ss the
continent or the ocean. Wherever they were, they could talk with their
friends by letter or telegraph, and they could go nowhere that the
newspaper could not follow them.

So the waste places of the country began rapidly to fill up. If you have
ever seen an old-time map of our country you must have noticed places in
the West marked "great desert," or "unknown territory," or by some such
name. But people made their way into these unknown regions and filled
them up. First they went with their families and household goods in
great wagons. Then they went far more swiftly in railroad trains. Here
they settled down and began farming; farther on, where there was not
rain enough to farm, they raised cattle and sheep on the rich grasses;
still farther, in the mountain regions, they set to work mining, getting
gold, silver, copper, iron and coal from the hard rocks.

Cities grew up where the Indian and the buffalo had roamed. The factory
followed the farmer; the engine began to puff its steam into the air,
the wheels to turn, the machines to work, goods of all kinds to be
made. The whole country became like a great hive of workers, where
everybody was busy, and thousands of the people grew rich.

But all this great western country was not given up to the farmer, the
miner and the wood-chopper. There were places which nature had made
beautiful or wonderful or grand, and these were kept as places for all
the people to visit. One of these was the beautiful Yosemite Valley, in
California; another was the wonderful Yellowstone Park, with its
marvelous spouting springs; others were the groves of giant trees; still
others were great forests, from which the government told the
wood-choppers to keep out, for the woods had been set aside for the good
or the pleasure of all the people of the land.

Some of you may ask, what became of the old people of the country--the
Indians, who were spread all over the West? There were hundreds of
tribes of them, and many of them were bold and brave, and when they saw
the white men pushing into their country they fought fiercely for their
homes. But they could not stand before the guns of the pioneers and the
cannon of the soldiers, and in time they were all forced to submit. Then
places were set aside for them and they were made to live in them. The
Indians were not always treated well. They were robbed and cheated in a
hundred ways. But that, I hope, is all over now, for they are being
well