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176-808: Two major wagon-based transportation networks, one typically starting in Missouri and the other in the Mexican province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México , served the majority of settlers during the era of westward expansion. Three of the Missouri-based routes—the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails—were collectively known as the Emigrant Trails . Historians have estimated at least 500,000 emigrants used these three trails between 1843 and 1869, and despite growing competition from transcontinental railroads , some use even continued into

352-486: A massive EF-5 tornado killed 158 people and destroyed roughly one-third of the city of Joplin . The tornado caused an estimated $ 1–3 billion in damages, killed 159 people and injured more than a thousand. It was the first EF5 to hit the state since 1957 and the deadliest in the U.S. since 1947, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in American history and 27th deadliest in the world. St. Louis and its suburbs also have

528-603: A "wilderness" policy for the Forest Service. Their efforts bore fruit with the Wilderness Act of 1964 , which designated wilderness areas "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by men, where man himself is a visitor and does not remain." This included second growth public forests like the Mark Twain National Forest . The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Missouri

704-644: A 2018 report by the Missouri Attorney General 's office, for the past 18 years, "African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color are disproportionately affected by stops, searches and arrests." The same report found that the biggest discrepancy was in 2017, when "black motorists were 85% more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops". In 2018 the USDA announced its plans to relocate Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City. They have since decided on

880-589: A 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention . Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks

1056-464: A Confederate prison camp, blew up, causing more than 1,700 deaths. For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats. Their use generated rapid development of economies of port cities; the exploitation of agricultural and commodity products, which could be more easily transported to markets; and prosperity along

1232-471: A Seine steamboat service. In 1818, Ferdinando I , the first Italian steamboat, left the port of Naples , where it had been built. The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat "Experiment", an ex-French lugger ; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth , arriving Yarmouth 19 July 1813. "Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on 5 November 1817; in

1408-535: A brief but furious heyday between 1830 and 1848 as a trade route linking Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. The Trail left Santa Fe and split into two routes. The South or Main Branch headed northwest past Colorado's San Juan mountains to near Green River, Utah. The North Branch proceeded due north into Colorado's San Luis Valley and crossed west over Cochetepa Pass to follow the Gunnison and Colorado rivers to meet

1584-511: A crank. He got support from Lord Dundas to build a second steamboat, which became famous as the Charlotte Dundas , named in honour of Lord Dundas's daughter. Symington designed a new hull around his powerful horizontal engine, with the crank driving a large paddle wheel in a central upstand in the hull, aimed at avoiding damage to the canal banks. The new boat was 56 ft (17.1 m) long, 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 8 ft (2.4 m) depth, with

1760-587: A figure equaled only by its neighbor, Tennessee. Missouri is bounded by Iowa on the north; by Illinois , Kentucky , and Tennessee across the Mississippi River on the east; on the south by Arkansas ; and by Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River) on the west. Whereas the northern and southern boundaries are straight lines, the Missouri Bootheel extends south between

1936-414: A giant warship version, 246 feet (75 m) long. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual small-scale version, 100 feet (30 m) long, called Experiment . Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine that drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a larger steamboat

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2112-562: A glut of unskilled labor, driving wages down. Most Missouri farmers practiced subsistence farming before the American Civil War . The majority of those who held slaves had fewer than five each. Planters , defined by some historians as those holding 20 slaves or more, were concentrated in the counties known as " Little Dixie ", in the central part of the state along the Missouri River . The tensions over slavery chiefly had to do with

2288-416: A history of experiencing particularly severe tornadoes, the most recent one of note being an EF4 that damaged Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on April 22, 2011. One of the worst tornadoes in American history struck St. Louis on May 27, 1896, killing at least 255 people and causing $ 10 million in damage (equivalent to $ 3.9 billion in 2009 or $ 5.54 billion in today's dollars). Missouri

2464-530: A lot of stress on the rear of the ships and would not see widespread use till the conversion from wood boats to iron boats was complete—well underway by 1860. By the 1840s the ocean-going steam ship industry was well established as the Cunard Line and others demonstrated. The last sailing frigate of the US Navy, Santee , had been launched in 1855. In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up

2640-455: A major meatpacking center, as large cattle drives from Texas brought herds of cattle to Dodge City and other Kansas towns. There, the cattle were loaded onto trains destined for Kansas City, where they were butchered and distributed to the eastern markets. The first half of the 20th century was the height of Kansas City's prominence, and its downtown became a showcase for stylish Art Deco skyscrapers as construction boomed. In 1930, there

2816-632: A partial load of her about 60 saloon (about $ 300 fare) and 150 steerage (about $ 150 fare) passenger capacity. Only a few were going all the way to California. Her crew numbered about 36 men. She left New York well before confirmed word of the California Gold Rush had reached the East Coast. Once the California Gold Rush was confirmed by President James Polk in his State of the Union address on 5 December 1848 people started rushing to Panama City to catch

2992-419: A second boat made 30-mile (48 km) excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing. Meanwhile, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton , near Dumfries , Scotland , had developed double-hulled boats propelled by manually cranked paddle wheels placed between the hulls, even attempting to interest various European governments in

3168-403: A single speech, to appeal to a greater number of listeners. In informal contexts respellings of the state's name, such as "Missour- ee " or "Missour- uh ", are occasionally used to distinguish pronunciations phonetically. There is no official state nickname. However, Missouri's unofficial nickname is the "Show Me State", which appears on its license plates . This phrase has several origins. One

3344-581: A specific location in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. With the addition of the KC Streetcar project and construction of the Sprint Center Arena, the downtown area in KC has attracted investment in new offices, hotels, and residential complexes. Both Kansas City and St. Louis are undergoing a rebirth in their downtown areas with the addition of the new Power & Light (KC) and Ballpark Village (STL) districts and

3520-669: A steamboat to ply a route between New York City and Albany, New York on the Hudson River . He successfully obtained a monopoly on Hudson River traffic after terminating a prior 1797 agreement with John Stevens , who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement had partitioned northern Hudson River traffic to Livingston and southern to Stevens, agreeing to use ships designed by Stevens for both operations. With their new monopoly, Fulton and Livingston's boat, named

3696-690: A temporary state capital in St. Charles. In 1826, the capital was shifted to its permanent location of Jefferson City , also on the Missouri River. Originally the state's western border was a straight line, defined as the meridian passing through the Kawsmouth, the point where the Kansas River enters the Missouri River. The river has moved since this designation. This line is known as the Osage Boundary. In 1836

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3872-516: A transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the cession to the United States. Part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the United States, Missouri earned the nickname Gateway to the West because it served as a significant departure point for expeditions and settlers heading to the West during the 19th century. St. Charles , just west of St. Louis, was the starting point and

4048-622: A trip around Cape Horn . About 20–30% of the California Argonauts are thought to have returned to their homes, mostly on the East Coast of the United States via Panama—the fastest way home. Many returned to California after settling their business in the East with their wives, family and/or sweethearts. Most used the Panama or Nicaragua route till 1855 when the completion of the Panama Railroad made

