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Weblog for HIST 431: The North American PlainsSaturday, September 29, 2007
RP: Lecture 3
At first glance, the Great Plains were of little value to any of the initial explorers. The Spanish, who approached from the southwest, only saw the area to be a good security buffer. This kind of surprised me considering the environment the Spanish had moved north from. The French had a different idea for the plains. Seeking fur trade opportunities with the Indians, the French entered the plains from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley. The Americans probably had the greatest interest of any nation in exploring the plains. To grow they needed to expand; expansion meant moving west, onto the plains. Despite many explores impressions of the plains as being a vast dessert, they had to have seen that there were very fertile river valleys throughout the plains where agriculture could prosper. I really like thinking about what Lewis and Clark went through in their expeditions. It seems almost impossible to imagine what they saw as they crossed the nation, just the vast, untouched, plains. No buildings, no roads, just wide open fields of prairie grass and the animals that roamed them. It also makes me wonder about the great amount of knowledge that these explorers must have held. I don't consider my self an idiot, but to travel that great of a distance with little to no nature shelter seems like it'd be the death of me.
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