26 Henry Gannett — Movements of our Population. 



pioneers. These centers have grown and s^jread until their 

 margins have touched the main frontier line and they have 

 become merged in the great body of population. In two or three 

 instances bodies of population which have grown up under 

 foreign powers have fallen under our jurisdiction by the acquisi- 

 tion of territory. Among these are the old French-Spanish 

 settlements of southern Louisiana, the American-Spanish settle- 

 ments in Texas, and the Spanish settlements of New Mexico, 

 Arizona and California. In 1860 settlements of magnitude first 

 appeared in the Rocky mountains and on the Pacific coast. 

 Those in California consisted of gold-hunters and those in Utah 

 of Mormons. In 1870 these settlements had spread widely. To 

 the gold-hunters of California had been added thousands of 

 farmers who were subduing the broad acres of the Sacramento 

 valley. The Mormons had increased and multiplied, and gold- 

 hunters had spread into Idaho and Montana. 



The second of these maps (plate 7, figure 2), representing the 

 status of settlement in 1890, marks an epoch in the history of 

 our settlement. The frontier line has disappeared. The settle- 

 ments in the far west have spread and joined one another. The 

 settlements from the east have traveled up the plains and have 

 joined those in the mountains at many points, so that the settled 

 area has become the rule and the unoccupied places the excep- 

 tion. It will soon be useless to advise young men to go west 

 and grow up with the country, for the country is raj)idly grow- 

 ing up. 



Per cent of Increase of settled Area and of Population. 



