Talk:Great American Desert

Origin of the term

Pike expedition claims that Zebulon Pike labelled the area the Great American Desert, whilst this article suggests that it was a surveyor (Stephen Harriman Long) who did so.

Given that Pike died in 1813, and the surveyor's map is dated at 1823 (and Long's expedition wasn't started until 1819), does anyone have a source on Pike's usage, which would obviously pre-date Long's usage. 156.34.38.60 21:36, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The Pike expedition page says Pike didn't label the area, but rather called it the Great American Desert "in his memoirs." According to D.W. Meinig it was Stephen Long who "inscribed GREAT AMERICAN DESERT" boldly across his map. I'm not entirely sure who came up with the term, but I think it was Long who "put it on the map", so to speak; although Pike's memoirs may have spread the use of the term, I'm not sure. On the other hand, the term "desert" was widely used in colonial and early US times, with a meaning less of "sandy wastes" and more of "deserted and treeless". I am skeptical that the term "Great American Desert" "discouraged settlement for decades", as the Pike expedition page states. I'd think that for a long time there were simply better places to settle, like Oregon, California, etc. It is true that in most of the High Plains agriculture without irrigation is impractical-- which is another early sense of the word "desert". Anyway, I'll try to make some small edits if I can, and look into the term's origin a bit more; maybe even find an old map to use here. Pfly 18:55, 22 November 2006 (UTC)