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OCOURX_081009_011.JPG: Expansion of Agricultural Settlement: The Guthrie, Oklahoma Land Office:
The Oklahoma Land Rush Office at Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, during the Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889
The 1862 Homestead Act encouraged the expansion of agricultural settlement in the territories and states created out of the old Louisiana Territory. The act granted title to 160 acres of public land to settlers who remained on, "improved", and developed the property for five years. After the Civil War, the Homestead Act and western railroad expansion encouraged thousands of settlers to move into the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, and finally the Oklahoma District.
By the late 1870s frontier settlement had swept across the Plains. Two arms of settlement reached west - one on the Northern Plains, and the other to the southwest through Texas. Between them lay the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) and its millions of acres, occupied by twenty-two Indian tribes. Settlers demanded that the federal government restrict the tribes to smaller reservations in order to open most of the land to white settlement. For four years, lawless settlers or "Sooners" illegally entered the Oklahoma District to stake out farms, only to be evicted by United States troops. By the 1880s this unrelenting pressure forced the federal government to open parts of the Oklahoma Territory.
In 1889, the government forced the Creek and Seminole tribes to sell their land in the Oklahoma District for just over four million dollars. Congress then opened the district to white settlement under the Homestead Act.
The Oklahoma District was opened at noon on April 22, 1889. On that day, 100,000 persons gathered at the district's northern border in wagons, on horseback, and even on bicycles. Fifteen trains lined up at Arkansas City, Kansas; ready to steam into the district. When cannons and guns signaled noon, pandemonium broke loose. Noise and confusion reigned as thousands of Boomers staked claims. Speculators, settlers, and transients claimed 1,920,000 acres of Oklahoma within a few hours. The boomtowns of Guthrie and Oklahoma City were established overnight.
The above is from http://www.nps.gov/jeff/planyourvisit/settlement-of-the-southern-plains.htm
OCOURX_081009_015.JPG: Settlement of the Upper Missouri River Region:
Native tribes and fur traders dominated the Upper Missouri region during the early part of the nineteenth century. By the 1860s, however, greater settlement had begun. In 1862, prospectors discovered gold at several sites in present-day central Montana. One route to the gold fields traveled through a part of the Dakota Territory (present-day Wyoming) along the Bozeman Trail.
The Lakota (Sioux) people, led by Red Cloud, fought the road's establishment with notable success. Fort Kearney was one of the three forts the United States built to protect citizens using the road. In December 1866, Red Cloud attacked soldiers near the fort, killing over eighty men. The battle represented the most significant Lakota victory prior to Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn.
Less than one year later, Fort Kearney repelled another attack led by Red Cloud. On August 2, 1867, several hundred Lakota attacked a party of woodcutters outside the fort. Soldiers accompanying the woodcutters successfully repulsed the attack with rapid-fire Springfield breech loading rifles. Red Cloud believed that he had lost some of his best warriors in the battle.
In spite of Red Cloud's defeat, continued Lakota resistance changed military and political policy towards the Bozeman trail. As a result of talks begun in 1869, the forts were abandoned and the Bozeman Trail was closed. The tribes agreed to cease all hostilities when the troops withdrew to the south of the Platte River and east of the Black Hills. It was one of the very few instances where the United States yielded to tribal demands. The Dakota Territory remained free of whites only until the 1874 discovery of gold in the Black Hills.
OCOURX_081009_023.JPG: First Permanent Settlement of Upper Louisiana: Ste. Genevieve:
During the 18th century, settlement of the North American continent became part of the larger political struggle between major European nations. Great Britain, Spain, and France vied with each other for dominance in Europe and in the New World. The settlement of Ste. Genevieve by the French was part of the extension of French influence into Upper Louisiana. The first settlers traveled downriver from French Canada, establishing French culture and political authority in the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Ste. Genevieve was founded about 1730. The town was built on a broad field along the Mississippi River, 65 miles downstream from the site on which St. Louis would arise 30 years later. After a disastrous flood in 1785, the village moved inland, where it thrived. By 1797, it had become a prosperous town with customs and architecture patterned after the Norman-French heritage of its founders.
OCOURX_081009_028.JPG: The Right of Deposit Withdrawn at New Orleans, October 18, 1802:
During the Napoleonic period, control of the Louisiana Territory continued to be bound to European politics. France wanted to maintain a strong maritime power in the New World to oppose Great Britain. Spain wanted to restrict the expansion of the United States. The Louisiana Territory and the port of New Orleans became the pressure points for the conflict between these four nations.
