Summary of Tom Clavin's Dodge City

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Dodge City was a gateway to the Great American Desert, and it was there that the American West and Manifest Destiny were symbolized. It was a reservoir of tall tales, yet many of the facts are equally if not more fascinating.

#2 The first explorers of America were looking for a land to settle, and they found it in Kansas, which was right in the middle of the Louisiana Purchase. The explorers were impressed by the vast plains east of the Rocky Mountains, which were filled with lush green shortgrass.

#3 The first half of the 1700s was a time of expansion for the Apache and Comanche tribes. The Apache were pushed aside as the Comanche expanded into Texas and as far southeast as the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining Apache and Kiowa found ways to coexist with the Comanche.

#4 The first white men to travel to the area that would become Dodge City were traders, who were followed by army officers, who thought the area was uninhabitable. But some entrepreneurs saw the explorations of Pike and others as opening the territory to traders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822539426

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Insights on Tom Clavin's Dodge City

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Dodge City was a gateway to the Great American Desert, and it was there that the American West and Manifest Destiny were symbolized. It was a reservoir of tall tales, yet many of the facts are equally if not more fascinating.

#2

The first explorers of America were looking for a land to settle, and they found it in Kansas, which was right in the middle of the Louisiana Purchase. The explorers were impressed by the vast plains east of the Rocky Mountains, which were filled with lush green shortgrass.

#3

The first half of the 1700s was a time of expansion for the Apache and Comanche tribes. The Apache were pushed aside as the Comanche expanded into Texas and as far southeast as the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining Apache and Kiowa found ways to coexist with the Comanche.

#4

The first white men to travel to the area that would become Dodge City were traders, who were followed by army officers, who thought the area was uninhabitable. But some entrepreneurs saw the explorations of Pike and others as opening the territory to traders.

#5

The American government established forts in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail from Indian attacks. However, the Indians were often agreeable to not attacking travelers in exchange for gifts.

#6

The same year that Fort Atkinson was abandoned, the Kansas-Nebraska Act established the region as a territory. The Civil War began in 1861, and some Indians took advantage of the army having abandoned their western posts to attack settlements.

#7

The Treaty of Little Arkansas River was signed by the tribes’ leaders, who could not read or write English. They touched the pen held by an army scribe, who then wrote their names on the document.

#8

The number of American bison on the Great Plains was an inexhaustible force. Men came to hunt the buffalo and sell their hides. The railroad companies would help bring civilization to the Great American Desert much faster than horses and wagons could.

#9

The Union Pacific Eastern Division, which was built by Orlando Talcott, reached Lawrence, Kansas, in December 1863. It would be up to the Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe to connect the rest of the state to the profitable markets elsewhere in America.

#10

After the Texas Revolution, the most durable of the cattle was the longhorn, which meant that these bulls and cows were the best candidates to survive long drives to markets. The coming of the railroads was like pulling the cork out of a bottle.

#11

Dodge City was founded in 1872,