The 1830s?

[Oregon Bill]

Events in this decade set the stage for what we define here as the Plainsman period. Jason Lee answers a call forwarded by Captain William Clark to the Methodist Church to bring the Bible to the First Nations people of the Pacific Northwest, still marginally under control of the Hudson Bay Company. Traveling west from New England with the redoubtable Nathaniel Wyeth, he opens a mission near my home town of Salem, Oregon, in 1834. Ewing Young drives the first herd of cattle -- 600 -- north out of California to the Willamette Valley, terminus of what would become the Oregon Trail.
Texans free their land from Mexican rule in 1836, forming an independent republic and setting the stage for another event with huge implications for the future United States, the Mexican-American War of 1846-47, training ground of so many major players in the Civil War to follow.
The percussion system becomes widespread, even dominant. The back-action lock appears about 1830, and will be found on many extant Plains rifles from the period of westward expansion. And of course, Sam Colt patents the first practical revolver.
Lots going on in this "decade without a home."

[Tsalagidave]

I completely agree Bill and thanks for sharing.  1836 also marked the twilight of the Mountain Man era.  Although the culture would continue through the 19th century it would never be in the numbers it was as in its heyday from the early 1800s to mid 1830s. Great reminder as to how ignorant and unappreciative the slogan "in my neighborhood 100 years ago, nothing happened".  Do a little digging and there is a treasure trove of history in just about any back yard.

[pony express]

1830's-in my part of Missouri, the first permanent settlers were beginning to arrive, although most of my ancestors were still in Kentucky or Tennessee until the 1850's(at least on my dad's side, have not done any research on Mom's side yet.

[Oregon Bill]

Dave, I meant to mention the fur trade. Alfred Jacob Miller attended the 1837 rendezvous and left us his wonderful images of it. The last 'Vous was held in 1840, and by then the value of beaver fur was in freefall owing to the popularity of the silk hat.

[Tsalagidave]

That's good stuff Bill, I love the mountain man era and it played such an important role ushering in the expansionist era.  Pony, you live in the right place as well. Mountains, plains, deserts...feeling the heritage in the ground beneath our feet is so important. Stand in a field and visualize the various tribes pursuing the herds before and after the horse.  Later, it would be the mountain men, ranchers, soldiers, travellers...thousands of years of people who should not be forgotten.  It means so much more doing an event when you can literally feel their footsteps through your own feet.

-Dave

[Oregon Bill]

Dave, the most peculiar thing about the Fur Trade era, at least among the re-enacting community, is how it so thoroughly dominates the discussion when it really involved only a tiny fraction of the population. There's no question the major "nodes" of American history in the popular imagination are the Pilgrims, then the French and Indian Wars, then the Revolution, then the fur trade, then the cowboys of the trans-Mississippi West. I like that the American Plainsman Society is working to tease out the overlooked plainsmen and prairie travelers headed west.