Although France re-acquired Louisiana in 1800 from Spain, Spanish officials continued to administer the territory. In 1802, the Spanish Intendant of New Orleans withdrew the Right of Deposit to American commerce. The withdrawal of the Right of Deposit, issued on October 18, 1802, meant that American goods brought by flatboats down the Mississippi could not be deposited or stored at the port for later overseas shipment.
The crisis forced President Jefferson to declare that the control of the Mississippi was crucial to the interests of the United States. Jefferson sent diplomatic envoys to Paris with instructions to try to buy New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Napoleon planned new military campaigns to expand French control over Europe. The French consequently found themselves overextended in North America. The strong American reaction to the Spanish Intendant's closure of the Port of New Orleans convinced the French of the futility of retaining the territory. French officials amazed the American envoys by offering to sell not just New Orleans, but all of Louisiana. The United States purchased the territory for the bargain price of fifteen million dollars.
OCOURX_081009_032.JPG: Fort Union on the Upper Missouri River:
The Louisiana Purchase placed a large segment of the North American continent under the control of the United States. The young nation faced the challenge of settling and maintaining control over the area, while man sought to exploit its natural resources.
By 1825, large numbers of frontiersmen working for fur companies had journeyed into the Upper Missouri territory to trap and trade for furs. The relationship between trappers, traders, and the native tribes became tense and sometimes violent. The United States Army was unable to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the fur trade. The large fur companies realized that they would have to provide for their own protection.
The American Fur Company, headquartered in St. Louis, attempted to control the Upper Missouri. In 1828, John Jacob Astor, the company's owner, ordered a fort to be built on the north bank of the Missouri River, five miles west of the Yellowstone River. The site became a major center for commerce between the traders and the surrounding Indian tribes. Called Fort Union, it was an impenetrable stockade of cottonwood logs with two 30-foot tall stone bastions. Supplies and barter goods brought upriver from St. Louis were exchanged for furs. For over forty years, Fort Union was the most important trading post in the Upper Missouri region.
OCOURX_081009_041.JPG: The Transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States at St. Louis, March 9-10, 1804:
The United States acquired the Territory of Louisiana from the French in May 1803. Although France had re-acquired the territory from Spain as a result of a secret treaty in 1800, Spain was still administering Upper Louisiana when the Louisiana Purchase occurred. The Louisiana Territory was passed from Spain to France, and then to the United States in a unique ceremony held in St. Louis on March 9-10, 1804.
Captain Charles De Hault Delassus, the Spanish Commandant at St. Louis, ordered the transfer ceremonies to take place in front of the Government House. French authorities in New Orleans deputized an American, Captain Amos Stoddard, to accept the territory from Spain on behalf of the French Republic. The French flag was raised on March 9.
On March 10, Captain Stoddard conveyed the territory from France to the United States, represented by Meriwether Lewis, and the United States flag was raised. That ceremony formally opened the vast lands of the Trans-Mississippi west to United States expansion.
OCOURX_081009_047.JPG: The Transfer of Upper Louisiana, March 9-10, 1804:
Although Spain returned Louisiana to France by secret treaty in 1800, a formal transfer had not taken place. The Upper Louisiana Territory was transferred to France and then to the United States in a ceremony held in St. Louis on March 9-10, 1804.
Charles De Hault Delassus, the Spanish Commandant at St. Louis, ordered the transfer ceremony to take place in front of the Government House on First Street, near where the south leg of the Gateway Arch stands today. French authorities in New Orleans deputized an American, Capt. Amos Stoddard, to accept the territory from Spain on behalf of the French Republic. The French flag was raised on March 9.
On March 10, Capt. Stoddard conveyed the territory from France to the United States, represented by the Meriwether Lewis. That ceremony formally opened the vast lands of the Missouri River basin to United States expansion.
OCOURX_081009_049.JPG: Exploration and Settlement of the Upper Louisiana Territory:
The Louisiana Purchase placed a large segment of the North American continent under the control of the United States. The young nation faced the challenge of settling and maintaining political control over the area, while many wished to exploit its natural resources.
By 1825, large numbers of frontiersmen had journeyed into the Upper Missouri territory to trap and trade for furs. The relationship between the traders, trappers and native tribes became tense and sometimes violent, because non-Indian trappers were taking away the livelihood of native trappers, traders, and middlemen. The American military was unable to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the fur trade, which grafted itself onto traditional Indian trade networks. The large fur companies realized that they would have to provide their own protection.
