, which will be noted farther on. The "West," as a
self-conscious section, began to evolve.

From decade to decade distinct advances of the frontier occurred. By the
census of 1820[6:2] the settled area included Ohio, southern Indiana and
Illinois, southeastern Missouri, and about one-half of Louisiana. This
settled area had surrounded Indian areas, and the management of these
tribes became an object of political concern. The frontier region of the
time lay along the Great Lakes, where Astor's American Fur Company
operated in the Indian trade,[6:3] and beyond the Mississippi, where
Indian traders extended their activity even to the Rocky Mountains;
Florida also furnished frontier conditions. The Mississippi River region
was the scene of typical frontier settlements.[7:1]

The rising steam navigation[7:2] on western waters, the opening of the
Erie Canal, and the westward extension of cotton[7:3] culture added five
frontier states to the Union in this period. Grund, writing in 1836,
declares: "It appears then that the universal disposition of Americans
to emigrate to the western wilderness, in order to enlarge their
dominion over inanimate nature, is the actual result of an expansive
power which is inherent in them, and which by continually agitating all
classes of society is constantly throwing a large portion of the whole
population on the extreme confines of the State, in order to gain space
for its development. Hardly is a new State or Territory formed before
the same principle manifests itself again and gives rise to a further
emigration; and so is it destined to go on until a physical barrier must
finally obstruct its progress."[7:4]

In the middle of this century the line indicated by the present eastern
boundary of Indian Territory, Nebraska, and Kansas marked the frontier
of the Indian country.[8:1] Minnesota and Wisconsin still exhibited
frontier conditions,[8:2] but the distinctive frontier of the period is
found in California, where the gold discoveries had sent a sudden tide
of adventurous miners, and in Oregon, and the settlements in Utah.[8:3]
As the frontier had leaped over the Alleghanies, so now it skipped the
Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains; and in the same way that the
advance of the frontiersmen beyond the Alleghanies had caused the rise
of important questions of transportation and internal improvement, so
now the settlers beyond the Rocky Mountains needed means of
communication with the East,