When I think of the Great Plains I think of the old west and this makes me think of a place that is rough, flat, and full of dreams. Reading this book tells about what the settlers call the Wild West. Walter P. Webb backs this up in his book The Great Plains with not only just the land but the people that lived on it and how they had to adapt to the Great Plains. To start this book off Webb gives us a view of the land through geology, the climate, and the animals lived there. Then he goes into the Native Americans that lived there and how they adapted their lifestyles to the land. Unlike the settlers who tried to adapt the land to themselves although they eventually had to adapt there ways to the way of the land. Before settlers even came there were explorers. The conquistadors came in search of wealth the Americans came in search of new pathways and eventually to settle the vast land. The Americans are the only one who seems to have any real interest in the land as it was. It was a new place undiscovered by there eyes. When they first came they tried to adapt the land to them then they figured out that they had to adapt themselves to the land. Some good examples are the barbed wire fences, the six shooter, and the way they farmed/ranched through cattle. The Plains land was a great place to graze cattle with the open space and because the plains were so great for the cattle the enterprise of the cattle kingdom began. Part of when you think of the old west you think of the cattle drives and how cattle started many towns in the Great Plains. Walter P. Webb shows us the comparison of the land of the Great Plains and how the people adapted to the land and what people had to do in their lifestyle to adapt to live on these Plains.
posted by Nancy Hart #
22:03