4224-550: A unique part of this migration. Their move to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake was a response to their violent expulsion from Missouri and Illinois. As it was also motivated by a desire to maintain a religious and cultural identity it was necessary to find an isolated area where they could permanently settle and practice their religion in peace. The Southern Emigrant Trail was a major land route for immigration into California from

4400-532: A variety of goods to traders for sale and trade with their Native American clients. The fur trade and associated businesses made St. Louis an early financial center and provided the wealth for some to build fine houses and import luxury items. Its location near the confluence of the Illinois River meant it also handled produce from the agricultural areas. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to

4576-479: A visit to England, made his own engine, and put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. The first steam-powered ship, Pyroscaphe , was a paddle steamer powered by a double-acting steam engine ; it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt,

4752-641: A vital role in the expansion of the U.S. into the lands it had acquired. The road route is commemorated today by the National Park Service as the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. A highway route that roughly follows the trail's path through the entire length of Kansas, the southeast corner of Colorado and northern New Mexico has been designated as the Santa Fe Trail National Scenic Byw. The Old Spanish Trail witnessed

4928-488: A whole, is called the Camp Jackson Affair . These events sharpened the divisions within the state. Governor Jackson appointed Sterling Price , president of the convention on secession, as head of the new Missouri State Guard . In the face of Union General Lyon's rapid advance through the state, Jackson and Price were forced to flee the capital of Jefferson City on June 14, 1861. In Neosho, Missouri , Jackson called

5104-625: A wooden hull. The boat was built by John Allan and the engine by the Carron Company . The first sailing was on the canal in Glasgow on 4 January 1803, with Lord Dundas and a few of his relatives and friends on board. The crowd were pleased with what they saw, but Symington wanted to make improvements and another more ambitious trial was made on 28 March. On this occasion, the Charlotte Dundas towed two 70 ton barges 30 km (almost 20 miles) along

5280-616: Is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States . Ranking 21st in land area , it borders Iowa to the north, Illinois , Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks , a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. At 1.5 billion years old, the St. Francois Mountains are among

5456-436: Is a seaworthy and often ocean-going ship . Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS , S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, these designations are most often used for steamships. The first steamboat designs used Newcomen steam engines . These engines were large, heavy, and produced little power, which resulted in an unfavorable power-to-weight ratio. The heavy weight of

Westward expansion trails - Misplaced Pages Continue

5632-497: Is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico. Missouri's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954, while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905. Located in Tornado Alley , Missouri also receives extreme weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. On May 22, 2011,

5808-509: Is home to diverse flora and fauna , including several endemic species. There is a large amount of fresh water present due to the Mississippi River , Missouri River , Table Rock Lake and Lake of the Ozarks , with numerous smaller tributary rivers, streams, and lakes. North of the Missouri River, the state is primarily rolling hills of the Great Plains , whereas south of the Missouri River,

5984-645: Is now the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Mormon Trail followed part of the Oregon Trail and then branched off at the fur trading post called Fort Bridger , founded by famed mountain man Jim Bridger . Heading south and following river valleys southwestward to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, Brigham Young led the first Mormons into present-day Utah during 1847. The Mormon Trail is 1,300 miles long and extends from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mormon Trail

6160-438: Is popularly ascribed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899, who declared that "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." This is in keeping with the saying "I'm from Missouri", which means "I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced." However, according to researchers,

6336-495: The Phoenix , which used a high-pressure engine in combination with a low-pressure condensing engine. The first steamboats powered only by high pressure were the Aetna and Pennsylvania , designed and built by Oliver Evans . In October 1811 a ship designed by John Stevens , Little Juliana , would operate as the first steam-powered ferry between Hoboken and New York City. Stevens' ship

6512-472: The 1904 election . He promoted what he called "the Missouri Idea", the concept of Missouri as a leader in public morality through popular control of law and strict enforcement. He successfully conducted antitrust prosecutions, ended free railroad passes for state officials, extended bribery statutes, improved election laws, required formal registration for lobbyists, made racetrack gambling illegal and enforced

6688-515: The American Civil War . Most settlers traveled in large parties or "trains" of up to several hundred wagons led by a wagon master . In 1859 the government published a guidebook called The Prairie Traveler , in order to help emigrants prepare for the journey. When it was constructed it became a popular form of transportation between the territories. These trains were more comfortable than the long walks and wagon rides. Disadvantages included robberies from outlaws like Jesse James . The Santa Fe Trail

6864-546: The California Gold Rush enticed over 250,000 gold-seekers and farmers to travel overland the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s. Today, over 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen in the vast undeveloped lands between Casper, Wyoming, and the West Coast. The Mormon Trail was created by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , called "Mormons," who settled in what

7040-703: The Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River . The SS California (1848) , the first Pacific Mail Steamship Company paddle wheel steamship, left New York City on 6 October 1848 with only

7216-492: The Clermont after Livingston's estate, could make a profit. The Clermont was nicknamed "Fulton's Folly" by doubters. On Monday, 17 August 1807, the memorable first voyage of the Clermont up the Hudson River was begun. She traveled the 150 miles (240 km) trip to Albany in a little over 32 hours and made the return trip in about eight hours. The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811,

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7392-412: The Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour (11 to 13 km/h) and travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year,

7568-750: The El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro the Southern Emigrant Trail route in 1849 ran westward from the El Camino Real to San Diego Crossing . After 1855, it ran from Mesilla, New Mexico , westward to Tucson, Arizona , then followed the Gila River to ferries on the Colorado River near what became Fort Yuma . It crossed the Colorado Desert to Vallecito , then up to Warner's Ranch . From Warner's

7744-493: The Forth and Clyde Canal to Glasgow , and despite "a strong breeze right ahead" that stopped all other canal boats it took only nine and a quarter hours, giving an average speed of about 3 km/h (2 mph). The Charlotte Dundas was the first practical steamboat, in that it demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first to be followed by continuous development of steamboats. The American Robert Fulton

7920-629: The Illinois Country. They came from colonial villages on the east side of the Mississippi River, where soils were becoming exhausted and there was insufficient river bottom land for the growing population. The early Missouri settlements included many enslaved Africans and Native Americans, and slave labor was central to both commercial agriculture and the fur trade. Sainte-Geneviève became a thriving agricultural center, producing enough surplus wheat, corn and tobacco to ship tons of grain annually downriver to Lower Louisiana for trade. Grain production in

8096-424: The Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua typically took about one week by native canoe and mule back. The 4,000 miles (6,400 km) trip to or from San Francisco to Panama City could be done by paddle wheel steamer in about three weeks. In addition to this, travel time via the Panama route typically had a two- to four-week waiting period to find a ship going from Panama City, Panama to San Francisco before 1850. It

8272-605: The Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South rushed into the new Missouri Territory ; Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States. Missouri was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 . As a border state , Missouri's role in the American Civil War was complex, and it was subject to rival governments, raids, and guerilla warfare. After

