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The Great Plains
By Walter Prescott Webb

· Plains Indians
Horses were very important for transportation and hunters in the Great Plains. The Comanches were among the best horseman because the southern climate was ideal for horses so they had abundance and practice with the animal. In high school I took the beginning Sign Language class, but I never understood the origin until I read Ch3. The text talks about how Native Americans used sign language to communicate with family and also for hunting. In the Great Plains, the land is very level and treeless making it easier for buffalos to notice approaching hunters. The quote “On the Plains, the eye far outruns the ear” illustrates the point that communication over long distances needed visual signs and not audio signs.
· Spanish Approach
An interesting section in Ch 4 describes that Spanish explorers never traveled through the entire Great Plains between the years 1535-1706. Spanish explorers had many difficulties while they adjusted to the Great Plains; these include the “buffalo mirage”, explorers getting lost in the level, treeless land. The Native Americans posed a problem to the Spanish, they started using horses for transportation, hunting, and war. At one point, a questionnaire was polled to the Spanish council about Apache Indians and if they should become aggressive and attack the Apaches, or form an alliance and attack the Comanches.
· Westward Migration
The American conception of the Great Plains was incorporated by Lewis and Clark, John Ledyard, and Thomas Jefferson. John Ledyard was scheduled to travel around the world and head East across the Great Plains but he was arrested in Russian territory. His new replacement was Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark whom were instructed to “trace the Missouri to its source.”
· Conclusion
Overall, the book explained specific details of Great Plains history. The parts discussed were interesting and important for my understanding of the Great Plains. My favorite part of the text was when Webb described the Lewis and Clark expedition because I feel that they set the foundations for European Settlers traveling to a new land to begin a new life.

Adam Wolfe