8th Grade Begins the Year with Westward Expansion

Together, we viewed and discussed Thomas Moran's 1872 Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, painted in a Newark, NJ studio after Moran returned from the American West. He had been out West as a member of Ferdinand Hayden's 1871 Geological Survey of the West, a government-funded expedition to discover the geological characteristics of what would become 

Yellowstone National Park.

Next we viewed a photograph of the same scene, taken by another member of the expedition, William Henry Jackson, and discussed why a geological expedition in 1871 might include both a photographer and an artist among its team of scientists.

Finally, we examined a recent photograph taken from the same point in Yellowstone National Park, and discussed the three images' similarities and differences.

We will examine other methods used by the  US government and businesses to encourage Americans to explore, settle, and develop the West, and displace the Native Americans.