8448-581: The Missouri Rhineland . Outside the state's major cities, popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks , Table Rock Lake and Branson . Some of the largest companies based in the state include Cerner , Express Scripts , Monsanto , Emerson Electric , Edward Jones , H&R Block , Wells Fargo Advisors , Centene Corporation , and O'Reilly Auto Parts . Well-known universities in Missouri include

8624-492: The Missouri River , pioneers following any of the three trails typically left from one of three "jumping off" points on the Missouri's steamboat serviced river ports : Independence, Missouri , Saint Joseph, Missouri , or Council Bluffs , Iowa. (Once known as Kanesville, Iowa until 1852; after river dredging in the early 1850s, the latter town at the Missouri-Platte confluence became the most common departure point since it

8800-745: The Oregon Country . The main route of the Oregon Trail stopped at the Hudson's Bay Company Fort Hall , a major resupply route along the trail near present-day Pocatello and where the California Trail split off to the south. Then the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River Plain of present-day southern Idaho and the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon before reaching the Willamette Valley . It

8976-409: The Panic of 1857 . Steamboat traffic including passenger and freight business grew exponentially in the decades before the Civil War. So too did the economic and human losses inflicted by snags, shoals, boiler explosions, and human error. During the US Civil War the Battle of Hampton Roads , often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads ,

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9152-407: The Platte Purchase was added to the northwest corner of the state after purchase of the land from the native tribes, making the Missouri River the border north of the Kansas River. This addition increased the land area of what was already the largest state in the Union at the time (about 66,500 square miles (172,000 km ) to Virginia's 65,000 square miles, which then included West Virginia). In

9328-408: The River Clyde in Scotland. The Margery , launched in Dumbarton in 1814, in January 1815 became the first steamboat on the River Thames, much to the amazement of Londoners. She operated a London-to-Gravesend river service until 1816, when she was sold to the French and became the first steamboat to cross the English Channel. When she reached Paris, the new owners renamed her Elise and inaugurated

9504-424: The Southern Route , of the California Trail, remained a minor migration route and in the early 1850s a mail route. After some alterations of the route between Cajon Pass and the border of California and in southern Utah, in 1855, it became a significant seasonal trade route between California and Utah, until 1869, when the transcontinental railroad ended Utah's winter isolation. Up to 50,000 people, or one-tenth of

9680-490: The Spanish Empire . From Santa Fe, American traders followed the old El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro southward to Chihuahua by way of El Paso del Norte . The Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe , in Mexican New Mexico Territory to Los Angeles , in Mexican Alta California , developed in 1829–1830 to support the trade of New Mexican wool products for California horses and mules and carried parties of fur traders and emigrants from New Mexico to Southern California . Following

9856-435: The St. Francis and the Mississippi rivers. The two largest rivers are the Mississippi (which defines the eastern boundary of the state) and the Missouri River (which flows from west to east through the state), essentially connecting the two largest metros of Kansas City and St. Louis. Although today it is usually considered part of the Midwest , Missouri was historically seen by many as a border state , chiefly because of

10032-483: The St. Louis Arsenal . Alarmed at this action, and discovering the Confederate aid, General Nathaniel Lyon struck first, encircling the camp and forcing the state troops to surrender. Lyon directed his soldiers, largely non-English-speaking German immigrants , to march the prisoners through the streets, and this led to riot by pro-secession citizens. While it is disputed how it started, this riot led to violence and Union soldiers killed by St. Louis civilians. The event as

10208-445: The Steamboat Iowa (1838) is incorporated in the Seal of Iowa because it represented speed, power, and progress. At the same time, the expanding steamboat traffic had severe adverse environmental effects, in the Middle Mississippi Valley especially, between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio . The steamboats consumed much wood for fuel, and the river floodplain and banks became deforested. This led to instability in

10384-464: The University of Missouri , Saint Louis University , and Washington University in St. Louis . The state is named for the Missouri River , which was named after the indigenous Missouria , a Siouan-language tribe. French colonists adapted a form of the Illinois language -name for the people: Wimihsoorita . Their name means "One who has dugout canoes". The name Missouri has several different pronunciations even among its present-day inhabitants,

10560-409: The protests and riots that followed the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer of Ferguson , which led Governor Jay Nixon to call out the Missouri National Guard . A grand jury declined to indict the officer, and the U.S. Department of Justice concluded, after careful investigation, that the police officer legitimately feared for his safety. However, in a separate investigation,

10736-412: The steam engine power and provide power for occasions when the steam engine needed repair or maintenance. These steamships typically concentrated on high value cargo, mail and passengers and only had moderate cargo capabilities because of their required loads of coal. The typical paddle wheel steamship was powered by a coal burning engine that required firemen to shovel the coal to the burners. By 1849

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10912-436: The 1776 Palmipède . At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on

11088-408: The 1890s, the steamship technology so improved that steamships became economically viable even on long-distance voyages such as linking Great Britain with its Pacific Asian colonies, such as Singapore and Hong Kong . This resulted in the downfall of sailing. The era of the steamboat in the United States began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of

11264-471: The 19th century, the flooding of the Mississippi became a more severe problem than when the floodplain was filled with trees and brush. Most steamboats were destroyed by boiler explosions or fires—and many sank in the river, with some of those buried in silt as the river changed course. From 1811 to 1899, 156 steamboats were lost to snags or rocks between St. Louis and the Ohio River. Another 411 were damaged by fire, explosions or ice during that period. One of

11440-399: The Arkansas River on 16 July 1863 demonstrated this. The steamboat was destroyed, the cargo was lost, and the tiny Union escort was run off. The loss did not affect the Union war effort, however. The worst of all steamboat accidents occurred at the end of the Civil War in April 1865, when the steamboat Sultana , carrying an over-capacity load of returning Union soldiers recently freed from

11616-445: The Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. The expansion of railroads to the West transformed Kansas City into a major transportation hub within the nation. The growth of the Texas cattle industry along with this increased rail infrastructure and the invention of the refrigerated boxcar also made Kansas City

11792-522: The Department of Justice also found that the Ferguson Police Department and the City of Ferguson relied on unconstitutional practices in order to balance the city's budget through racially motivated excessive fines and punishments, that the Ferguson police "had used excessive and dangerous force and had disproportionately targeted blacks," and that the municipal court "emphasized revenue over public safety, leading to routine breaches of citizens' constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under

11968-411: The Illinois Country was critical to the survival of Lower Louisiana and especially the city of New Orleans. St. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent , Pierre Laclède , and Auguste Chouteau . From 1764 to 1803, European control of the area west of the Mississippi to the northernmost part of the Missouri River basin, called Louisiana, was assumed by

12144-449: The Mississippi , river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels. By 1849 the shipping industry was in transition from sail-powered boats to steam-powered boats and from wood construction to an ever-increasing metal construction. There were basically three different types of ships being used: standard sailing ships of several different types , clippers , and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on

