Excerpt from Stephen H. Long's contribution to "An Account of an Expedition from
Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819, 1820"
by Edwin James (1823).
"Of the country situated between the meridian of the Council Bluff
and the Rocky Mountains."
"In regard to this extensive section of country, I do not hesitate in
giving the opinion, that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and
of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for
their subsistence. Although tracts of fertile land considerably
extensive are occasionally to be met with, yet the scarcity of wood and
water, almost uniformly prevalent, will prove an insuperable obstacle
in the way of settling the country. This objection rests not only
against the section immediately under consideration, but applies with
equal propriety to a much larger portion of the country.
"This region, however, viewed as a frontier, may prove of infinite
importance to the United States, inasmuch as it is calculated to serve
as a barrier to prevent too great an extension of our population
westward, and secure us against the machinations or incursions of an
enemy that might otherwise be disposed to annoy us in that part of our
frontier.
"The Indians of the section last described, whose numbers are very
limited compared with the extent of country they inhabit, will be
considered in the sequel of this report."
Long's Map: "The Great American Desert"
