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Image – The Idealized West
The Idealized West Page 544
Chapter 16
The Idealized West
As a way to draw millions of people to the West, this booster brochure from 1882, “The Heart of the Continent,” captures the utopian vision that drew millions to the region. There were plenty of open spaces in the post-Civil War West. Federal land policies and the transcontinental railroad facilitated the settlement of this region.
Questions for Analysis
1. Take a close look at the brochure. How is the West portrayed? What settlement patterns do you see? How is the West being “sold”?
2. Indian Wars still raged throughout the West in the 1880s. Are any Indians or Indian settlements visible in the brochure?