The Westward Movement II: Settlement of The Mississippi Valley (1962)

just a little over 150 years ago in the Mississippi Valley in the heart of the United States one of the vastest richest regions ever known to civilized man lay silent and still virtually empty waiting for people to settle the wilderness to travel the natural Transportation routes to harvest the forests to plow the rich unbroken Earth this is the Mississippi Valley extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and comprising almost a million square miles of land a, mil west of the original 13 colonies the land was of little interest to Americans until 183 when just 20 years after the close of the Revolutionary War the area known as the Louisiana territory was purchased from France in one stroke the size of the United States was doubled opening new much needed land to a population that was to increase from 4 million in the year 1800 to over 20 million by the mid 1840s the opening of the Northwest Territory in 1787 cleared the way for for the first mass migration of settlers to the west from the original 13 colonies came thousands like William Clinton and Amos Miller Alex mcneel and Ben Striker men willing to face the hardships of frontier life in return for land and the opportunities that land offered they knew little about crop rotation or fertilization grow crops as long as the soil would produce that was the frontier method of farming then move on to new ground by the 1820s there were thriving communities throughout the Northwest Territory and the region had become the main source of grain for all of the United States and for much of Europe as well the pressure to find new land mounted steadily as the Northwest Territory became settled and and the stage was set for another giant step Westward a step that witnessed the greatest mass migration of land hungry settlers this country has ever seen they streamed into the Mississippi Valley by the thousands into the million square miles that lay waiting they came from as far away as New England Maryland and Virginia following the Old National Road they loaded onto flat boats and traveled down the Ohio River to the Mississippi leaving crowded conditions and worn out land back [Music] East what Indians they saw seldom caused trouble most of the tribes had already been moved further west by the government they said that once folks smelled that rich Mississippi bottomland wild horses couldn't keep them from it land rushes were organized in Iowa in the [Applause] [Music] 1840s my wagon by horseback and on foot they thronged in most looking for land some few only for [Applause] adventure up in Minnesota territory the first lumbermen were going into the woods to cut timber for the treeless areas of the country in the Lower Mississippi Valley cotton covered more land than any other crop in the early 1800s already the great cotton plantations were expanding to meet an ever increasing worldwide demand Planters were putting thousands of dollars into land and slaves and doubling their investment within a few years small farmers here couldn't compete with the plantation system so they looked northward to Arkansas Missouri and Iowa they saw the country growing and knew that more and more corn and wheat and cattle would be needed to meet the demands of a growing population in time farming would become a business with these enterprising resourceful people though at first there wouldn't be a plug nickels worth of price it Elijah Benson's one all powerful concern during his first years in Arkansas was to provide enough food and shelter for his family he made all their Furniture himself his wife made their clothes and bedding and everything from soap to candles you did for yourself in those days with the nearest store maybe 100 miles away or you did without Ben Striker down from the Northwest Territory was a squatter during his first years west of the Mississippi Ben decided what land he wanted and staked it out to show his claim to it then with the help of his neighbors he cleared for planting even before the government put the land up for sale when the government land auctions were finally held Ben Striker and his neighbors bid for the land they were already living on and at the lowest price the government would take they formed claims associations agreeing to bid only for their own land and not for the land a neighbor had claimed and if a stranger came along and tried to outbid them by land they had already cleared and planted well they'd advise that fell maybe he ought to go live somewhere [Music] else they worked out their land problems themselves and in no time at all their fields were yielding abundantly each year a bigger crop than the year before would be sent by flatboat to the market towns flatboat life just naturally attracted Ed men like Ben Striker born restless and never content to see just one side of a river I think you need a good pollman Captain I've got all I can use Mis no room for Farm Boys on a flat boat get off now before I throw youall I said get now I thought I'd like being a pman figure as out for flatboat Life maybe more in this child [Applause] [Laughter] here Ben Striker Captain your new pollman what from Mister own a piece of Missouri over the ridge but figure on seeing more of the countryside before saying where to be buried M before we get to out that River you see everything but the elant there were over 3,000 flatboats on the Mississippi during the early 1800s they take on a Farmer's Grain crop in Missouri or Illinois charge him $5 100 lb and pull their way a, back breaking miles down to the Market Port of New Orleans [Music] snags and sandbars didn't bother men like these half horse and half alligator they were called they could handle themselves a boat and any River pirate who might come along trying to take a cargo from them nothing Jasper Thompson liked better than little scrimmage same boys if that fedler just come we had the G now oh man they hooped and hollered from one end of the Mississippi to the other claiming they could outrun out jump out fight chew more toaca and spit less than any man in [Music] creation de Savanah home the place and sometimes sometimes they were known to [Music] rest hear the moing bird singing in the tree that grows around there some he fell the fell come up this here farmer and he says where does this road go mister he says this road don't go no place stays right here [Music] at the end of the line they sold their boat for what the lumber was worth and began the long 3 months War comb traveling the Mississippi Ben Striker saw about everything but the elephant all right he saw the coming of the steamboat that could deliver more Goods in a few weeks than a flatboat could in a year an engine on a raft it was called that could navigate on a heavy Dew and travel up River as well as down by 1830 Mississippi Steamboat tonnage exceeded that of the entire British Empire and the steamboat Captain was the new Undisputed King of the river Ben Striker saw the backwood settlements that grew up along the trade routes become thriving towns almost overnight each one claiming to be the largest wealthiest business doest on or near the Upper Mississippi in many towns there were homes that rivaled some of the most fashionable in the east by the 1830s the businessman was beginning to establish himself in the Mississippi Valley to serve the farmers needs General Stores began offering a variety of materials and finery brought up the Mississippi by Steamboat no longer did the settler and his family have to travel a 100 miles or more for what they needed gradually everything from Sun bonnets to boots became available the First toy shops imported goods directly from Europe dolls from [Music] France soldiers from England Craftsmen displayed their peer Weare and found ready customers among the people of the frontier the tinsmith spent part of the year working in his shop the rest of the time he traveled the countryside selling his wees the candlemaker came to relieve the frontier housewife of a task that had always been hers Pottery was being produced for people tired of using hollowed out goods and crude wooden dishes manufacturing was developing as rapidly as the population itself and though the power that turned the wheels of Industry depended largely on the strong back of The Apprentice as in the wood turner shop the age of the the machine was not far off the ironmonger demonstrated the new mechanical spit it was wound like a clock and saved turning a roast By Hand by the 1840s the people of the Mississippi Valley were making for themselves most of the things they needed there was a feeling of permanence now in the thriving communities along the transportation routes people seemed content to stay where they were a mass migration of settlers Westward slowed almost to a halt it stopped at the edge of the Great Plains or the Great American desert as it was called then people were reluctant to go further distrusting a land where there were few rivers and no forests on the horizon not for another generation until the 1870s would many settlers push on Westward [Music] those few who moved on in the early 1840s the Restless ones like Ben Striker set out for Oregon and California leaving the land to people more interested in permanent homes with board floors and window glass they've been called half horse and half alligator these frontiersmen and flat boatmen in his own words he was a ringtail screamer and right hard to chew the genuine article who could hit like hprof lightning and led in an acre of sunshine with every lick of his axe but horse or alligator men like Ben Striker were also ideal colonizers for nothing on this Earth could hold them down or turn them back once they had the West in their eyes they led the way in the most rapid development of a Virgin Territory the world has ever known the settlement of the Mississippi Valley