Plains to the Pacific

Plains to the Pacific
Author: Robert J Slothower
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages:
Release: 2017-02-06
Genre:
ISBN: 9781530542352

In 2014, James Harman made a fascinating discovery thanks to some of his cousins: his great-grandfather Robert Slothower had written a life-story manuscript. The legacy of his words, passed down from generation to generation, is presented here by his great-grandson James Harman (Jay). This book, the cautiously edited and illustrated version of that manuscript, represents a challenging life met with great courage. The son and grandson of Civil War soldiers who fought on the Union side, Robert Slothower clearly inherited the strength of a bygone era. As a boy in Kansas, being separated from the rest of the family for seven years, then finally being reunited with them in Denver. Farming, homesteading, and painful lessons of loss are part of Robert Slothower's life. The pain of losing his young wife and their first two babies on the remote Wyoming homestead is overwhelming, but Robert Slothower overcomes adversity and rebuilds his life. An emerging relationship with God, along with a new life out west, takes Robert Slothower and his family from the Kansas Prairie to the Pacific Northwest. Plains to the Pacific, a historical narrative, reminds us that life was not always so easy, but from great trials can emerge great joy. James Harman moves the reader from his great-grandfather's fascinating narrative to a historical section that includes many photographs of Wyoming, past and current. Photographs of his great-grandfather and the family--including Robert Slothower's triplets!--bring the family to life.

The Army of the Pacific

The Army of the Pacific
Author: Aurora Hunt
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780811729789

Tells the story of volunteer troops who served in the West during the Civil War. This work is part of the Frontier Military series.

The Great Plains

The Great Plains
Author: Walter Prescott Webb
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 544
Release: 1959-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780803297029

A study of the changes initiated into the systems and culture of the plain dwellers

Encyclopedia of the Great Plains

Encyclopedia of the Great Plains
Author: David J. Wishart
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 962
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780803247871

"Wishart and the staff of the Center for Great Plains Studies have compiled a wide-ranging (pun intended) encyclopedia of this important region. Their objective was to 'give definition to a region that has traditionally been poorly defined,' and they have

The Great Columbia Plain

The Great Columbia Plain
Author: Donald W. Meinig
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2016-06-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0295805196

Dismissed in early years as a wasteland, the rolling open country that covers the interior parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is today one of the richest farmlands in the nation. This work is the story of its transformation. Meinig traces all of the aspects of its development by combining geographic description with historical narrative.

Jay Cooke's Gamble

Jay Cooke's Gamble
Author: M. John Lubetkin
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2014-04-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 080614503X

In 1869, Jay Cooke, the brilliant but idiosyncratic American banker, decided to finance the Northern Pacific, a transcontinental railroad planned from Duluth, Minnesota, to Seattle. M. John Lubetkin tells how Cooke’s gamble reignited war with the Sioux, rescued George Armstrong Custer from obscurity, created Yellowstone Park, pushed frontier settlement four hundred miles westward, and triggered the Panic of 1873. Staking his reputation and wealth on the Northern Pacific, Cooke was soon whipsawed by the railroad’s mismanagement, questionable contracts, and construction problems. Financier J. P. Morgan undermined him, and the Crédit Mobilier scandal ended congressional support. When railroad surveyors and army escorts ignored Sioux chief Sitting Bull’s warning not to enter the Yellowstone Valley, Indian attacks—combined with alcoholic commanders—led to embarrassing setbacks on the field, in the nation’s press, and among investors. Lubetkin’s suspenseful narrative describes events played out from Wall Street to the Yellowstone and vividly portrays the soldiers, engineers, businessmen, politicians, and Native Americans who tried to build or block the Northern Pacific.