| Show CENTURy of GROWTH ar 0 o 01 4 va k ta X san francisco seen from the air prepared hy by vati lc society wahington Wh wr ington D C service vl N one with the wildest im imagination g eva finds it difficult while strolling down san Francis cos markt street or Chi cagos michigan boulevard to visualize the former city as a sleepy mexican village and the latter as a tiny frontier town ton around a stockade encircled tort fort a century ago then the mississippi was way out west it was us as late as 1792 that separate statehood made the momentous first step west of the alleghenies as Kentuck ys lines ran out in their own right the area had been a part of virginia the first state to reach the once remote river with the beginning of the nineteenth century however the union seriously took up the real estate business in a large way chios outlines had barely taken map form in 1803 when a huge territory was pegged out for future states the louisiana purchase which more than doubled the area of the original union this taking over of square miles by the stroke of a pen was probably the greatest real estate transaction in all history for this potential empire the united states paid france in all principal interest and debts assumed 2 it works out at a little less than 4 cents an acre acrel I 1 the purchase was a happy accident a bit of highhanded high handed patriotism that lawyers have said strained the constitution ution robert it livingston was sent in by the he united states as minister to mace fance to attempt to buy the Is land of new orleans on both sides of the mississippi and so to gain con i arol of the mouth of the river lie ile was authorized to offer and if necessary to go as high as for the patch of land negotiations dragged on for two years when suddenly war was declared on france by great britain store more to embarrass great britain tha than 13 to accommodate the united states napoleon dec decided aided to sell the entire louisiana territory the historic decision was reached while the first consul was in his bath napoleon decides to sell james monroe had joined livingston as a special commissioner and to them was made the proposal to sell the french negotiators asked an amount once and a half as great as the highest authorized figure I 1 be two americans were aghast cables and steamships did not exist to get word to america and an answer back would require many weeks napoleon was in a hurry burry so the two envoys figuratively threw their instructions out the window and signed the agreement nobody knew enough about the new domain west of the mississippi to draw an intelligible map of it they knew only that there were prairies and deserts that beyond were mountains of some sort and that somewhere farther on maybe hundreds maybe thousands of leagues away lay jay the half bait mythical south sea lewis and dark clark and soon after them capt zebulon struck into the new country to see what it was like and as a result of their explore allons americans began to learn a few things about their vast west when pow ell led his party of adventurers by boat down the colorado river in 1860 they were the first to navigate the stream through its long canyons although the early spanish explorers had seen the grand canyon from above years before the r lorida florida purchase in 1819 involved a relatively small area that acquisition really made the united states smaller than lt it was before the treaty with spain definitely marked the eastern and northern spanish boundary all the way from the southeast point ot of texas to the northwest point or of california parts of present oklahoma kansas and colorado draining to uie the arkansas areas which had bad been thought to be in the louisiana territory were lost to the united states bythe by the treaty and had bad to be bought back from tel texas later more territory came to the united states la in the decade 18 10 1850 than during any other ten years la in its his tory texas was added in 1815 1945 18 15 the title to oregon territory was established dished by treaty with great britain the ahe following year and the cession from mexico in 1848 at the close of I 1 the 11 le mexican war brought la in the california country and all the region east to texas in all the forties added to the united states map mal more than square miles of at territory an area larger than 20 Florl das taking in texas texa the texas addition was unique texas had existed for nearly ten years ns as an independent republic with diplomatic lor natle representatives in washington aind at european courts and with foreign ministers in its own capital A separate nation entered the union the only case of 0 the sort in united estates history I 1 more than square miles of territory were added by the texas accession there was rejoicing when the oregon matter was settled even though the fifty four forty or fight slogan was not lived up to here was a shining milepost mile post in the bistor history y of the united states in 70 years from the declaration of independence the sew new nation had pushed across nearly miles of virgin territory had brought almost half of it into statehood and had marked the other halt half tor for future development balaoas Bal boas hazy sea had become the incontrovertible pacific and in that mighty ace ocean an the united st states ates had now taken the first step to establish its vital interest after the california country including the present arizona new mexico nevada utah and part of colorado became united states territory in 1848 the developments that mean map changes came to the far west with greatest gold rushes started in 49 by 1850 so many people had poured in that california was wag made a state this was another outstanding milestone statehood had hurdled hundreds hundred ot of miles of territory and had made its first appearance on the shores of the Pac pacific itle by 1850 1830 railway trains were puffing back and forth from massachusetts to georgia and even west of 0 the alleghenies gh enies enles yet california still was farther out of travel reach with the seat of government than even the remotest of the thirteen original states had been in the days of thomas jefferson nearly all of it bought in almost every important addition to its territory which I 1 the united states has made save oregon territory a money payment has played a part the louisiana purchase cost florida cost including interest texas and its creditors were paid to relinquish claim to lands outside the present state boun boundaries darles mexico was given for its cession of territory in in the final addition was made to continental united states as it now dow exists when the gadsden purchase was made of square miles south of the gila river in arizona for this tract was paid to mexico these five accessions t to 0 the united states proper cost A circle with a radius of only 1000 feet drawn around the business center of washington D CL land assessed for almost exactly the amount paid for this far spreading empire territory outside the borders of continental tin united states bought fiane 18 1854 1834 34 was more costly russia was paid for alaska in 1807 the hawaiian national debt of was assumed when the islands were annexed in 1803 spain was bag given for islands annexed after the spanish american war the ten mile strip of the canal zone in panama has cost the united states so far dald to panama and i i paid to colombia in addition the united states paid OW to the new panama canal copany company of france and panama coehn des to receive annually the latest territorial purchase by the united states was the virgin lalands islands for the square miles of these caribbean islands denal denmark ark received in that works out approximately an acre 7 times the acre price paid for the louisiana purchase the total payi payments neriN for or outlying tar territory made since 1851 1854 amount to these payments have nil all been in cash carter barter and land trades have never played a part in the growth of 0 united states slates territory as they did with the dutch who purchased manhattan island for or 21 worth of trinkets and the english who later got all dutch claims to manhattan and the rest of mew york state in trade for what is 13 now guiana |