The American Fur Company, headquartered in St. Louis, attempted to control the Upper Missouri trade. In 1828, John Jacob Astor, the company's owner, ordered a fort to be built near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. The site became a major center for commerce between the traders and the surrounding tribes. Called Fort Union, it consisted of a stockade of 20-foot-high cottonwood logs with 30-foot stone blockhouses and gunports. Supplies and trade goods brought upriver from St. Louis were exchanged for furs. For over 40 years, Fort Union was the most important trading point in the Upper Missouri region.
OCOURX_081009_054.JPG: Fort San Carlos and the Battle of St. Louis:
On May 26, 1780, St. Louis was attacked by a large force of Indians under the command of British and French-Canadian leaders. The British hoped to gain control of the Mississippi Valley.
Civilians from the area, the militia and Spanish troops manned the Village's defensive works; an intrenchment and a stone tower, named Fort San Carlos. Led by Lieutenant Governor Fernando de Leyba, the defenders repelled the attack with musket and cannon fire. Spanish control of the west bank of the Mississippi was retained.
The representation of the battle is based on research and paintings done by Norbert Eugene Schrader.
OCOURX_081009_060.JPG: Fort San Carlos and the Battle of St. Louis:
On May 26, 1780, St. Louis was attacked by a large [???] Indians under the command [???] English and French-Canadian leaders. The British hoped to gain control of the Mississippi Valley.
Civilians from the area, the militia and Spanish troops manned the Village's defensive works; an intrenchment and a stone tower, named Fort San Carlos. Led by Lieutenant Governor Fernando de Leyba, the defenders repelled the attack with musket and cannon fire. Spanish control of the west bank of the Mississippi was retained.
The representation of the battle is based on research and paintings done by Norbert Eugene Schrader.
OCOURX_081009_071.JPG: These were some of the proposals for the park
OCOURX_081009_096.JPG: The historic St. Louis riverfront district marked the original eighteenth-century town site, as well as the nineteenth-century commercial area that provided pivotal support for the westward expansion of the United States. By 1930, however, the riverfront had deteriorated into a collection of largely vacant buildings.
Luther Ely Smith and other St. Louis leaders proposed in 1933 to develop a memorial to Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase. They also wished to commemorate the role of St. Louis as a Gateway to the West for the explorers, trappers, soldiers, miners, ranchers, farmers, and developers who contributed to the nation's Westward Expansion. Plans evolved to place the memorial on the historic riverfront.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order in December, 1935, designating part of the St. Louis riverfront as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site within the National Park System. The project became the first National Historic Site established through the recent National Historic Sites Act of 1935 that had granted the President the right to proclaim and acquire historic sites.
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association in 1947 raised $225,000 for a national architectural competition for the memorial's design. Architect Eero Saarinen won the competition in 1949 with his design of a stainless steel, inverse weighted catenary arch.
OCOURX_081009_127.JPG: The eight paintings at the top of the dome were originally done by Ettore Miragoli in 1880.
(N) John Adams
Agriculture
(E) Abraham Lincoln
United States
(S) Christopher Columbus
Commerce
(W) Ulysses Grant
Administration
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2018_MO_Old_CourthouseX: MO -- St. Louis -- Old Courthouse -- Exhibits (117 photos from 2018)
2018_MO_Old_CourthouseDS: MO -- St. Louis -- Old Courthouse -- Exhibit: Dred Scott (170 photos from 2018)
2008_MO_Old_CourthouseDS: MO -- St. Louis -- Old Courthouse -- Exhibit: Dred Scott (3 photos from 2008)
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2008_MO_Old_CourthouseI: MO -- St. Louis -- Old Courthouse -- Building Interior (Except Exhibits) (53 photos from 2008)
2018_MO_Old_CourthouseI: MO -- St. Louis -- Old Courthouse -- Building Interior (Except Exhibits) (60 photos from 2018)
2008 photos: Equipment this year: I was using three cameras -- the Fuji S9000 and the Canon Rebel Xti from last year, and a new camera, the Fuji S100fs. The first two cameras had their pluses and minuses and I really didn't have a single camera that I thought I could use for just about everything. But I loved the S100fs and used it almost exclusively this year.
Trips this year: (1) Civil War Preservation Trust annual conference in Springfield, Missouri , (2) a week in New York, (3) a week in San Diego for the Comic-Con, (4) a driving trip to St. Louis, and (5) a visit to dad and Dixie's in Asheville, North Carolina.
Ego strokes: A picture I'd taken last year during a Friends of the Homeless event was published in USA Today with a photo credit and everything! I became a volunteer photographer with the AFI/Silver theater.
Number of photos taken this year: 330,000.
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