Good point. I guess in my mind I think if someone didn't pass through Death Valley, they somehow hadn't made the big journey.
You are probably more correct than you think Bill. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1802, (828,000 sq miles of land, lakes and rivers) everything west of the Mississippi River was.....west. I guess the biggest push west other than the California gold rush in 1848 was around 1862 when the U.S. gave a huge land grant for the building of the transcontinental railroad which was completed in 1869. Let’s face the facts: wherever the railroad went, so did businesses, ranchers, farmers and dreams. In some cases, much of the land was free for the taking and such was the case for settlers in Oklahoma in 1893 after the Cherokee wars. Nearly 100,000 people literally raced to claim their piece of land at the sound of the starting pistol. Bottom line I guess is that there were a lot of incentives for people to brave the unknown to find their pot of gold at the end of whatever rainbow they followed. I dunno but if the situation were that if I was given the option of working for someone else all my life or risking everything to be my own boss and take more of a part determining my own destiny......I think I’d take the plunge.