Nowhere to Go

As we conclude another chapter, we again look back to note important changes since the previous chapter. These two maps, separated by 20 years, show almost no change. Western growth has almost come to a standstill.

But if we shift our focus back to the East, we see rapid growth in urban areas across America's heartland. Having shown early signs of growth a bit earlier, cities have now become the throbbing heart of American progress.

New developments are also occurring outside America's borders. The discovery of gold in Alaska will bring rapid settlement to this once remote area. In the Pacific, America looks to Hawaii as a base for expanding power.
Irrigation and stalled expansion, 1910 map

  More Irrigation
The only real difference between these two maps is in irrigation, which has tripled in extent. Earlier irrigated areas were mostly near the base of mountain ranges, benefiting from runoff of mountain snow. Later irrigation relies increasing on the use of steam pumps, near major rivers. There are a few new railroad lines, but the main period of rail expansion is now over.

Yukon Gold Rush, 1898 map

  Northern Gold
The discovery of gold in Alaska, far to the north, creates a sensation. The long way around is an all-water route, heading straight west before turning north and then hooking back to the western tip of Alaska. From there, travelers take a steamboat all the way to Dawson City, but only before the river ices up. The shorter, more direct route requires trekking 40 miles with a year's worth of supplies, which typically requires 30 round-trips, on foot. Amazingly, some 30,000 men accomplish this feat in the first summer.


Hawaii, 1910

  Pacific Expansion
In the same year that gold is discovered in Alaska, America seizes the formerly-independent kingdom of Hawaii, after a coup staged by a group of Euro-American business leaders. Sugar has been the main export product of Hawaii since the arrival of Europeans, 100 years earlier, and is now the mainstay of the economy. Large sugar plantations and processing plants are owned by foreigners, including Americans. The island containing Pearl Harbor is deemed a vital American interest by military planners.