The Passing of the Frontier | Page 3

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Title: The Passing of the Frontier, A Chronicle of the Old West
Author: Emerson Hough
This Book, Volume 26 In The Chronicles Of America Series, Allen Johnson, Editor, Was Donated To Project Gutenberg By The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's University; Thanks To Alev Akman.
THE PASSING OF THE FRONTIER, A CHRONICLE OF THE OLD WEST
BY EMERSON HOUGH
New Haven: Yale University Press Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press 1918
CONTENTS
I. THE FRONTIER IN HISTORY II. THE RANGE III. THE CATTLE TRAILS IV. THE COWBOY V. THE MINES VI. PATHWAYS OF THE WEST VII. THE INDIAN WARS VIII. THE CATTLE KINGS IX. THE HOMESTEADER BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

THE PASSING OF THE FRONTIER

Chapter I.
The Frontier In History
The frontier! There is no word in the English language more stirring, more intimate, or more beloved. It has in it all the elan of the old French phrase, En avant! It carries all of the old Saxon command, Forward!! It means all that America ever meant. It means the old hope of a real personal liberty, and yet a real human advance in character and achievement. To a genuine American it is the dearest word in all the world.
What is, or was, the frontier? Where was it? Under what stars did it lie? Because, as the vague Iliads of ancient heroes or the nebulous records of the savage gentlemen of the Middle Ages make small specific impingement on our consciousness today, so also even now begin the tales of our own old frontier to assume a haziness, an unreality, which makes them seem less history than folklore. Now the truth is that the American frontier of history has many a local habitation and many a name. And this is why it lies somewhat indefinite under the blue haze of the years, all the more alluring for its lack of definition, like some old mountain range, the softer and more beautiful for its own shadows.
The fascination of the frontier is and has ever been an undying thing. Adventure is the meat of the strong men who have built the world for those more timid. Adventure and the frontier are one and inseparable. They suggest strength, courage, hardihood--qualities beloved in men since the world began--qualities which are the very soul of the United States, itself an experiment, an adventure, a risk accepted. Take away all our history of political regimes, the story of the rise and fall of this or that partisan aggregation in our government; take away our somewhat inglorious military past; but leave us forever the tradition of the American frontier! There lies our comfort and our pride. There we never have