| GROUP I.—THREE RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS. |
| I. The Spaniards. |
| PAGE |
| An Historic Era | [1] |
| De Soto's Discovery of theMississippi | [10] |
| Death and Burial of De Soto | [18] |
| The Indians of Florida | [20] |
| How New Mexico came to beExplored | [28] |
| "The Marvellous Country" | [39] |
| Folk Lore of the Pueblos | [45] |
| Last Days of Charles V. andPhilip II. | [53] |
| Sword and Gown in California | [55] |
| II. The French. |
| Prelude | [67] |
| Westward by the Great InlandWaterways | [71] |
| The Situation in A.D. 1672 | [80] |
| Count Frontenac | [84] |
| Joliet and Marquette | [85] |
| The Man La Salle | [93] |
| La Salle, Prince of Explorers | [99] |
| Discovery of the Upper Mississippi | [105] |
| The Lost Colony: St. Louis ofTexas | [109] |
| Iberville founds Louisiana | [118] |
| France wins the Prize | [123] |
| Louis XIV. | [130] |
| III. The English. |
| The Bleak North-west Coast | [132] |
| Hudson's Bay to the South Sea | [136] |
| The Russians in Alaska | [140] |
| England on the Pacific | [143] |
| Queen Elizabeth | [147] |
| Interlude. |
| What Jonathan Carver aimedto do in 1766 | [149] |
| John Ledyard's Idea | [153] |
| A Yankee Ship discovers theColumbia River | [156] |
| The West at the Opening ofthe Century | [162] |
|
| GROUP II.—BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN IDEA. |
| I. America for Americans. |
| Acquisition of Louisiana | [171] |
| A Glance at our Purchase | [175] |
| II. The Pathfinders. |
| Lewis and Clarke ascend theMissouri | [184] |
| They cross the Continent | [191] |
| Pike explores the ArkansasValley | [198] |
| New Mexico in 1807 | [205] |
| Gold in Colorado.—A Trapper'sStory | [208] |
| The Flag in Oregon | [211] |
| Louisiana admitted 1812 | [214] |
| III. The Oregon Trail. |
| The Trapper, Backwoodsman,and Emigrant | [215] |
| Long explores the PlatteValley | [219] |
| Missouri and the Compromiseof 1821 | [223] |
| Arkansas admitted 1836 | [227] |
| Thomas H. Benton's Idea | [227] |
| With the Vanguard to Oregon | [233] |
| Texas admitted | [241] |
| Interlude. |
| New Political Ideas | [246] |
| Iowa admitted | [248] |
| The War with Mexico | [248] |
| Conquest of New Mexico | [251] |
| Taking of California | [256] |
| The Mormons in Utah | [264] |
|
| GROUP III.—GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, AND WHATIT LED TO. |
| I. The Great Emigration. |
| El Dorado found at last | [271] |
| Swarming through the GoldenGate | [276] |
| The California Pioneers | [279] |
| California a Free State | [285] |
| Arizona | [288] |
| II. The Contest for Free Soil. |
| The Kansas-Nebraska Struggle | [290] |
| Kansas the Battle-ground | [295] |
| The Battle fought and won | [299] |
| Two Free States admitted | [307] |
| III. The Crown of theContinent. |
| Gold in Colorado, and theRush there | [308] |
| The Pacific Railroads | [315] |
| Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, andColorado admitted | [320] |
| The Recent States | [322] |
| The Work of Eighty Years | [326] |