The West and the True West; I know no higher god

The West and the Frontier

A map of my idea of the spiritual “American West”

I grew up about as far to the west as is virtually possible in the lower 48 without falling into the ocean, but ironically the identifiable features the mind conjures when mention is made of the Western United States were non-existent. It was only when you venture inland away from the Pacific that  the iconography we’ve come to associates with the “American West” begins to emerge and take shape around you. This paradox highlights why defining the American West takes more than a compass and map. The United States populated its western interior at a time and in a manner that resulted in a unique identity distinct from the rest of the country which for my purposes will refer to as the “True West.” What was actualized was a west that is as much a geographic region as it is an abstract concept that encompasses all the myths, legends, landscapes, and characteristics that define this quintessential American landscape.   

The western edge of the Texas panhandle is the boundary extending from Mexico to Canada that I feel adequately represents the eastern border of the true American West. My border omits most of the Dakotas eastern land and a small bit of eastern Colorado. This border represents the division between the mountain west and the flat short-grass prairie landscape more ecologically and historically identified with the great plains (Shortgrass Prairie). South Dakota’s far western edge is included to contain “Deadwood”, a town at the center of the Black Hills Gold Rush and a kinetic focal point for the kind of  activity that would come to define the image of the American west as a lawless landscape populated by colorful individualists (South Dakota Mining History).

The western border of the “True West” is the entire eastern border of California, a state with a history and geography so singular and separate from the greater American west that it warrants it’s own designation and field of inquiry. There have been Spanish Presidios in southern California since 1769 (Sasha Honig, California Presidios). The same kind of early contact is true for the maritime Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, where Russians, Spanish, English, and possibly Chinese had been in contact with the native peoples, and some having even set up outposts along the coast and its rivers (Pacific Northwest Explorations Before). The Pacific Northwest was a region where abundant rain, large rivers, and good agricultural land made for a less harsh existence, which is why the true west doesn’t begin until east of the Oregon and Washington Cascades.

The “True West” is the concept of a single region unified by similarities in history, culture, geography, iconography, and tradition. The west owes its unique identity to the relatively late arrival of large scale settlement and as such was heavily influenced by the people and technology available and willing to blaze a trail into the unknown from the mid to late 19th century. Major immigrant and marginalized groups present at that time are heavily represented and played major roles in building the world of the west. Some key players include Chinese, Scotch-Irish, Irish, Cornish, Mexican, fringe religious groups, veterans, and generally the most intrepid, entrepreneurial or desperate individuals (Immigration, Railroads, and the West). This late arrival also meant the region was shaped and tamed not by successive generations, but largely by a single generation and exclusively with the technology of the period. The “True West” was largely settled postbellum and post-slavery by many desperate to leave the bounds of conventional society and as a result developed a fierce independence and individualism, and more importantly a forward looking worldview that did not dwell on or idolize the past (Utley, Robert).

Ecology is a dividing line that sets the west apart from the coasts and the plains. The pacification of the Great Plains was aggressive and successful owing in large part to their relative proximity to population centers in the eastern states and to the open easily tamed landscape (Sampson, Fred Great Plains Ecosystem). The Native peoples were all but wiped out with military precision alongside much of the native flora and fauna. American settlers drove Bison to the edge of extinction, and to their future detriment, did the same to many native prairie plant species (Dakota Prairie Grassland). The East Coast had hundreds of years to raze forests and hunt species to extirpation and extinction. The late arrival of settlers, the unforgiving geography, the harsh climates, the remoteness, the lack of abundant water, and the emergence of a land ethic in the late 19th century all played a role in the west being spared the same level of ecological decimation seen elsewhere. Many wild unchanged landscapes persist today.

“The Frontier”

“Frontier” and “West” are often used interchangeably when discussing American history and for much of our history the west was the frontier. More aptly however is the definition that the frontier is whatever successive edge of settlement we’ve reached that beyond which lies the unknown. The Concept of the “frontier” has been a motivating and defining factor of the American Identity since the nation’s inception. With each successive move deeper into the frontier one stepped further from technological and societal advancement and became more dependant on self reliance. As long as some American somewhere was living self sufficiently and bringing civilization to the hinterland then Manifest Destiny was thriving (Smith, Gibbs). The need for a frontier by those who had no interest in settling one themselves seemed to be as important for their psyche as to those who actually set off into the unknown. It was as if America always needed to be moving forward or it risked stagnating. This mindset is illustrated by a quote by Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan who said, "It is America's right to stretch from sea to shining sea. Not only do we have a responsibility to our citizens to gain valuable natural resources we also have a responsibility to civilize this beautiful land.” (Westward Expansion).

The shackles of the hierarchal cities of the east where family history and social class can be a burden were meaningless in the savage land where one was judged solely on their actions, the frontier represented a meritocracy for those in need of a new beginning. Ironically however, and possibly unbeknownst to the frontiersmen themselves, their attempt to flee civilization and its contours was itself complicate in the civilizing of the wilderness, the same civilizing that occurred years before in the land from which they fled. The mindset may be more important than the reality for assuredly there are still those with a frontier mentality who are without a frontier to set out upon. And perhaps these modern frontiersmen are today our free thinkers, individualists, and troublemakers, forging a trail the only way they still can.

Much of these definitions are firmly rooted on perceptions of the west and the frontier and are often more myth and wishful thinking than reality, but the west was and in some ways still is something that needs to exist in our imaginations if only as a concept, a vast promise land that will be available to us should we need it. In this way the frontier and the west aren’t tangible, but simply manifested reflections of our collective dreams and desires.