Abstract
A blue, crystal-clear stream of cool, rushing water edged with fields of unspoiled green grass. In the distance, gently rolling hills were dotted by groves of majestic, fully grown trees. Such was the romantic fresco painted on a ceiling of the steamboat Omaha as it made its maiden voyage up the Missouri River in March, 1856. The caption at the bottom read, "The Promised Land.” For nearly fifty years after the signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Kansas-Nebraska Territory had been considered a great desert and comparable to the vast wastelands of Africa. By 1854, however, this image was changing. Many viewed the Great Plains as "the rainbow of promise to a perishing and starving world.”
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Speech Communication
Volume
12
Issue
2
First Page
43
Last Page
50
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Schanke, Robert A.
(1980)
"Frontier Theatre: A Torchbearer of Civilization,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 12:
No.
2, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol12/iss2/8
Copyright
©1980 Iowa Communication Association
