WebQuest: The Push Westward and the Rise of the Preservation Movement

Overview: In this WebQuest, you will explore resources related to the U.S. push westward, early accounts of the American West, and emerging perspectives on preserving the western wilderness.

Reading (please update from the syllabus as distributed; all pages refer to the Norton Book of Nature Writing):
~John Burroughs, "In Mammoth Cave" (245-250)
~Meriwether Lewis, excerpt from The Journals of Lewis and Clark (96-104)
~George Catlin, excerpt from Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians (129-140)
~John Wesley Powell, excerpt from Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries (230-236)
~John Muir, "A Wind-Storm in the Forests" (251-258) and "The Water-Ouzel" (258-268)
~Clarence King, excerpt from Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (276-281)
~Mary Austin, "The Land of Little Rain" (321-326)

As you read this week's essays, consider the following questions:

What is the author's conception of wilderness? 
How does s/he envision the human relationship to the environment? 
How is the landscape described? 
What does the type of description suggest about the author's conception of landscape and wilderness? 
What emotions, ideas, political attitudes, and philosophies are evoked by the landscape? 
When is the author traveling and writing and for what purpose?

While posing these questions, see if you can discern any evolution in thought and attitude. Is the response of the later writers any different from the response of the earlier ones? What—if anything—connects these essays? Can you discover a "nineteenth-century mindset" at work in these essays? Do you think these writers were influenced in any way by Transcendentalism—or do they depart from or challenge Transcendentalism?

Each student in the class will be responsible for exploring one author or painter fully. The other class members can simply skim the web resources about that particular author.

Step 1: Explore the scenic eastern United States.

Discover how our area (one of the oldest parts of the new nation) was described in literature by visiting Landmarks of American Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley. Be sure to visit landmark #1—Harpers Ferry! (Don't read each of these. Just familiarize yourself with the site!)

Learn about Alexis de Tocqueville's 1831 visit to America by visiting the Democracy in America web site. This will give you a sense of the eastern United States at the start of the Transcendentalist movement. Be sure to take a virtual tour of Tocqueville's America. (Again, you don't need to explore all of these items. Just get a taste!) Learn about American tourists who were exploring the new nation. They've decided that they can tour America rather than having to go to Europe—find why this is important! Learn about European tourists who were exploring the United States. Find out how tourists moved around the United States in these early days.

Learn about The Hudson River painters and the message they were conveying about the new American landscape. View a slide show of Hudson River School paintings. To do so, go to this link, scroll down to "viewed as a slide show," click and wait as each painting downloads one by one.

After reading John Burroughs's essay, explore these links about this naturalist of the eastern United States.

The Catskill Archive: John Burroughs
Ecology Hall of Fame: John Burroughs
John Burroughs: America's Most Beloved Nature Writer

Step 2: Now consider a move westward.

Learn about Thomas Jefferson and his efforts to explore the West from Monticello. Join Lewis and Clark on their expedition by going to the following sites:

Interactive Lewis and Clark Expedition (very cool!)
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Lewis and Clark Online Base Camp (from National Geographic)
 

Join George Catlin as he explores and depicts the West by going to the following sites:

Medicine Painter: George Catlin on the Upper Missouri, 1832
Online Tour of Catlin Images

Step 4: Consider the sweeping work of the western landscape painters.

Learn about the life and work of Albert Bierstadt. And look at some of Bierstadt's paintings by visiting these links:
WildWestArt
Sunsite Image 1
Sunsite Image 2
 

Explore the work of Thomas Moran at the National Gallery and at the National Park Service.

Step 5: Explore the evolution of the conservation movement.

Start by going to the homepage of the Library of Congress's American Memory Project collection, The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 (Library of Congress American Memory Project collection). Read the preface to the project (it will give you a good history of the conservation movement). Then go back to the collection's home page and scroll down to the timeline. Click through several sections of the timeline. You'll also want to take a guided tour of site (and when you get there, scroll down to journal writing). 

Learn about the life and work of John Wesley Powell at the following sites:

Powell Museum

Powell Resources
Grand Canyon Explorer: The Powell Expedition
The American Experience: Lost in the Grand Canyon
 

Learn about the life and work of Clarence King at the following sites:

Mount Shasta Companion: Clarence King
Clarence King Papers

Learn about the life and work of John Muir at the following sites:

Ecology Hall of Fame: John Muir
John Muir Exhibit from the Sierra Club
"Why Climb Mountains? John Muir and Clarence King at a Historical Crossroads of American Mountain Climbing"

Learn about the life and work of Mary Austin.

Journal Prompts

Idea #1: Choose one of the writers above and write about the person's significance to the development of the nation and the American landscape/environment.

Idea #2: Choose one of the visual artists from above (Hudson River School Painters, George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, or Thomas Moran), choose one painting by this artist, and write a verbal description of what you see as you look at the painting.

Idea #3: Imagine you are an explorer in  your own backyard (or neighborhood or town or nearby park, etc.). Write as if you are just discovering the place for the first time.

Essay Topic

Choose one of the writers above and consider the questions listed above (just after the reading assignment). You may refer to other writers and/or visual artists in your essay.  Consider the questions that are listed as part of the reading assignment (above), but be sure to focus your thesis and discussion in some meaningful way.

"American Transcendentalism: An Online Travel Guide" was produced by students in ENGL 446, American Transcendentalism, and ENGL 447, American Literature and the Prominence of Place: A Travel Practicum. These courses were team-taught in the Department of English at Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in Spring 2002 by Dr. Patricia Dwyer and Dr. Linda Tate. For more information on the course and the web project, visit "About This Site." © 2003 Linda Tate.