Stegners View of the True Hero of the West

A detailed Summary of Stegners View of the True Hero of the West

The West -" home on the range where the deer and the antelope play; where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the sky is not cloudy all day.aE? The romantic idea of the land west of the hundredth meridian has often inspired songs and poetry, like this one, about idyllic conditions in this dry "paradise.aE? Often these ideas did not prove to be completely accurate, and a very few people attempted to present the facts to the public to dispel the romantic ideas of an effortless existence in these western lands. John Wesley Powell was one of these people. Wallace Stegner viewed Powell as a champion for science and one of the true heroes of this time because he did not follow the romantic ideas that so many of his contemporaries held about settlement in the West.

One of the men Stegner presented as the epitome of Western romanticism was the Honorable William Gilpin, who eventually became the first territorial governor of Colorado. Throughout Stegner's book, he used Gilpin as a contrast to Powell, who represented science. Gilpin was the example of the people that Stegner believed to be enamored with the idea of the West as a huge frontier, able to support millions, without looking at the facts and examini

Although Powell attempted to prove that the West was not ready to be settled and presented facts to support his case, Gilpin and his contemporaries would not listen to reason. Their lofty ideals about the romance of the West spread across the nation like wildfire, and the romance still exists today. With the asset of hindsight, Stegner knew the facts about western settlement, and because Powell was one of the few who tried to present these facts to a nation unwilling to listen, he viewed Powell as a hero.

Gilpin promoted settlement loudly in the West, making unsupported claims about the wealth of the area. He claimed that firewood was in abundance underground and that all settlers had to do was to dig to obtain it (p. 3). They could dig for water also because, according to him, the West had great underground artesian wells that would provide enough water for millions of settlers (p. 7). If this was not enough water, there was always the possibility of irrigation because of the plentiful water supplies from the melting snow on the mountains. He made the statement that "agriculture was effortless,aE? clinging to the idea that "rain followed the plowaE? (p. 4). Using these unsupported claims, he declared that there were no longer any hindrances to settlement on the plains (p. 3). Powell disputed all of these ideas, using facts to disprove him. He fought in Congress, stating facts and arguing against the idea of rain following the plow. He also predicted that out of all the land that they had planned to irrigate, only twelve percent would be irrigated (p. 343). In his arguments against the great ideas about settlement on the plains, he stated that the United States government and the Gilpins of this day were

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Approximate Word count = 1167
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History