Pioneer & Frontier Life

In American history, a pioneer is any of the people who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas, especially those who settled any territory previously unsettled or undeveloped by European or American society. Though most of us think of pioneers strictly in terms of those who came to the "West", the earliest pioneers settled areas now considered the "East".

The first westward migrations occurred as representatives of the Thirteen Colonies sought to open up new lands for their respective colonies westward. Those whose original royal charters did not specify a western limit simply extended their lands directly and indefinitely westward. After the United States was formed upon the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, federal coordination and legislation began to give settlement a more unified approach.

As western settlement grew, common details emerged. Most pioneers traveled in wagon trains, groups of wagons containing settlers and their families. They banded together for common defense and to combine their efforts. Pioneers in the East often had to clear the land, owing to lush forests there. In the Midwest, the task was to bring agricultural fertility to the Great Plains.

The figure of the pioneer has played a large role in American culture and literature. While much cultural note is also given to other figures of a more transient nature, such as cowboys, trappers prospectors, miners, etc., the pioneer alone represents those who went into unexplored territory in search of a new life, looking to establish permanent settlement.

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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Hardcover
American Barns and Covered Bridges
by Eric Sloane
1st edition from Wilfred Funk, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
American Yesterday
by Eric Sloane
15th Printing from Funk & Wagnalls
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Boy with a Pack
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Buffalo Coat
by Carol Ryrie Brink
for 9th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness
Landmark #21
by John Mason Brown, illustrated by Lee J. Ames
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Davy Crockett
Landmark #57
by Stewart H. Holbrook, illustrated by Ernest Richardson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Do's and Don'ts of Yesteryear
by Eric Sloane
from Dover Publications
for 5th-9th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
Early Days in Old Oregon
by Katharine B. Judson
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Four Wagons West
by Robert Frye Watt
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
Frontier Living
by Edwin Tunis
1st Edition from HarperCollins
Historical Reference for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Heroines of the Early West
Landmark #91
by Nancy Wilson Ross, illustrated by Paul Galdone
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
John James Audubon: Painting America's Wildlife
by Janet Stevenson, illustrated by Robert Boehmer
from Encyclopedia Britannica
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Last of the Old West
by George Mecklenburg
from The Capital Book Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
by James Daugherty
from Viking Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Marcus Whitman: The Great Command
by Nard Jones
2nd edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Massacre at Fall Creek
by Jessamyn West
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
One Big Open Sky
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
from Holiday House
for 6th-Adult
2025 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$18.99
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Frederic Remington
1993 printing from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman, Jr., illustrated by Maynard Dixon
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 5th-Adult
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
Oregon Trail
Famous Books for Young Americans
by Francis Parkman
from A. L. Burt Company
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman Jr., illustrated by Thomas Hart Benton
from Garden City Books
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman Jr., illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Oregon Trail
by Francis Parkman Jr., illustrated by James Daugherty
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Saddles East
by John W. Beard
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
Story of Kit Carson
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #16
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
The Trees
Awakening Land #1
by Conrad Richter
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
To California by Covered Wagon
Landmark #42
by George Stewart, illustrated by William Moyers
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Trails Plowed Under
by Charles M. Russell
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Trappers and Traders of the Far West
Landmark #29
by James Daugherty
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
True Adventures of Westward Trails
by Alfred Powers
First Edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There on the Oregon Trail
We Were There #1
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
Westward on the Oregon Trail
by Marian T. Place
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)