12320-586: The Mississippi River were part of the French province of Louisiana . To distinguish the settlements in the Middle Mississippi Valley from French settlements in the lower Mississippi Valley around New Orleans, French officials and inhabitants referred to the Middle Mississippi Valley as La Haute Louisiane, "The High Louisiana", or "Upper Louisiana". The first European settlers were mostly ethnic French Canadians , who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day Ste. Genevieve , about 45 miles (72 km) south of St. Louis. They had migrated in about 1750 from

12496-400: The Missouri Partisan Rangers, such insurgencies also arose in portions of the Confederacy occupied by the Union during the Civil War. Historians have portrayed stories of the James brothers' outlaw years as an American "Robin Hood" myth. The vigilante activities of the Bald Knobbers of the Ozarks in the 1880s were an unofficial continuation of insurgent mentality long after the official end of

12672-747: The Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Here, rolling hills remain from the glaciation that once extended from the Canadian Shield to the Missouri River. Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec Rivers . Southern Missouri rises to the Ozark Mountains , a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains . This region also hosts karst topography characterized by high limestone content with

12848-537: The Mormons from Missouri and confiscated their lands. Conflicts over slavery exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. From 1838 to 1839, a border dispute with Iowa over the so-called Honey Lands resulted in both states' calling-up of militias along the border. With increasing migration, from the 1830s to the 1860s, Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most newcomers were American-born, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in

13024-475: The Newcomen engine required a structurally strong boat, and the reciprocating motion of the engine beam required a complicated mechanism to produce propulsion. James Watt 's design improvements increased the efficiency of the steam engine, improving the power-to-weight ratio, and created an engine capable of rotary motion by using a double-acting cylinder which injected steam at each end of the piston stroke to move

13200-468: The Oregon Country between Great Britain and the United States, mostly along the 49th parallel. The Territory of Oregon was established shortly afterward, in 1848, and over 12,000 American settlers made the journey there during the decade. Families usually began their journey at Independence, Missouri, near the Missouri River with the best time to travel is from April to September. The journey to cross

13376-459: The Oregon Trail along the way in 40 years. American settlers began following the trail in 1841, with the first recorded settler wagon traingroup being the 1843 "Great Migration" of about 900 settlers, led in part by Marcus Whitman . The Provisional Government of Oregon was established by such settlers in 1843, generally limited to the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 divided

13552-672: The Panama Railroad was completed the Panama Route was by far the quickest and easiest way to get to or from California from the East Coast of the U.S. or Europe. Most California bound merchandise still used the slower but cheaper Cape Horn sailing ship route. The sinking of the paddle steamer SS  Central America (the Ship of Gold ) in a hurricane on 12 September 1857 and the loss of about $ 2 million in California gold indirectly led to

13728-426: The Panama Route much easier, faster and more reliable. Between 1849 and 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed across the United States about 800,000 travelers had used the Panama route. Most of the roughly $ 50,000,000 of gold found each year in California were shipped East via the Panama route on paddle steamers, mule trains and canoes and later the Panama Railroad across Panama. After 1855 when

13904-871: The SS California. The SS  California picked up more passengers in Valparaiso , Chile and Panama City , Panama and showed up in San Francisco, loaded with about 400 passengers—twice the passengers it had been designed for—on 28 February 1849. She had left behind about another 400–600 potential passengers still looking for passage from Panama City. The SS California had made the trip from Panama and Mexico after steaming around Cape Horn from New York—see SS California (1848) . The trips by paddle wheel steamship to Panama and Nicaragua from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, via New Orleans and Havana were about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) long and took about two weeks. Trips across

14080-681: The Santa Fe Trail or on the San Antonio-El Paso Road developed in 1849, across West Texas to El Paso where it followed the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro north to link up to the Cooke's Wagon Road/Southern Emigrant Trail at the cutoff through the San Diego Crossing . In 1856, as part of an improvement of the route as a military road, a cutoff was built to Cooke's Spring from Mesilla , (part of Mexico until 1853). From Cooke's Spring

14256-662: The Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries , Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along

14432-525: The Southern Branch near Green River. From central Utah the trail trended southwest to an area now shared by Utah, Nevada and Arizona. It crossed southern Nevada and passed through the Mojave Desert to San Gabriel Mission and Los Angeles. The Oregon Trail, the longest of the overland routes used in the westward expansion of the United States, was first traced by settlers and fur traders for traveling to

14608-691: The Spanish as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain , due to Treaty of Fontainebleau (in order to have Spain join with France in the war against England). The arrival of the Spanish in St. Louis was in September 1767. St. Louis became the center of a regional fur trade with Native American tribes that extended up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, dominating the regional economy for decades. Trading partners of major firms shipped their furs from St. Louis by river down to New Orleans for export to Europe. They provided

14784-474: The Sunday-closing law. He helped enact Progressive legislation, including an initiative and referendum provision, regulation of elections, education, employment and child labor, railroads, food, business, and public utilities. Several efficiency-oriented examiner boards and commissions were established during Folk's administration, including many agricultural boards and the Missouri library commission. Between

14960-504: The Utah Territory, and finally the State of Utah. The Mormon settlers shared similar experiences with others traveling west: the drudgery of walking hundreds of miles, suffocating dust, violent thunderstorms, mud, temperature extremes, bad water, poor forage, sickness, attacks from indians, and death. They recorded their experiences in journals, diaries, and letters. The Mormons, however, were

15136-686: The West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $ 199,999 to set up regular packet ship , mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City , Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon . Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from

15312-535: The West was fought to control major rivers, especially the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers using paddlewheelers. Only the Union had them (the Confederacy captured a few, but were unable to use them.) The Battle of Vicksburg involved monitors and ironclad riverboats. The USS Cairo is a survivor of the Vicksburg battle. Trade on the river was suspended for two years because of a Confederate's Mississippi blockade before

15488-539: The West", "The Iron Mountain State", and "Pennsylvania of the West". It is also known as the "Cave State" because there are more than 7,300 recorded caves in the state (second to Tennessee ). Perry County is the county with the most caves and the single longest cave. The official state motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", Latin for "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law." Archaeological excavations along river valleys have shown continuous habitation since about 9000 BCE. Beginning before 1000 CE ,

15664-412: The banks, addition of silt to the water, making the river both shallower and hence wider and causing unpredictable, lateral movement of the river channel across the wide, ten-mile floodplain, endangering navigation. Boats designated as snagpullers to keep the channels free had crews that sometimes cut remaining large trees 100–200 feet (30–61 m) or more back from the banks, exacerbating the problems. In

15840-418: The city for newer housing developed in the suburbs, often former farmland where land was available at lower prices. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls. In 2014, Missouri received national attention for

16016-736: The city's dockyards, and in 1805 Evans convinced them to contract with him for a steam-powered dredge, which he called the Oruktor Amphibolos . It was built but was only marginally successful. Evans's high-pressure steam engine had a much higher power-to-weight ratio , making it practical to apply it in locomotives and steamboats. Evans became so depressed with the poor protection that the US patent law gave inventors that he eventually took all his engineering drawings and invention ideas and destroyed them to prevent his children wasting their time in court fighting patent infringements. Robert Fulton constructed

