It stretched from the north line of Arkansas to the border of British America,--twelve and a half degrees of latitude,--and westward over great plains and across mountain ranges till it reached the confines of Utah and Oregon.
It was the unorganized remainder of the territory of Louisiana, acquired from France in 1803, and in extent was ten times as large as the combined area of New York and Pennsylvania.

By the Missouri Compromise every square mile of this domain had been honorably devoted to freedom.

At the period named Indian tribes roamed at will throughout its whole extent and lighted their camp-fires on the very borders of Missouri and Iowa.

Herds of buffalo grazed undisturbed on lands which to-day constitute the sites of large cities.

Fort Leavenworth was a far-western outpost, Council Bluffs was on the frontier of civilization, and Omaha had not been named.
Adventurous merchants passed over the plains to the South-West with long caravans, engaged in the Santa-Fe trade, and towards the North- West, hunters, trappers, and a few hardy emigrants penetrated the "Platte country," and through mountain passes pointed out by the trail of the Indian and the buffalo had in many instances safely crossed to Oregon.