...which was, as you might now expect from the traveler, on discs. Found at the library, a set of eight Cds, probably actually made to be heard on the radio. The kind of interesting, sort of off-center article you would hear on public broadcasting. Really good information, lots of historical research and fact-finding went into the writing.
A subtitle is "History on the Move," copyright in 2003 by Topics Entertainment. There were a number of different subjects covered, on a wide variety of topics. Stories about what pioneers went through when they began to move into uncharged territory in the mid and late 1800's. Excerpts from diaries of men, women and children who traveled west from well established towns and lives, to California or Oregon with all their worldly goods Conestoga wagons. Trekking over the Rocky Mountains, often caught by early winter storms, walking every step of the way.
Tales of the gold miners and boom towns. What life was really like when buffalo covered the plains, and Natives lived in peace, without whites pushing them onto reservations, and stealing their homeland. Hunters, trappers, explorers who spent months in solitude living off the land, seldom seeing another human being. Ranchers and cowboys who spent most of their lives in the saddle, herding stock and the long drives to get to market towns. Railroads and the men who laid the track, working in the harshest of conditions over the mountains an inch at the time.Women who were the backbone of their families, making do in soddy homes built of dirt on the plains, that gradually grew into settlements, towns as they grew from nothing more than a trading post to cities like Sacramento and Seattle.
The kinds of story lines so many of the movies about the west were based on. History of how we came to be a country from sea to shining sea. Well written, and beautifully told, thoroughly enjoyed.
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