16192-550: The day in order to find a good campsite ahead of the crowd. Others spoke of the need to wear masks for protection against the dust kicked up by the heavy traffic. The main route of the California Trail branched from the Oregon Trail west of Fort Hall, as immigrants went on forward going southwestward into present-day Nevada , then down along the Humboldt River to the Sierra Nevada . The California Trail came into heavy use after

16368-502: The design of boilers and engine components so that they could withstand internal pressure, although boiler explosions were common due to lack of instrumentation like pressure gauges. Attempts at making high-pressure engines had to wait until the expiration of the Boulton and Watt patent in 1800. Shortly thereafter high-pressure engines by Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans were introduced. The compound steam engine became widespread in

16544-511: The early 1830s, Mormon migrants from northern states and Canada began settling near Independence and areas just north of there. Conflicts over religion and slavery arose between the 'old settlers' (mainly from the South) and the Mormons (mainly from the North). The Mormon War erupted in 1838. By 1839, with the help of an "Extermination Order" by Governor Lilburn Boggs , the old settlers forcibly expelled

16720-736: The early 20th century. The major southern routes were the Santa Fe , Southern Emigrant , and Old Spanish Trails , as well as its wagon road successor the Mormon Road , a southern spur of the California Trail used in the winter that also made use of the western half of the Old Spanish Trail. Regardless of the trail used, the journey was often slow and arduous, fraught with risks from dysentry , infectious diseases , dehydration , malnutrition , cholera , highwaymen , Indian attacks, injury, and harsh weather, with as many as one in ten travelers dying along

16896-512: The east bank of the Mississippi River and identified their settlements as being in le pays des Illinois, "the country of the Illinois". When settlers of French Canadian descent began crossing the Mississippi River to establish settlements such as Ste. Genevieve, they continued to identify their settlements as being in the Illinois Country. At the same time, the French settlements on both sides of

17072-466: The eastern United States that followed the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico during the California Gold Rush . Unlike the more northern routes, pioneer wagons could travel this route year-round, as the mountain passes were not blocked by snows. But, the trail had the disadvantage of high summer heat and lack of water in the desert regions of New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Desert of California. It

17248-429: The election of a special convention on secession. This convention voted against secession, but also qualified their support of the Union. In the aftermath of Battle of Fort Sumter Pro-Southern Governor Claiborne F. Jackson ordered the mobilization of several hundred members of the state militia who had gathered in a camp in St. Louis for training. In secret, he also requested Confederate arms and artillery to help take

17424-589: The emigrant trails on modern highways through the use of byway signs across the western states. Pioneers across what became the Western United States in the 19th century had the choice of several routes. Some of the earliest were those of the Mexicans in the southwest. American trade with Northern Mexico created the Santa Fe Trail between St. Louis and Santa Fe following an 18th-century route pioneered by

17600-440: The emigrants who attempted the crossing continent, died during the trip, most from infectious disease such as cholera , spread by poor sanitation: with thousands traveling along or near the same watercourses each summer, downstream travelers were susceptible to ingesting upstream wastewater including bodily waste. Hostile confrontations with Native Americans , although often feared by the settlers, were comparatively rare, prior to

17776-472: The entire Oregon Trail in a covered wagon took from four to six months, following a winding trail 2,000 miles (3,200 km) through prairies, deserts, and across mountains to the Pacific Northwest . The journey was a severe test of strength and endurance so travelers often joined wagon trains traveling about 12–15 miles (19–24 km) per day. Settlers often had to cross flooded rivers. Indians attacked

17952-525: The face of a largely reinforced Union Army. Though regular Confederate troops staged some large-scale raids into Missouri, the fighting in the state for the next three years consisted chiefly of guerrilla warfare . "Citizen soldiers" or insurgents such as Captain William Quantrill , Frank and Jesse James , the Younger brothers , and William T. Anderson made use of quick, small-unit tactics. Pioneered by

18128-673: The first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation as of 2007 ) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York , funded the construction of the first US steamboat, Ontario , to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic . In his book Life on

18304-451: The first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service. Oliver Evans (1755–1819) was a Philadelphian inventor born in Newport, Delaware , to a family of Welsh settlers. He designed an improved high-pressure steam engine in 1801 but did not build it (patented 1804). The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and cleaning

18480-499: The formation of sinkholes and caves. The southeastern part of the state is known as the Missouri Bootheel region, which is part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment . This region is the lowest, flattest, warmest, and wettest part of the state. It is also among the poorest, as the economy there is mostly agricultural. It is also the most fertile, with cotton and rice crops predominant. The Bootheel

18656-459: The full widths of Nebraska and Wyoming , and crossed the continental divide south of the Wind River Range through South Pass in southwestern Wyoming. The most common vehicle for Oregon and California-bound pioneers was a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen or mules (which were greatly preferred for their endurance and strength over horses ) in the dry semi-arid terrain common to

18832-421: The future of the state and nation. In 1860, enslaved African Americans made up less than 10% of the state's population of 1,182,012. In order to control the flooding of farmland and low-lying villages along the Mississippi, the state had completed construction of 140 miles (230 km) of levees along the river by 1860. After the secession of Southern states began in 1861, the Missouri legislature called for

19008-680: The gold fields. Steam-powered tugboats and towboats started working in the San Francisco Bay soon after this to expedite shipping in and out of the bay. As the passenger, mail and high value freight business to and from California boomed more and more paddle steamers were brought into service—eleven by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company alone. The trip to and from California via Panama and paddle wheeled steamers could be done, if there were no waits for shipping, in about 40 days—over 100 days less than by wagon or 160 days less than

19184-627: The goldfields. With the passes of the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains blocked in winter, another winter route, the Mormon Road between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles was developed by a Mormon expedition from their new settlements at and around Salt Lake City, and by some Mormon Battalion soldiers returning to Utah in 1847–1848. The first significant use of the route was by parties of Forty-Niners late in 1849, and by some Mormon trains, to avoid crossing

19360-403: The high plains in the heat of summer. This heat could cause the wagons to catch on fire. People would form groups of wagons known as wagon trains. In later years, following the advice of Brigham Young, many Mormon emigrants made the crossing to Utah with handcarts . For all pioneers, the scarcity of potable water and fuel for fires was a common brutal challenge on the trip, which was exacerbated by

19536-429: The institution of slavery . They settled predominantly in 17 counties along the Missouri River , in an area of flatlands that enabled plantation agriculture and became known as " Little Dixie ". The state was rocked by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes . Casualties were few due to the sparse population. In 1821, the former Missouri Territory was admitted as a slave state , under the Missouri Compromise , and with

19712-549: The late 1840s and 1850s. As a majority were Catholic , they set up their own religious institutions in the state, which had been mostly Protestant . Many settled in cities, creating a regional and then state network of Catholic churches and schools. 19th-century German immigrants created the wine industry along the Missouri River and the beer industry in St. Louis. While many German immigrants were strongly anti-slavery, many Irish immigrants living in cities were pro-slavery, fearing that liberating African-American slaves would create

