rumford, inventor), 190
Thompson, David (explorer), 35n
Thoreau, Henry David (poet), 92
Tiffany, Charles (jeweler), 145, 150
Tocqueville, Alexis de (political thinker), 198
Todd, James, 155–60
The Tonight Show (television show), 407–9
Topeka, Kansas, 308–9
Trail of Tears, xxiii
Transcontinental Convoy of 1919, 280–94
transcontinental highways
about Thomas MacDonald and, 294–96
government role and funding, 296–300
numbering system and routes, 300–304
planning/building Alaska Highway, 299, 310–12
planning/building Interstate Highway System, 304–10
See also roads/roadways/road building
transcontinental railroad
authorization by Congress, 266–67
beginning surveys for, 258
Ceremony of Golden Spike, 273
construction, 267–72
crossing Missouri River, 276
meeting at Promontory Summit, xiii, 103, 117, 272–76
role of “Crazy Judah,” 258–59, 261–66, 275, 433
See also railroads; Union Pacific Railroad
transcontinental telegraph, 348–51
transcontinental telephone, 354–57
transcontinental television, 409–10
transportation. See automobiles; railroads; rivers/river exploration; steam/steam engines
Treaty of Paris (1763), 178
Troost, Gerard (geologist), 90
Turner, Frederick Jackson, 29–31
Tuskegee experiment, xxiii
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, 288
Twain, Mark (author), 225, 236
Umatilla Army Depot (Oregon), 68
unifying forces in America
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
Union Pacific Railroad, 24, 53–54, 117, 139, 238, 266, 267, 270–78, 309–10. See also transcontinental railroad
United States of America
about uniqueness and nature of, xv–xxv
Continentalism and Manifest Destiny, 30–32, 100, 109
count of administrative units, xviii
evolution of story continues, 434
finding Paradise, 154, 222–25, 276–77
frontier thesis, 24–32
Jeffersonian notions of land ownership, 8–16
9/11 terrorist attacks, 312–16
See also geological survey and mapping; “settler movement”
universal human freedom, xvi
U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, 27–28
U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, 233–36, 290
Transcontinental Convoy of 1919, 280–94
U.S. Congress, 401
authorization of Lewis and Clark expedition, 20–22
compensation for Colorado River exploration, 111
creation of Interstate Highway System, 305–8
creation of national public radio, 401
creation of Yellowstone Park, 137–39
mapping of public lands, 15–16, 90
passage of Exclusion Act of 1882, 269n
passage of Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, 305
passage of Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860, 348
passage of Patent Act of 1790, 253
passage of Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, 401
passage of Radio Act of 1912, 394–95
support of Depression-era “New Deal,” 379
support of railroad development, 258, 263, 266, 275
support of road building, 243, 247, 300
support of telegraph system, 343–44
U.S. Department of Defense, 420–21
U.S. Geological Survey
formation of, 151
Four Great Surveys of the West, 112–13
King as director, 139, 142
Powell as director, 114
U.S. Highway 40 (transformed to Interstate 70), 308–9
U.S. Highway 66 (Route 66, the “mother road”), 301
U.S. National Park Service, 138, 242
U.S. National Road (Cumberland Trail), 243–48
U.S. Supreme Court, 341n
U.S. Weather Bureau, 387–92
Vail, Alfred (inventor), 343–44
Van Buren, Martin, 245
Vancouver, Canada, 174–75
Vancouver, George (British Navy captain), 174–75
Vandalia, Illinois, 244
Vanderbilt, Cornelius (family of), 362, 366
Vietnam War, 100, 402, 403, 415
Villard, Henry (journalist), 362
Voyages from Montreal to the Frozen and Pacific Ocean (Mackenzie), 17–18
Walker, Joel P. and Mrs. (western emigrants), 95–96
Walson, John (cable TV inventor), 415
War of the Worlds (Wells), 398
Warren, Gouverneur Kimble (military officer/explorer), 108–10
war/warfare
foreign attack/invasion of America, 283–84
French and Indian War, 178–79
Japanese invasion of Aleutian Islands, 284n
World War I, 281, 283
Washington, DC
Civil War threat, 266
