Abstract
The paper discusses how the economic basis for fur trading in the new American west was important, since it allowed a profitable supply of furs that wealthy Europeans could purchase through the John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. The paper explains how with this growing demand for furs, pioneers and fur trappers became interested in finding and selling these furs for immense profits. The paper further explains that after the near extinction of the beavers west of the Mississippi it became clear that fur traders had a great deal of knowledge about the terrain and landscape of the unexplored west.

Tags:fur, trade, america

Abstract
This paper introduces, discusses and analyzes the topic of the American West in fiction and history. Specifically it discusses to what extent the U.S. West has been a place of opportunity for all. The paper concludes that in reality, the American West was a land of opportunity for many, but for others, it was simply a place of hard work, little gain, oblivion, and despair.

From the Paper
"In conclusion, many emigrants found exactly what they were looking for when they headed west. They found wealth, opportunity, and a new life. Even those who did not discover gold often found success in the West in the form of business, industry, and innovation that helped them become pillars of the community. Eventually, families were reunited and the West became settled, citified, and "home." For others, they only found despair, defeat, and suffering in the West. Some died without ever seeing their families again, others attempted to farm fallow land, and still others never found the gold and the pot at the end of the rainbow they were so desperately seeking. The West was not the same for everyone who traveled there, but it is still so romanticized in fiction and history that it still retains some of that rainbow-glow in the minds of many Americans. As Johnson states at the end of her narrative, "There is so much that we have not yet learned from the Gold Rush. If we can remember it differently, perhaps we can use that memory to different ends" (Johnson 344)."

Tags:gold, riches, hostility, pioneer

Abstract
This paper looks at the book "The American West as Living Space" by Wallace Stegner. It discusses certain aspects of the land and how it is perceived by men. It examines such issues as aridity and compares eastern and western America. It question why the American West has to be analyzed as a Living Space.

Abstract
This paper believes that by the manner of his research, his bias and facts, Abbey correctly demonstrates a problem with pollution in the American West.

Abstract
This paper gives an historical insight into the history of what has become known as the "Wild West" by the review of two books, "The Way to the West" by Elliott West and "The American West: The Modern Vision" by Patricia Janis Broder. It examines how both authors present us with an explanation of the incursions of the white settlers into what was then the West and the process through which the West became a place where people could live out their dreams. It examines the shift from traditional hunting and gathering strategies of the American Indians to the agrarian nature of the settlers and the economics of making a living in the West. Both books also look at the myths about the West that have grown out of the facts.

From the Paper
"It has become fashionable in recent years to scoff at the myth of the West and to replace this myth with history. This is in large measure what West has set out to do. He is intent on telling a real story about a real place, and in particular in telling an environmental story about the fragility of the Plains, with their uncertain and limited rainfall. Looking at a part of the country that was once the West "Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming" West looks very carefully at the historical record of the place, at what lured families from the East, what made them stay or move on, what made them succeed or fail."

Tags:american, indians, settlers, hunting, cheyenne, trails, cultures

Abstract
This paper examines how the subject of female artists working in the American West has often been overlooked due to pervasive Western male stereotypes, which include popular media overlays of cowboys, male hero icons, and male activities. It looks at how the environment of the American West has been the inspiration for many American female artists and, in particular, landscape photographer Laura Gilpin and contemporary artist Agnes Pelton. It shows how both artists use the unique vibrant landscape and the peoples of the American West as their subject matter and how, while they differ in their approaches, technique, and underlying philosophy, both artists create unique works of art that explore the outer and inner depth and beauty of the region.

From the Paper
"Agnes Pelton is a more contemporary artist working in a different medium and style to Laura Gilpin and with different artistic objectives. However, the two artists are similar in their use of the unique qualities and artistic attributes of the landscape and natural qualities of the West as a source of inspiration. Pelton initially painted in the conventional representational style but later developed a unique abstract style of her own, which included landscapes. These landscapes differ from the work of Gilpin in that they explore the interior and Spiritual qualities that are manifested through her paintings."

Tags:cowboys, landscape

Abstract
This paper will discuss the book "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West" and seek to understand author Stephen Ambrose's view on these brave men and their trip to the new west. By realizing the historical methods of writing that he uses, we can see how other historians can get value from this book. By understanding his straightforward style, we can see how he holds the reader's attention.

Abstract
This paper looks at the culture that developed in the African-American and Canadian population. It discusses the main events that brought about this culture, how, in some ways, it represented a resistance to oppression, and how some within the African-American/Canadian community held conflicting views about the development and expression of their own ethnic culture.

From the Paper
"The music/dance culture became an all out rejection of Victorianism and middle class control. (LN, OCT 9) The popularity of this era could be attributed to the fact that the majority of African Americans/Canadians that immersed themselves in this culture were working class and the dance/music created in this era spoke the truth!"

Tags:northwest, racial, tolerance, black, music, dance, ragtime, blues, gospel, american, cultural, life

Abstract
This paper explores the topic of women in the American West during the westward movement. Specifically, it offers historic evidence to support the position that the westward movement did indeed transform the traditional roles of American women, just as it transformed the American West. Women traveling west during the westward movement created opportunities for themselves, became active in business and politics, and created new and exciting lives for themselves. These women transformed how America looked at women and how women looked at themselves, which was probably the most important transformation of all.

From the Paper
"Initially, the only inhabitants of the Western United States were Native American tribes scattered throughout the region, and the occasional trapper or mountain man there to trap furs for his livelihood. The West was empty, untapped, and waiting for westward expansion, and there were plenty of Easterners ready to travel west for new opportunities. However, after gold was discovered in California in 1848, the trip west took on new meaning. Now, going west could mean riches beyond the wildest dreams, and thousands of immigrants headed west to seek their fortunes in the gold mines of California. This was the time when women began to head west in much larger numbers, and this was the time when women's roles truly began to transform themselves."

Tags:wagon, indian, native, gold, california, vote, frontier

Abstract
This paper examines and compares three novels which deal with immigration to the promised land of America and movement through society and classes within the country itself. The paper shows how the characters in each novel deal with their new surroundings, language and mentality and compares the three novels. The works chosen to analyze are: "O, Pioneer" by Willa Cather which describes settlement in the American West, "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser which describes the rise from poverty and the fall from power and, finally, "Promised Land" an autobiography by Mary Antin, who immigrated to America at the age of 13 with her family.

From the Paper
"It is assumed that the so-called great American urge to settle and farm western prairies was at its peak immediately following the Civil War. This was the time when Willa Cather's family moved to the east coast of Nebraska in 1873. She got her first sense of small-town life in Nebraska in 1884 when her family migrated to Red Cloud, another settlement, which she used as the setting for Hanover in "O Pioneer!." Her experiences and familiarity during her formative years in and among the settlers, her conversations with immigrant European farmers and the violent character of the prairie altogether created that huge impact that she translated into her novel. Ralph Waldo Emerson noted more than half a century later that such exceptional frontier experiences had to be recorded. It was Willa Cather who seized the essence of 19th century America and recorded her own experiences, first-hand, on the might of the land itself, the impersonal forces emitting from it, the hardships and tragedies in pioneer life much like a history in motion in her novel."

Tags:John, Bergson, Alexandra, Heeber, George, Hurstwood