19888-418: The late 19th century. Compounding uses exhaust steam from a high pressure cylinder to a lower pressure cylinder and greatly improves efficiency. With compound engines it was possible for trans ocean steamers to carry less coal than freight. Compound steam engine powered ships enabled a great increase in international trade. The most efficient steam engine used for marine propulsion is the steam turbine . It

20064-608: The law." A series of student protests at the University of Missouri against what the protesters viewed as poor response by the administration to racist incidents on campus began in September 2015. On June 7, 2017, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued a warning to prospective African-American travelers to Missouri. This is the first NAACP warning ever covering an entire state. According to

20240-530: The loads and strains imposed by the paddle wheels when they encountered rough water. The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage was the 320-ton 98-foot-long (30 m) SS  Savannah , built in 1819 expressly for packet ship mail and passenger service to and from Liverpool , England. On 22 May 1819, the watch on the Savannah sighted Ireland after 23 days at sea. The Allaire Iron Works of New York supplied Savannah's 's engine cylinder , while

20416-542: The major rivers. Their success led to penetration deep into the continent, where Anson Northup in 1859 became first steamer to cross the Canada–US border on the Red River . They would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized International at Fort Garry , or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by Northcote at Batoche . Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they could become state symbols;

20592-439: The middle Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, extending into the southeast and the upper river. The land that became the state of Missouri was part of numerous different territories, possessed changing and often indeterminate borders, and had many different Native American and European names between the 1600s and statehood. For much of the first half of the 1700s, the west bank of the Mississippi River that would become Missouri

20768-427: The musical genres ragtime , Kansas City jazz and St. Louis blues . The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue , and the lesser-known St. Louis-style barbecue , can be found across the state and beyond. Missouri is a major center of beer brewing and has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the U.S. It is home to Anheuser-Busch , the world's largest beer producer, and produces Missouri wine , especially in

20944-448: The next year. Miller then abandoned the project. The failed project of Patrick Miller caught the attention of Lord Dundas , Governor of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, and at a meeting with the canal company's directors on 5 June 1800, they approved his proposals for the use of "a model of a boat by Captain Schank to be worked by a steam engine by Mr Symington" on the canal. The boat

21120-400: The ninth century, built cities and mounds before declining in the 14th century. The Indigenous Osage and Missouria nations inhabited the area when European people arrived in the 17th century. The French incorporated the territory into Louisiana , founding Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764. After a brief period of Spanish rule , the United States acquired Missouri as part of

21296-573: The northwestern corner of Comancheria, the territory of the Comanche, who demanded compensation for granting passage to the trail, and represented another market for American traders. Comanche raiding farther south in Mexico isolated New Mexico, making it more dependent on the American trade, and provided the Comanche with a steady supply of horses for sale. By the 1840s, trail traffic along the Arkansas Valley

21472-498: The oldest in the world. The Missouri River , after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River , which makes up the eastern border. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis , Kansas City , Springfield , and Columbia . The capital is Jefferson City . Humans have inhabited present-day Missouri for at least 12,000 years. The Mississippian culture , which emerged in

21648-491: The people of the Mississippian culture created regional political centers at present-day St. Louis and across the Mississippi River at Cahokia , near present-day Collinsville, Illinois . Their large cities included thousands of individual residences. Still, they are known for their surviving massive earthwork mounds , built for religious, political and social reasons, in platform , ridgetop and conical shapes. Cahokia

21824-399: The phrase "show me" was already in use before the 1890s. Another one states that it is a reference to Missouri miners who were taken to Leadville, Colorado to replace striking workers. Since the new miners were unfamiliar with the mining methods, they required frequent instruction. Other nicknames for Missouri include "The Lead State", "The Bullion State", "The Ozark State", "The Mother of

22000-462: The piston back and forth. The rotary steam engine simplified the mechanism required to turn a paddle wheel to propel a boat. Despite the improved efficiency and rotary motion, the power-to-weight ratio of Boulton and Watt steam engine was still low. The high-pressure steam engine was the development that made the steamboat practical. It had a high power-to-weight ratio and was fuel efficient. High pressure engines were made possible by improvements in

22176-561: The renovation of existing historical buildings in each downtown area. The 2019 announcement of an MLS expansion team in St. Louis is driving even more development in the downtown west area of St. Louis. Kansas City has experienced a boom in population, with new developments such as Three Light apartments being centered in Downtown Kansas City , as well as suburban development in the Northland . Missouri borders eight different states,

22352-531: The rest of the engine components and running gear were manufactured by the Speedwell Ironworks of New Jersey . The 90-horsepower (67 kW) low-pressure engine was of the inclined direct-acting type, with a single 40-inch-diameter (100 cm) cylinder and a 5-foot (1.5 m) stroke. Savannah 's engine and machinery were unusually large for their time. The ship's wrought-iron paddlewheels were 16 feet in diameter with eight buckets per wheel. For fuel,

22528-541: The return destination of the Lewis and Clark Expedition , which ascended the Missouri River in 1804, to explore the western lands to the Pacific Ocean. For decades, St. Louis was a major supply point for parties of settlers heading west. As many of the early settlers in western Missouri migrated from the Upper South , they brought enslaved African Americans as agricultural laborers, and they desired to continue their culture and

22704-629: The road ran to the Yuma Crossing into California and on to Los Angeles . This route became the Southern Emigrant Trail . From Los Angeles the goldfields could be reached by land over the two routes north, the old El Camino Viejo or by what became the Stockton – Los Angeles Road . During the Gold Rush era it was these routes by which many herds of sheep and cattle were driven to California and

22880-700: The road split to run either northwest to Los Angeles or west southwest to San Diego . From either of these towns, the traveler could continue north by land to the goldfields on the coast, via the El Camino Real , or over the Tejon Pass into the San Joaquin Valley by what would become the Stockton – Los Angeles Road or El Camino Viejo . Alternatively, they could take ships to San Francisco from San Diego or San Pedro . Missouri Missouri ( / m ɪ ˈ z ʊər i / mih- ZOOR -ee )

23056-687: The road west, the Mormon Pioneer Trail. The trail started in Nauvoo, Illinois, traveled across Iowa, connected with the Great Platte River Road at the Missouri River, and ended near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Generally following pre-existing routes, the trail carried tens of thousands of Mormons to a new home and refuge in the Great Basin. From their labors arose the State of Deseret , later to become

23232-567: The same quantity of fuel and longer distances could be traveled. A steamship built in 1855 required about 40% of its available cargo space to store enough coal to cross the Atlantic, but by the 1860s, transatlantic steamship services became cost-effective and steamships began to dominate these routes. By the 1870s, particularly in conjunction with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, South Asia became economically accessible for steamships from Europe. By

23408-467: The screw propeller had been invented and was slowly being introduced as iron increasingly was used in ship construction and the stress introduced by propellers could be compensated for. As the 1800s progressed the timber and lumber needed to make wooden ships got ever more expensive, and the iron plate needed for iron ship construction got much cheaper as the massive iron works at Merthyr Tydfil , Wales, for example, got ever more efficient. The propeller put

