The Geologic Story of the Great Plains / A nontechnical description of the origin and evolution of the landscape of the Great Plains

DENVER, COLORADO
But from these immense prairies may arise one great advantage to the United States, viz., the restriction of our population to some certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling, and extending themselves on the frontiers, will, through necessity, be constrained to limit their extent on the west to the borders of the Missouri and the Mississippi, while they leave the prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the wandering and uncivilized Aborigines of the country. Zebulon Pike
Exploratory Travels Through The Western Territories of North America comprising a voyage from St. Louis, on the Mississippi, to the source of that river, and a journey through the interior of Louisiana and the north-eastern provinces of New Spain. Performed in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807, by order of the Government of the United States. By Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Published by Paternoster-Row, London, 1811: W. H. Lawrence and Company, Denver, 1889. Quotation from pages 230-231, 1889 edition.
By DONALD E. TRIMBLE
A nontechnical description of the origin and evolution of the landscape of the Great Plains
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1493
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY H. William Menard, Director
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1980
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402
By Donald E. Trimble
The Great Plains! The words alone create a sense of space and a feeling of destiny—a challenge. But what exactly is this special part of Western America that contains so much of our history? How did it come to be? Why is it different?