audiobook Death of the USS Thresher: The Story Behind History's Deadliest Submarine Disaster by Norman Polmar in History

Description

While the great overland migration routes to America's far west are well known and documented--the California; Oregon; Mormon; and Santa Fe Trails; the Central Overland and Pony Express--less attention has been given to how Americans in the first decades of the republic traveled across the western frontiers of the original colonies. Following the revolution; Americans began to seek their fortunes to the west in greater numbers. Land grants to veterans inspired others to move; including tradesmen; merchants; and tavern owners. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the country doubled in size; and the rate of migration became extraordinary; with wider and more durable roads built; ferries installed at river crossings; canals cut to move goods; regular stage routes established; and ultimately the first railroad tracks laid down. Entire regions that supported few communities in the 1790s exploded in population; and as a result seven new states were admitted to the Union in the decade following the War of 1812. John Bradbury; who traveled through the United States between 1809 and 1811; wrote that "In passing through the upper parts of Virginia; I observed a great number of farms that had been abandoned; on many of which good houses had been erected; and fine apple and peach orchards had been planted. On enquiring the reason; I was always informed that the owners had gone to the western country." In Maryland; a newspaper reporter wrote; "The time is close at hand when the region west of the Allegheny mountains will sway the destinies of the nation." By 1839; the National Road extended more than 700 miles from Baltimore to central Illinois; New York's Erie Canal operated from Albany to Buffalo; and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad carried passengers briskly west; ultimately to the Ohio River. To the Wide Missouri: Traveling in America During the First Decades of Westward Expansion by Louis Garavaglia covers the routes and methods that emigrants used to reach the west in the forty-year period following the Louisiana Purchase. Using contemporary maps and the graphic descriptions found in diaries; journals; letters; and newspaper accounts; the author details not only the land and water routes that led settlers to the western country; but also illustrates the hardship; perseverance; humor; and romance that colored their journey.