The mid-19th Century abandonment of the many small farms here in New England, along with eventual emigration from the incipient Industrial East, resulted in a progressive push westward of the American ‘frontier’, and an eventual encounter with the land of former French Louisiana – the Louisiana Purchase - beyond the Mississippi River. The mostly post-Civil War settlement and occupation of this vast landscape, that in large part we call the Great Plains, set in motion a complex series of events that has subsequently shaped our sense of the American West. Some myth, some fact, but in all cases, a 19th and 20th Century mosaic of discovery, exploration and exploitation – along with perhaps a bit of seriously embellished folklore. The Great Plains became a source of mineral wealth in the Nineteenth Century, the breadbasket of North America in the 20th Century, and now an increasingly important energy resource in the 21st Century. Much of this historic record can be traced to the mosaic of transportation resources evolving in the east at the time – constrained by a much different reality in these new lands. In Wheels Across the Great Plains we will explore this history and its influence on our lives today.