In every one of these three great lines of activity we may still note
what we may call the curiously individual quality of the West. The
conditions of life, of trade, of any endurance upon the soil, made
heavy demands upon the physical man. There must, above all things, be
strength, hardihood, courage. There were great companies in commerce,
it is true, but there were no great corporations to safeguard the
persons of those transported. Each man must "take care of himself,"
as the peculiar and significant phrase went. "Good-by; take care of
yourself," was the last word for the man departing to the West. The
strong legs of himself and his horse, the strong arms of himself and
his fellow-laborers, these must furnish his transportation. The muscles
tried and proved, the mind calm amid peril, the heart unwearied by
reverses or hardships--these were the items of the capital universal
and indispensable of the West. We may trace here the development of a
type as surely as we can by reading the storied rocks of geology. This
time of boat and horse, of pack and cordelle and travois, of strenuous
personal effort, of individual initiative, left its imprint forever and
indelibly upon the character of the American, and made him what he is
to-day among the nations of the globe.