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Commerce, Communication, Travel -
Dewey 380
[a constantly changing URL database with content relevant to elementary school curricula]
COMMERCE, COMMUNICATIONS, TRANSPORTATION - Dewey 380
Internal commerce (Domestic trade) - Dewey 381
- MOUNTAIN RENDEZVOUS - In 1825, Jedediah Smith convinced William Ashley to bring supplies from St. Louis and meet trappers at Henry's Fork on the Green River for the first rendezvous. This saved trappers the time from traveling to nearby towns.
- GENERAL STORES were the precursor of 21st century department stores. With the coming of the transcontinental railroads in the late 1800's the main competition to the general store became the mail order house and the arrival of it's catalog with Montgomery Wards and Sears, Roebuck and Company at the forefront.
- TRADING POSTS were built for commercial reasons on waterways to send pelts and furs down river and to bring supplies upriver by. With the fear of Indian friction, many were later built like forts.
- TEXTILE MILLS and America's Industrial Revolution
- Nationalism and sectionalism (chronology)
International commerce (Foreign trade) - Dewey 382
Postal communication - Dewey 383
THE STAGECOACH
- 1857 - Congress approved a semi-weekly overland mail delivery from the Mississippi River to California. The Butterfield Overland Express Company took a southerly route from St. Louis across Texas and Arizona and up to San Francisco along the California coast. During the journey, the six horses hitched to the coach tired easily which necessitated stage stations every 10-15 miles. The Virginia Dale station built in 1862 by Jack Slade stands intact in Virginia Dale, Colorado. The Butterfield Stage Route was eventually replaced by the Pony Express in 1859.
- Concord Stagecoach
THE PONY EXPRESS
Communications Telecommunication - Dewey 384
Railroad transportation - Dewey 385
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
Inland waterway & ferry transportation - Dewey 386
STEAMBOATS
DID YOU KNOW THAT RIVER BOATS AND PADDLE WHEEL BOATS ARE STEAMBOATS!
River boats might remind you of Mark Twain's experiences as a river boat pilot. The steam riverboat provided spurted commerce by providing a cheap and quick means of delivering merchandise and passengers.
CANALS
Water, air, space transportation - Dewey 387
Transportation; Ground transportation - Dewey 388
UNITED STATES FRONTIER TRAILS *
OVERLAND TRAIL
If you were riding on the Overland Stage Line on one of Ben Holladay's stagecoaches, you would benefit from some hints for traveling. Depending upon when you traveled, you might find yourself in various models of stagecoaches built in Concord, New Hampshire and called "Concord Coaches"
SANTA FE TRAIL
OREGON TRAIL
- Follow the route of the Oregon Trail using maps and your wagon to begin at Independence, MO to Lake McCaonaughy, NE; persevere through the desert to Windlass Hill, NE and Robidoux Pass, NE; continue over the Rocky Mountains from Fort Laramie, WY to South Pass, WY; trek across the parched land from South Pass, WY to Bear River Valley, ID; pass through Soda Springs, ID to Fort Boise, ID; plodding onward from Keeney Pass, OR to The Dalles, OR; ending in Oregon City, Oregon. Take the image quiz of the Oregon Trail sights!!
- Read the diaries of people reaching Oregon after traveling the Oregon Trail
- Oregon Trail challenge and student-created interpretative work 1 and 2 based on suggested readings to support the readings. (additional site)
DONNER PARTY ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL
MORMON TRAIL
CALIFORNIA TRAIL
- Following the California Trail during the gold rush and reading a diary of a traveler and some Wells Fargo adventure stories about robberies.
BOZEMAN TRAIL (1864 - 1866) *
- In a study of the people and events of the West, travel the Bozeman Trail, a gold-rush trail ( 1874) that was a shortcut to the Montana gold fields from the main trail from the North Platte River, which overlapped former Indian, fur trapper, and trader routes, in artist interpretative photos. Between 1850-1890, the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Crow were being displaced by settlers. Their land was at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains where Fort Phil Kearny was built in Wyoming. In this " Dakota Territory" there was sufficient buffalo, grasses, and streams for their subsistence. Because this trail cut through Indian territory, conflict and a timeline of events escalated to war in the area. [ 1865 - Prior to the establishment of Fort Phil Kearny, General Patrick Connor with his guides (Jim Bridger) attacked Chief Black Bear's Arapaho village killing women and children. This Connor Battle was the precursor of Indian/troop fighting as Army troops attacked Indian villages changing the Arapaho from a non-belligerent to a hostile group. | 1866 - Fetterman Battle with Crazy Horse, Lakota Sioux agaist troops from Fort Phil Kearny. John "Portugee" Phillips brought the news of the Fetterman Battle to Fort Laramie. | 1867 - Red Cloud attacks at Wagon Box Battle] [Chief Plenty Coup Park in Montana | Fort Caspar, Caspar, Wyoming was a trading post located on the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer and Pony Express Trails and the transcontinental telegraph line not far from the Bridger Trail and the Bozeman Trail.] [ 1868 - Fort Laramie Treaty][ George Armstrong | Custer and Black Kettle ( Cheyenne in Washita, Oklahoma)| Philip Henry | Sheridan | William Tecumseh Sherman | Crazy Horse (Lakota Sioux)(1849-1877)] [1876 - Little Big Horn, Montana | Sitting Bull (1831-1890)(Hunkpapa Lakota) | 1890 - Big Foot ( ?? - 1890) at Wounded Knee Creek | 1866 - Fort Buford in the heart of Lakota territory | Sitting Bull (1831-1890) ] [ Black Hills gold rush]
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Metrology & standardization - Dewey 389
Educator is the recipient of the Miss Rumphius Award.
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Copyright © 1997 Marjorie Duby, practitioner formerly sited at Joseph Lee School, Boston, MA.
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Last modified: Sugust 31, 2014.
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