“fall line” of Potomac River, 168, 170
Washington, George
canal building projects, 180, 185–87
land ownership in Ohio River Valley, 179–80, 183–84
river exploration across Eastern Divide, 181–84
role in French and Indian War, 179
water
as one of five classical elements, v, xx
unifying role in America, xxi–xxii
See also Canal Era in America; rivers/river exploration; steam/steam engines
Waterston, R. C. (poet), 258
Watson, Elkanah (canal promoter), 198–99
Watson, Thomas (inventor), 352–54
Watt, James (inventor), 249
Webner, Frank (Pony Express rider), 335
Welles, Orson (filmmaker), 377, 398
Wells, H. G. (author), 398
West, Jessamyn, xiii
western settlement. See “settler movement”
Western Union (telegraph company), 348–51, 355
Westinghouse, George, 368–69, 374–75, 396, 410–11
Weston, William (canal engineer), 189, 193
Wheeler, George (military officer/surveyor), 112–13, 151
Whiteman Air Force Base (USAF), 26–29
Whitman, Narcissa (missionary), 93
Whitman, Walt (poet), 238
Whitney, Josiah (explorer), 95
Willard, Simon (explorer), 170
Williams, William “Bill” (explorer and suspected cannibal), 106
Winesburg, Ohio, 276
Winesburg, Ohio (Anderson), 429
Winslow, Edward (explorer), 170
Winthrop, John (mathematician/astronomer), 30, 190
Wisconsin River, 175
women
access to education, 255
missionary emigrants to the West, 93
Sacagawea, life and legend, 49–52
See also gender
wood
as one of five classical elements, v, xx
importance in early America, 33
unifying role in America, xxi
A Working Hypothesis for the Study of Migrations (Johansen), 72
World War I, 281, 283
World War II, 304
World Wide Web, 423–25
Wright, Orville (inventor), 316
Wyoming
birth of incandescent lightbulb, 358–59
Cold War missile defenses, 27
pathway for western settlement, 96–100, 262
surveying expeditions, 132–33
the “Yellow Book” (General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas), 305–9
Yellowstone National Park
about location and wonders of, 130–32
exploration and survey, 132–37
preservation as national park, 137–39
York (slave of William Clark), 21
Youghiogheny River, 182–83
Young Men and Fire (Maclean), 57
Zapruder, Matthew (poet), 238
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SIMON WINCHESTER is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Map that Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa. Those books were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. His most recent book is Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. In 2006 Mr. Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen
. He resides in western Massachusetts.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
ALSO BY SIMON WINCHESTER
Atlantic
Skulls
West Coast: Bering to Baja
The Man Who Loved China
A Crack in the Edge of the World
The Meaning of Everything
Krakatoa
The Map That Changed the World
The Fracture Zone
The Professor and the Madman
In Holy Terror
American Heartbeat
Their Noble Lordships
Stones of Empire
Outposts
Prison Diary, Argentina
Hong Kong: Here Be Dragons
Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles
Pacific Rising
Small World
Pacific Nightmare
The River at the Center of the World
CREDITS
Cover design by Richard Ljoenes.
Cover images: Map courtesy of the Library of Congress. Top: The Arrival of Captain Lewis at the Great Falls of Missouri, courtesy of the artist, Charles Fritz. Bottom: Trestle at Promontory, by Andrew J. Russell, from photographs taken during construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Maps following the cover image, “Establishing the Union, by Means of WOOD, EARTH, and WATER” and “Consolidating the Union, by Means of FIRE and METAL,” © 2013 Springer Cartographics, LLC.
Title page image: “The ‘The Good Roads Train,’” courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
COPYRIGHT
THE MEN WHO UNITED THE STATES. Copyright © 2013 by Simon Winchester. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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