A CENTURY OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES. 237 
tolerable. And yet, out of all this hot debate and war talk, 
there emerged in 1846 peace, Oregon, and the forty-ninth 
parallel. And out of all the ominous mutterings in 1898, 
and the fever heat that is now at the danger line, there will 
emerge—I am not a prophet, but let us hope, there will 
emerge—white-winged peace, honorable to Spain and to us, 
justice for all, and freedom for Cuba. 
Three years later came the discovery of gold in California. 
Then California, as now Klondike, set the imaginations of 
men on fire. Long caravans of ox teams in endless succes¬ 
sion wended their slow way across the plains, the mountains, 
and the deserts to the sunset land of gold. Government sur¬ 
veys for a railroad promptly followed, and crude and imper¬ 
fect knowledge as to the region rapidly gave place to better, 
though still defective, knowledge of the Great West. 
Then came war and the need of war maps. All available 
agencies for their production for the use of army and navy 
were drawn upon, and the need of topographic maps for mili¬ 
tary purposes, hitherto clear to the few, was now made clear 
to the many. 
In the years immediately following the civil war several 
events occurred which gave a fresh impetus to geography. 
The completion of a railroad across the continent had a pro¬ 
found significance and importance. It was a bond of iron 
which, shortening the time and distance between east and 
west, bound .them closer in ties of affection and interest. 
The western pioneer of ’49 and ’50 could revisit his old 
home and friends in the east, and opportunity was afforded 
to many in the east to get some personal knowledge of the 
boundless west. 
In 1867 Alaska was purchased. The discussions in Con¬ 
gress and out preceding and following that purchase were 
spread abroad and taught Alaskan geography to the masses; 
and yet there was little to teach, for but little was known. 
The government, the great agency of geographic research 
in this country, at once began to explore its new purchase, 
to survey, and to map it. This work has with varying vicis- 