23584-689: The settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War, balanced by the influence of St. Louis. The counties that made up " Little Dixie " were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves. In 2005, Missouri received 16,695,000 visitors to its national parks and other recreational areas totaling 101,000 acres (410 km ), giving it $ 7.41 million in annual revenues, 26.6% of its operating expenditures. North of, and in some cases just south of,

23760-602: The short amount of time needed to reach the Pacific Coast . Rumors about how the sun always shone there and wheat grew as tall as a man attracted American settlers. The journey to the west was pleasant, but there were dangers and challenges along the route. There were diseases: cholera, measles, smallpox, and dysentery. Children were crushed under the covered wagon wheels, people drowned in rivers, were lost, starved, killed by Native Americans (very few settlers), froze to death, trampled by buffalo, or shot by accident. With these accidents, many settlers died. About 20,000 to 30,000 died on

23936-451: The side or rear. River steamboats typically used rear-mounted paddles and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls designed to carry large loads on generally smooth and occasionally shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheeled paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed to travel in the often stormy weather encountered at sea. The ship hull design was often based on the clipper ship design with extra bracing to support

24112-446: The snow bound Sierra Nevada Mountains by linking up with the Old Spanish Trail in southern Utah and closely following it, with alterations to the route of the mule trails only to allow wagons to traverse it for the first time. Soon afterward it was the route Mormon settlers followed to southwestern Utah, a mission in Las Vegas and a settlement in San Bernardino, California . This wagon route, also called by some of its early travelers

24288-409: The south was the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo , Illinois to Salt Lake City , Utah Territory . During the twenty-five years 1841–1866, 250,000 to 650,000 people "pulled up stakes," and headed west along these trails. About one-third immigrated to Oregon, one-third to California and one-third to Utah, Colorado, and Montana. Although it is often stated that the Northern trails began in certain cities on

24464-438: The state and volunteer regiments for the Union Army. Fighting ensued between Union forces and a combined army of General Price's Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas under General Ben McCulloch . After winning victories at the battle of Wilson's Creek and the siege of Lexington, Missouri and suffering losses elsewhere, the Confederate forces retreated to Arkansas and later Marshall, Texas , in

24640-434: The state convention was reassembled with most of its members present, save twenty who fled south with Jackson's forces. The convention declared all offices vacant and installed Hamilton Gamble as the new governor of Missouri. President Lincoln's administration immediately recognized Gamble's government as the legal Missouri government. The federal government's decision enabled raising pro-Union militia forces for service within

24816-405: The state is dominated by the Oak-Hickory Central U.S. hardwood forest . Recreational and commercial uses of public forests, including grazing, logging, and mining, increased after World War   II. Fishermen, hikers, campers, and others started lobbying to protect forest areas with a "wilderness character". During the 1930s and 1940s, Aldo Leopold , Arthur Carhart and Bob Marshall developed

24992-426: The state legislature into session to call for secession. However, the elected legislative body was split between pro-Union and pro-Confederate. As such, few of the pro-unionist attended the session called in Neosho, and the ordinance of secession was quickly adopted. The Confederacy recognized Missouri secession on October 30, 1861. With the elected governor absent from the capital and the legislators largely dispersed,

25168-403: The state's economy. As the area's first major city, St. Louis expanded greatly after the invention of the steamboat and the increased river trade. Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Treaty of San Ildefonso after it had been a Spanish colony since 1762, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control until

25344-423: The summer of 1818 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast. By 1826, steamboats were employed on a large number of inland and coastal shipping lines in the United Kingdom. Some of the latter crossed the Irish Sea , others crossed the English Channel to Calais or Boulogne-sur-Mer , or crossed the North Sea to Rotterdam. At the time, the General Steam Navigation Company

25520-626: The third syllable as / i / or / ə / . Any combination of these phonetic realizations may be observed coming from speakers of American English . In British received pronunciation , the preferred variant is / m ɪ ˈ z ʊər i / , with / m ɪ ˈ s ʊər i / being a possible alternative. Donald M. Lance, a professor of English at the University of Missouri , stated that no pronunciation could be declared correct, nor could any be clearly defined as native or outsider, rural or urban, southern or northern, educated or otherwise. Politicians often employ multiple pronunciations, even during

25696-496: The trails pioneered by fur traders, the Oregon Trail from Independence , Missouri to the Oregon Territory developed crossing the central Great Plains , Rocky Mountains and northern Great Basin . People followed this trail to take advantage of the fertile land the government gave out. Branching off from that route, some pioneers traveled southwestward on the California Trail from Fort Hall , Oregon Territory to Sutters Fort , in Mexican Alta California. Also branching off to

25872-402: The two most common being / m ɪ ˈ z ɜːr i / mih- ZUR -ee and / m ɪ ˈ z ɜːr ə / mih- ZUR -ə . Further pronunciations also exist in Missouri or elsewhere in the United States, involving the realization of the medial consonant as either / z / or / s / ; the vowel in the second syllable as either / ɜːr / or / ʊər / ; and

26048-430: The union victory at Vicksburg reopened the river on 4 July 1863. The triumph of Eads ironclads, and Farragut's seizure of New Orleans, secured the river for the Union North. Although Union forces gained control of Mississippi River tributaries, travel there was still subject to interdiction by the Confederates. The Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams , which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson along

26224-414: The vessel carried 75 short tons (68 t) of coal and 25 cords (91  m ) of wood. The SS Savannah was too small to carry much fuel, and the engine was intended only for use in calm weather and to get in and out of harbors. Under favorable winds the sails alone were able to provide a speed of at least four knots. The Savannah was judged not a commercial success, and its engine was removed and it

26400-518: The wagon trains; however, of the 10,000 deaths that occurred from 1835 to 1855, only 4 percent resulted from Indian attacks. Cholera, smallpox, and firearms accidents were the chief causes of death on the trail. Food, water, and wood were always scarce, and the settlers often encountered contaminated water holes. During summer, the trail was crowded with wagon trains, army units, missionaries, hunting parties, traders, and even sightseeing tours. Some settlers complained that they sometimes had to start early in

26576-418: The war, and they are a favorite theme in Branson's self-image . The Progressive Era (1890s to 1920s) saw numerous prominent leaders from Missouri trying to end corruption and modernize politics, government, and society. Joseph "Holy Joe" Folk was a key leader who made a strong appeal to the middle class and rural evangelical Protestants. Folk was elected governor as a progressive reformer and Democrat in

26752-415: The war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became large centers of industrialization and business. Today the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. Missouri has been called the "Mother of the West", the "Cave State", and the "Show Me State". Its culture blends elements of the Midwestern and Southern United States . It is the birthplace of

26928-436: The way, usually as a result of disease. The history of these trails and the settlers who traveled them have since become deeply embedded in the culture and folklore of the United States as some of the most significant influences to shape the content and character of the nation. The remains of many trail ruts can still be observed in various locations throughout the American West. Travelers may loosely follow various routes of

