The great plains have their own enchantment of rolling grasslands and far horizons.

But here, looking into the past we see that this was once a shallow sea with fish fifty-feet long. It was a forest of giant ferns. There were dinosaurs here, then early mammals.

You see the shape of the land changed in large areas where ice sheets came down leveling it and leaving fertile soil, new lake beds, rocky hills.

For thousands of years following the ice age, there were wandering hunters who finally settled to farming. Mounds built by these people over three thousand years ago can still be seen.

By the time white settlers came, the horse had made buffalo hunters of these Indians.

Lewis and Clark were the first explorers to cross the country and map it. Fur traders and mountain men were followed by wagon trains.

The near past of this land is colorful crossed as it was by the Sante Fe and Oregon Trails, spotted wit boom towns, pony express stations and Indians.

Rich soil, the most important resource brought settlers.

Here are the Plains States today; the land, people, industries, arts and the enchantment of a land that has, as well as plains, fantastic badlands, caverns, the Black Hills and the Ozarks.

There is a current section on each state with a picture map and specific information.

From the dust jacket