But what we think of the West, since its inception, has been the domain of large-scale power, of highly capitalized speculators, businesses, railroads, agriculture, and mining. “Settlement tended to follow, rather than precede, connections to national and international markets,” Richard White, a historian of the West, argues. These markets were created through federal action, by, among other things, federal gunboats.21 Western movement required a strong state.
