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Kansas City - Engines of Change Exhibit Audio Description
Transcript
Engines of Change Description
In front of you, is a panel 3 feet wide by 2 feet tall, and about 3 feet off the ground. The panel is installed along a winding paved path coming in from behind, and continuing across a metal bridge to the left. Behind the panel, are bushes and trees along a small creek.
At the top left, is dark text on a light background:
Engines of Change. When traders first traveled the Santa Fe Trail, the organized United States stopped at the Missouri border. To the west was Indian Territory. The US reserved this land for American Indian tribes, including those relocated from the southeast. The entire southwest belonged to Mexico. The overland trails transformed the map of North America. Change accelerated as the railroads expanded west in the 1870s. By the 1880s, the trails were obsolete.
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The background of this panel is a color photograph of a green grassy field. In the distance, is a body of water, and beyond that, is the horizon. Gray clouds fill the top of the photograph.
Overlaid on top of the photograph, are 3 maps of the United States from 3 different years. North is toward the top of the panel.
The biggest map covers the left half of the panel and shows land ownership in 1834. The east or right half of this map is green and represents the United States at the time. The middle of the map is dark blue and represents Indian Territory. You are in Kansas City, in the middle of the map, on the border between Indian Territory and the United States.
Travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, which is shown in yellow, passed through American Indian lands. The lower left or southwest part of the map is light brown and represents Mexico. The Santa Fe Trail was an international trade route between Mexico and the United States. The upper left or northwest corner of the map is olive green and represents Oregon Country. Before 1846, the United States and Great Britain made competing claims to the Oregon Country.
In the right half of the panel, are 2 smaller maps. The upper map shows land ownership in 1848 and 3 trails. Your location is in the middle of the map. The Santa Fe Trail in yellow goes from the middle of the map to the lower center. The Oregon Trail in orange goes from the middle of the map to the top left corner. The California Trail in pink goes from the middle of the map to the middle of the left side. The right half of the map is green for the United States. The top central part of the map is light blue for Minnesota Territory.
Indian Territory is dark blue to the left, or west. Indian Territory is smaller than it was in 1834 due to the creation of the Minnesota Territory and expansion of the United States. More than 300,000 people pushed west on to the Oregon and California Trails. They pressured the US government to open more American Indian land for white settlement. Below Indian Territory is dark orange for the Texas Annexation, which was created in 1845 from land that was previously part of Mexico.
The lower left or southwest part is light brown. This area was acquired from Mexico in 1848. During the US-Mexico War, the US Army used the Santa Fe Trail as a supply route. The upper left or northwest corner is olive green. In the 1840s, thousands of US settlers moved northwest on the Oregon Trail. In 1846, the British gave up their claim to the Oregon Country.
In the lower right corner of the panel, is a map of the United States in 2010. Your location is in the middle of the map. Almost all of the map is green because this land makes up the United States. Specks of dark blue dot the left, or western, portion of the map. They represent Federal American Indian Reservations. The overland trails sped the loss of American Indian land. By 1890, tribal land was reduced to scattered reservations.
Across the top of the panel is a black bar. At the left end text reads "Upper Independence Landing." At the right end is the logo and text for the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe national historic trails. Other text lists partner associations.
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Date Created
01/10/2024
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