134 



THi: STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



rendered on July 4, 1863. The State was form- 

 ally readmitted to the Union in 1870. On Jan- 

 uary 29, 1903, the Yazoo Canal was opened, 

 restoring to Vicksburg the water front it lost 

 during 1876, when the Federal Government 

 attempted to dredge a canal through six miles 

 of forest, tapping the Yazoo River above that 

 city and diverting the flow of the Mississippi. 



Missouri. The name of the State Minifies 

 "Mud River." The settlement and proiriv-s of 

 Missouri were at first slower than in the lower 

 portions of French Louisiana. % Its oldest town. 

 Ste. Genevieve, was founded in 1755. In 1762. 

 France ceded to Spain the portion west of the 

 Mississippi, and to England the section east of 

 the river. Numbers of Canadian French had 

 settled along the whole line of the river, and an 

 active trade had been carried on between upper 

 and lower Louisiana. With liberal grants of lands 

 to colonists, immigrants flocked hither from 

 Spain. In 1775, St. Louis, originally a depot 

 of the fur-trade, contained 800 inhabitants. 

 while Ste. Genevieve had only 460. Spain sided 

 with the colonists during the Revolution, and 

 her arms were successful in lower Louisiana and 

 Florida. In 1780, however, St. Louis was at- 

 tacked by a force of English and Indians from 

 Michilimackinac, and was only relieved by the 

 arrival of General Clarke from Kaskaskia with 

 American assistance. With the retrocession of 

 Louisiana to France in 1800, and its subsequent 

 sale to the United States by Napoleon three 

 years later, its political ownership became fixed. 

 Missouri was included in the Territory of Louis- 

 iana, which had been set off in 1805, with St. 

 Louis as the seat of territorial government. 

 In 1812, with the admission of the present State 

 of Louisiana into the Union, the name of the 

 Territory was changed to Missouri. With rapid 

 immigration the population had swelled in 1817 

 to 60,000. In 1820, by the celebrated compro- 

 mise, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a 

 slaveholding State, on condition that slavery 

 should never exist north of latitude 36 30', in 

 lands farther west, out of which new States 

 should be formed. During the late Civil War 

 repeated efforts were made to force secession on 

 Missouri, but unsuccessfully. Though no great 

 battles were fought within the State limits, it 

 was the field of active military operations and, 

 in many sections, of bloody guerilla-fighting. 

 The battle of W T ilson's Creek, on August 10, 

 1861, where General Lyon, the Federal com- 

 mander, was killed, and the capture of Lexing- 

 ton by the Confederate general, Sterling Price, 

 on September 20, 1861, were the most important 

 events of the first year of the conflict. Several 

 times General Price held more than half the 

 State in his hands, and it was not till 1864 that 

 the Confederates were finally expelled. In June, 

 1865, a new constitution was ratified by the 

 people. The fifteenth amendment to the Fed- 

 eral Constitution was adopted by the legislature 

 in 1869. Missouri was the eleventh State 

 admitted under the Federal Constitution. 



Montana. In 1743, Chevalier de la Veren- 

 drye, with a party of French Canadians, entered 

 Montana and discovered the Rocky Mountains. 

 but made no attempt at settlement. The coun- 

 try came into the possession of the United States 



by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In 1804 

 and 1806, Lewis and Clark made exploring expe- 

 ditions up the Missouri and across the mountains 

 to the Pacific, crossing Montana twice. Alex- 

 ander Henry, in 1808, led a party of fur-traders 

 into the Yellowstone country, and in 1806-1810, 

 John Colter, of Lewis and Clark's expedition, 

 eniraired in hunting and trapping in the territory. 

 Fort Union, the first permanent fort in Montana, 

 was built in 1829 by Kenneth Mackenzie, and 

 in 1832 the first steamer ascended the Missouri 

 into Montana. Fort Benton was built in 1846 

 by Alexander Culbertson. In 1853-54, Mon- 

 tana was explored by a scientific and military 

 expedition sent out by Governor Isaac J. Stevens, 



| of Washington Territory. The Gold Creek 

 mines were discovered in 1862. and in the same 

 year the development of the mines of Beaver- 

 head Valley and Bighole River began. In 1864, 

 Montana was organized as a Territory and 

 Helena and Butte City were founded. From 

 1864 to 1879 there was war with the Sioux, 

 Blackfeet, and Cheyennes. In 1874, Helena was 

 made territorial capital. The battle of Little 

 Big Horn, when General Custer and his men 

 were massacred, occurred in 1876. In 1881, the 

 first railroad reached Helena, and in 1883 the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad was completed to 

 this point, relieving the financial distress. In 

 1889, Montana was admitted as a State. The 

 Montana State University was opened at Helena 

 in 1891. 



Nebraska. The name first applied to the 

 river is of Indian origin, and signifies "Shallow 

 Water." When originally organized as a Ter- 

 ritory in 1854, it extended from latitude 40 

 north to the northern national boundary and 

 west to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The 

 Territory of Colorado was set off from this on 

 February 28, 1861, and that of Dakota a few 

 months later. At the same time Nebraska re- 

 ceived from Utah and Washington Territories a 

 tract of 15,378 square miles, lying on the south- 

 west slope of the Rocky Mountains, which, how- 

 ever, was taken from her with an additional 

 portion in 1863 to form the Territory of Idaho. 

 Nebraska was thus cut down to its present 

 limits. Measures to form a State government 

 were made in 1860 and in 1864, but the first was 

 defeated by the popular vote, and the second 

 (being an enabling act of Congress) was not 



j acted on. The Civil War and Indian hostilities 

 checked the growth of the Territory during 1861- 

 65. In 1866, a constitution was framed and 

 ratified by popular vote, and in 1867 Nebraska 

 was admitted as a State, being the twenty- 

 fourth under the Constitution. 



Nevada. The region within the limits of 

 Nevada forms part of the Mexican cession of 

 is is. It was organized by act of Congress as a 

 Territory in 1861, from a portion of Utah, and 

 embraced the region bounded north by the pres- 

 ent boundary of the State, east by the 116th 

 meridian, south by the 37th parallel, and west 

 by ( 1 alifornia. A portion of California which 

 had been included, the latter-named State re- 

 fused to transfer, and by an additional act of 

 Congress, in 1861, a further portion of Utah 

 was added, extending the east boundary the 

 distance of one degree. Nevada became a 



