and the adjacent regions were made to literally "blossom like the rose." Coal and silver mining also developed great wealth in the territory. Its population increased steadily and in 1869 Congress made Utah a state.

The territory of Oklahoma, whose astonishing growth we have already noted, soon had enough population to justify it in asking for statehood, but its request went unheeded for several The latest years because the Republicans who controlled Congress did states. not want to create another Democratic state. At last Oklahoma was united with Indian Territory and made a state in 1907. New Mexico and Arizona grew more slowly than the other western territories and were not admitted into the Union until 1912. The admission of these two increased the number of states in the Union to forty-eight. The mines, forests, grazing lands, and irrigated farms of our newest states are sufficient to account for their steady growth in wealth and population. But in addition to their permanent residents, thousands of visitors are attracted to these states

Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa.

Giant Geyser Cone

every year by their health- stone National Park, Wyoming.
giving climate and by the splendor of their scenery. Large
numbers of invalids, especially from among those in the early
stages of tuberculosis, seek the mountain states of the West
because of their clear, dry, and invigorating air. Even larger
numbers of tourists are drawn to the same region by the mag-
nificence of its mountains and by the fame of such natural
wonders as the falls of the Yosemite Valley in California or the
matchless Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona.
Some of the grandest areas in the western mountains have
been reserved by our national government as perpetual pleas-
ure grounds for the people. Notable among these are the

The climate

and scenery

of the Far

West

Rocky Mountain Park near Denver, the Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming, with its curious and interesting hot springs and geysers, and the new Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, with its towering peaks, mighty glaciers, and lovely mountain lakes.

REFERENCES.

Thwaites, Rocky Mountain Exploration; Shinn, The Story of the Mine; Paxson, The Last American Frontier; The New Nation; Sparks, National Development; Andrews, The United States in Our Own Time; Bassett, A Short History of the United States.

TOPICAL READINGS.

1. The Westward Movement. Paxson, The Last American Frontier, 1-13.

2. The Rocky Mountain Region. Bassett, A Short History of the United States, 676-683.

3. Where Little Rain Falls. Brigham, Geographic Influences in American History, 230-254.

4. Mountain, Mine, and Forest. Brigham, Geographic Influences in American History, 255-285.

5. "Pike's Peak or Bust!" Paxson, The Last American Frontier, 138-155.

6. The Overland Mail. Paxson, The Last American Frontier, 174-191.
7. The Last of the Frontier. Paxson, The New Nation, 142-160.
8. The Far West. Sparks, National Development, 251-264.

9. Our Treatment of the Indians. Hart, Source Book of American History, 366-369.

10. Indian Wars in the West. Bassett, A Short History of the United States, 683-686.

11. Custer's Last Fight. Andrews, The United States in Our Own Time, 186-193.

12. How the Railroads Hastened Western Settlement. Paxson, The Last American Frontier, 372-386.

ILLUSTRATIVE LITERATURE.

Poems: Ballard, The Pacific Railway; Whittaker, Custer's Last Charge; Stedman, Custer; Longfellow, The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face; Whittier, On the Big Horn; Sigourney, Indian Names.

Stories: Adams, The Log of a Cowboy; The Outlet; Reed Anthony; Cowman; Garland, Boy Life on the Prairie; Wister, The Virginian; Members of the Family; Foote, Cœur d'Alêne; Led Horse Claim; Hough, The Girl at Halfway House; Jackson, Ramona; Paterson, Son of the Plains; Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage; Sabin, Buffalo Bill and the Overland Trail; Talbot, My People of the Plains.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.

1. In what ways does this chapter show the influence of the physical geography of a region upon its history?

2. Have you ever read any stories about life in the western mining camps? What stories about cowboys and their work have you read? What is a "round-up"?

3. What two western states produce vast quantities of copper? Why is there a great demand for copper at the present time? What far western states produce coal?

4. What is meant by "dry farming"? What are the chief woolgrowing states in the Rocky Mountain region? What is a forest reserve? What use is made of our western forest reserves?

5. How much of the arid West is it possible to irrigate? Would you prefer to have been a pioneer in the forest land or on the prairie? Why? 6. Is it probable that we shall ever have more than forty-eight states in the Union?

7. Were the white men or the Indians the more to blame for the Indian wars in our history?

8. Why is the disappearance of the frontier an important fact in our history?

Twenty years of Republican rule

Hayes

Garfield

CHAPTER XXVI

BIG BUSINESS AND SOCIAL UNREST

Parties and Presidents.-The Republican party played a leading part in saving the Union and in freeing the slaves during the Civil War. Naturally this party was very strong when that war was over, and for the next twenty years all our presidents belonged to it. You will recall how the Republicans put

James A. Garfield

General Grant in the White House for two terms, and elected Hayes to succeed him in 1877, after the closest political contest in our history. President Hayes gave the country a good administration, but the Democrats sneered at him because they thought he had not been fairly elected, and the Republican politicians disliked him because he would not do their bidding. By withdrawing the Federal troops from the South, where some of them had been stationed ever

since the Civil War, Hayes did much to bring about a better feeling between the sections.

In 1880 some Republicans wanted General Grant to run for a third term, while many others favored James G. Blaine of Maine, but in the end the Republican convention nominated James A. Garfield of Ohio. Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania, a gallant soldier with a brilliant record in the Civil War, was the Democratic candidate in this election. After a close

contest the Republicans won, and Garfield became president in 1881. Few of our presidents have been so well qualified by training and experience to fill the highest office in the land. The story of Garfield's life is one of the most inspiring in our history. After earning his way through school and college he became successively a college president, a fearless general in the Civil War, and for many years a prominent leader in the national House of Representatives.

The people expected great things of President Garfield, but in less than four months after his inauguration he was shot by a disappointed office-seeker. At first it was hoped that he might recover, but after weeks of suffering he died in September, 1881. The vice-president, Chester A. Arthur of New York, at once succeeded to the presidency. Arthur was not widely known before his election to the vice-presidency, but he proved to be an able president and gave the country a clean and wise administration.

In 1884 the brilliant Republican leader, James

G. Blaine, won the presi

Chester A. Arthur

Arthur

dential nomination which he had sought for years. Grover Cleveland Cleveland, a lawyer of Buffalo who had recently been elected governor of New York by a large majority, was the Democratic candidate. After a close and bitterly contested campaign, Cleveland was elected, and in 1885 the country had a Democratic president for the first time since the days of James Buchanan. During his first term, President Cleveland urged several much-needed reforms upon Congress, but he failed to get most of the new laws which he wanted because the Senate