The North American West as described by Patricia Limerick is a Legacy of Conquest. This image of conquest applies to many developments throughout the changing American West. Three ways in which the North American West has been a region of conquest will be explored in this essay by looking at the westerner’s conquest over non-Americans, misfortune, and the natural environment.
The most obvious example of conquest within the west is that between the White Anglo-Americans and the Native Americans. While this is important we will take a more in depth look at social conquest in the west, specifically within California. Beginning around 1832 the first large migrations of people begin moving westward into Oregon. While the Oregon Trail never saw huge amounts of traffic, it was the start that gave Americans hope for wealth during the depression of the 1830’s. Even here we begin to see the first signs of Americans exploiting the west for its potential.
In the late 1840’s began a new migration of much larger proportions with the California Gold Rush. The Oregon Trail set the stage for western migration, and when news of the prospect of gold reached the east, Americans jumped at the chance for a wealthy lifestyle. In 1849 alone there were approximately 26,000 people making the journey to California while over the course of 10 years the California Gold Rush saw around a quarter of a million people make the move for gold. Gold mining in California became very attractive because there were almost no startup costs once miners arrived and the land was free because no one knew who owned it. The temptations of the gold rush brought thousands to California which of course led to many other problems. Miners began to govern themselves with common law justice resulting in very low rates of theft but an extraordinarily high violence and murder rate. With this we see the miners starting to conquer the land and even each other, but the main sense of conquest comes with...