27104-413: The wide ranging temperature changes common to the mountain highlands and high plains where a daylight reading in the eighties or nineties can drop precipitously to a frigid seeming nighttime temperature in the low 40s. In many treeless areas, buffalo chips were the most common source of fuel. During the Mexican–American War , the wagon to California road known as Cooke's Wagon Road , or Sonora Road ,

27280-427: Was 6,137,428 on July 1, 2019, a 2.48% increase since the 2010 United States census . Steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power , typically driving propellers or paddlewheels . The term steamboat is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping . The development of the steamboat led to the larger steamship , which

27456-519: Was a diphtheria epidemic in the area around Springfield, which killed approximately 100 people. Serum was rushed to the area, and medical personnel stopped the epidemic. During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing, as did other Midwestern industrial cities. St. Charles claims to be the site of the first interstate highway project in 1956. Such highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave

27632-427: Was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Independence, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880. Santa Fe was near the end of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which carried trade from Mexico City. The route skirted the northern edge and crossed

27808-488: Was built across Nuevo Mexico , Sonora and Alta California from Santa Fe, New Mexico to San Diego . It crossed what was then the northernmost part of Mexico. During the California Gold Rush the routes to California used were increased by the Siskiyou Trail from Oregon. In the south, the forty-niners used the Cooke Wagon Road, until some found a short cut, the Tucson Cutoff . This route, not closed to travel in winter, permitted travelers coming to New Mexico Territory on

27984-413: Was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symington's design with a vertical cylinder engine and crosshead transmitting power to a crank driving the paddlewheels. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth and Clyde Canal . In 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to

28160-465: Was built in 1807, North River Steamboat (later known as Clermont ), which carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York . Clermont was able to make the 150-mile (240 km) trip in 32 hours. The steamboat was powered by a Boulton and Watt engine and was capable of long-distance travel. It was the first commercially successful steamboat, transporting passengers along the Hudson River . In 1807 Robert L. Stevens began operation of

28336-432: Was close in proximity to the River Platte—along which the eastern trails ascend to South Pass above Fort Laramie. ) The trails from these cities (and several others) converged in the mostly empty flatlands of central Nebraska near present-day Kearney , in the vicinity of Fort Kearney . From their confluence there the combined trails followed in succession the Platte , North Platte , and Sweetwater rivers westward across

28512-491: Was converted back to a regular sailing ship. By 1848 steamboats built by both United States and British shipbuilders were already in use for mail and passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean—a 3,000 miles (4,800 km) journey. Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 short tons (4.5 to 14.5 t) of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run. Initially, nearly all seagoing steamboats were equipped with mast and sails to supplement

28688-406: Was developed near the end of the 19th century and was used throughout the 20th century. An apocryphal story from 1851 attributes the earliest steamboat to Denis Papin for a boat he built in 1705. Papin was an early innovator in steam power and the inventor of the steam digester , the first pressure cooker , which played an important role in James Watt 's steam experiments. However, Papin's boat

28864-431: Was engineered as a twin-screw-driven steamboat in juxtaposition to Clermont ' s Boulton and Watt engine. The design was a modification of Stevens' prior paddle steamer Phoenix , the first steamship to successfully navigate the open ocean in its route from Hoboken to Philadelphia. In 1812, Henry Bell's PS Comet was inaugurated. The steamboat was the first commercial passenger service in Europe and sailed along

29040-476: Was fought over two days with steam-powered ironclad warships , 8–9 March 1862. The battle occurred in Hampton Roads , a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk . The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederate States of America to break the Union Naval blockade, which had cut off Virginia from all international trade. The Civil War in

29216-437: Was mostly uninhabited, something of a no man's land that kept peace between the Illinois on the east bank of the Mississippi River and to the North, and the Osage and Missouri Indians of the lower Missouri Valley. In the early 1700s, French traders and missionaries explored the whole of the Mississippi Valley, and named the region "Louisiana". Around the same time, a different group of French Canadians established five villages on

29392-515: Was not before 1850 that enough paddle wheel steamers were available in the Atlantic and Pacific routes to establish regularly scheduled journeys. Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle wheel steamships like the SS McKim (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies the 125 miles (201 km) trip from San Francisco up the extensive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to Stockton, California , Marysville, California , Sacramento , etc. to get about 125 miles (201 km) closer to

29568-501: Was not steam-powered but powered by hand-cranked paddles. A steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , having learned of Watt's engine on

29744-435: Was one of the biggest companies that operated steamboats in short-sea shipping . The Talbot operated by GSNC on the London - Calais line had a tonnage of 156 and 60 hp. Steamships required carrying fuel (coal) at the expense of the regular payload. For this reason for some time sailships remained more economically viable for long voyages. However, as the steam engine technology improved, more power could be generated by

29920-463: Was present at the trials of the Charlotte Dundas and was intrigued by the potential of the steamboat. While working in France, he corresponded with and was helped by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell , who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. Fulton designed his own steamboat, which sailed along the River Seine in 1803. Fulton later obtained a Boulton and Watt steam engine, shipped to America, where his first proper steamship

30096-440: Was so heavy that bison herds could not reach important seasonal grazing land, contributing to their collapse which in turn hastened the decline of Comanche power in the region. The trail was used as the 1846 U.S. invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican–American War. After the U.S. acquisition of the Southwest ending the Mexican–American War, the trail helped open the region to U.S. economic development and settlement, playing

30272-423: Was the center of a regional trading network that reached from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico . The civilization declined by 1400 CE, and most descendants left the area long before the arrival of Europeans. St. Louis was at one time known as Mound City by the European Americans because of the numerous surviving prehistoric mounds since lost to urban development. The Mississippian culture left mounds throughout

30448-468: Was the epicenter of the four New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 . Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cool, sometimes cold, winters and hot, humid, and wet summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel , the climate becomes humid subtropical . Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extreme temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate

30624-413: Was the only practical way for settlers in wagons without tools, livestock, or supplies to cross the mountains and usually thought critical to the settlement of the American West. Some of the first to travel the Oregon Trail were Christian missionaries, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church who established the Methodist Mission in 1834. Even though they didn't make many converts, they were impressed by

30800-414: Was used anyway as a route of travel and commerce between the eastern United States and California. In addition, ranchers drove many herds of cattle and sheep along this route to new markets. The San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line , operating in 1857–1858, largely followed this route, as did the Butterfield Overland Mail from 1858–1861. Tied in with the Santa Fe Trail and the San Antonio–El Paso Road , by

30976-521: Was used for more than 20 years after the Mormons used it and has been reserved for sightseeing. The initial movement of the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake occurred in two segments: one in 1846 and one in 1847. The first segment, across Iowa to the Missouri River, covered around 265 miles. The second segment, from the Missouri River to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, covered about 1,032 miles. From 1846 to 1869, more than 4,600 Mormons died traveling along an integral part of

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