.
You're right.
People can do all kinds of things
in the mountains and lakes,
Deserts
and rivers
and
beaches and forests
of the West!
The West includes so many different kinds of land,
partly because it is such a large region.
A region is an area that shares some things in common,
such as what natural resources are located there,
or where people live.
The United States is so big
that it is helpful to divide it into different regions
in order to study it.
These regions are the Northeast,
the Southeast,
the Southwest,
the Midwest,
and the West.
Because the West is so big,
it is helpful to divide it into two smaller regions,
the Mountain States
and the Pacific States.
The Pacific States all have borders on the Pacific Ocean
and include Hawaii,
Alaska,
Washington,
Oregon,
and California.
The Mountain States are grouped together
because they all contain portions of the Rocky Mountains.
These states are Idaho,
Wyoming,
Montana,
Colorado,
and Utah.
There are several mountain ranges in the region
besides the Rocky Mountains,
such as the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades,
and the Coast Ranges.
At over 20,000 feet tall,
Mount McKinley is the tallest mountain in the U.S.
Tourists from all over the U.S.
come to enjoy the West,
especially to hike, camp,
and ski in the region's mountains.
Tourists visit a place
to see its unique features,
learn about its history,
and enjoy its culture.
Tourism is a very important part of the West's economy,
which is the system of how people make,
spend, or save money.
Many tourists also come to the West
to enjoy the Pacific Ocean.
There are wide, sandy beaches in Southern California
and numerous islands off the coast of Washington
that boaters, kayakers, and hikers can enjoy.
An island is a body of land
completely surrounded by water.
One state in the West
is made up entirely of islands, Hawaii.
Hawaii is a popular vacation spot
because of the warm weather and beaches there.
While they are visiting the islands,
tourists can experience Hawaii's unique culture,
which has been influenced by the different groups of people
who have arrived over the years,
including Polynesians,
Japanese,
and Filipinos.
Thousands of miles to the north is Alaska,
where things are much colder.
Tourists visiting Alaska
can cruise its shoreline and many islands.
They may see glaciers
and catch sight of some unusual animals,
like whales.
Much of Alaska's culture
has been influenced by native people,
the Inuit,
or as they are sometimes called, Eskimos,
who have been living there for thousands of years.
Hey, Alicia, guess what?
It's almost midnight
and I'm still wearing my sunglasses.
Parts of Alaska are so far north
that during the summer,
it stays light almost the whole night.
I could go fishing way after my bedtime.
Another important part of the West's economy is fishing.
There's a huge variety of fish
and other seafood in the Pacific Ocean
and in the many lakes, rivers,
and streams in the region.
The waters around Alaska and Washington
are known for salmon.
Tuna is a big part of the catch
off the coasts of Hawaii,
California, and Oregon.
And oysters, clams, and crabs
are harvested off the coast of Washington.
Fish is an example of a natural resource,
which is something found in nature
that people can use.
Water is another very important natural resource
that is essential to the West's economy.
Protected places called bays or sounds
along the Pacific coastline
provide places for ships to load and unload.
San Francisco Bay in California
and Puget Sound in Washington
are both busy places for ships and boats.
Some of the rivers in the region
are used to produce electricity.
People build dams across them,
and then water is let through,
powering the engines.
One of the biggest dams in the region
is called the Grand Coulee Dam.
Built across the Columbia River in Washington,
it supplies electricity for several Western states.
Besides power,
the other important function of dams in the West
is for irrigation.
Irrigation is the process of using ditches or pipes
to move water to a dry area.
Before irrigation,
many areas of the West
did not have enough water available to grow crops.
Irrigation has helped farming
become one of the biggest parts of the West's economy.
Farms in Oregon and Washington
grow many different fruits and vegetables
such as apples, pears, and onions.
Do you love french fries, baked potatoes,
or mashed potatoes?
If you do, you're not alone.
Americans eat millions and millions
of potatoes every year.
Did you ever wonder where potatoes come from?
Potatoes grow well in places
with hot days and cool nights.
That's what often happens
in the high areas of the West.
States like Idaho
have just the right climate for growing potatoes.
Potatoes need a lot of water to grow,
and many of the potato fields in the West
get little rainfall.
So many fields are irrigated with water
that comes from local streams and lakes.
Potatoes are planted in the spring
and take about five months to grow into a size
that can be used to make different potato products.
Once harvested,
they are sorted and shipped to companies
that turn them into all kinds of dishes,
from mashed potatoes,
to hash browns,
to potato salad.
So the next time you're eating an Idaho potato,
you'll know where it comes from.
Whoa!
Can you believe this?
It's a geyser called Old Faithful.
That's hot steam and boiling water
shooting straight up in the air,
more than 100 feet.
You must be in Yellowstone National Park.
And you know what?
You can add it to your list
of the biggest, tallest, and oldest.
It was the very first national park in the whole country.
Yellowstone National Park,
which is found in parts of Wyoming,
Montana, and Idaho,
and Yosemite National Park in California,
are huge public land areas
that the government has set aside
for people to enjoy
and as a home to many wild animals
and some of the biggest and tallest trees in the world.
Giant sequoias are some of the largest
and oldest living things in the world,
and the coastal redwoods are some of the tallest.
Some redwoods are more than 360 feet tall.
That's taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Some of the forest areas of the West
are used by timber companies.
They harvest trees to make lumber,
as well as wood and paper products,
protecting both the public parks
and the values of the forest.
And the valuable timber of the West is a big job.
I'm Jesse Gonzalez,
and I work with the California Smokejumpers
in the Western United States for the Forest Service.
Smokejumpers are men and women
who come from all parts of the country.
Well, the difference between a regular firefighter
and a smokejumper is that smokejumpers
parachute into fires rather than drive a truck.
Most of the fires that we go to
are burning out in the wilderness.
We have to learn how to exit out of the aircraft safely.
We jump at 1,500 feet above ground level.
It's exhilarating.
When you put your foot in the door
and get ready to jump,
you're very focused on what you're doing.
We basically need to learn how to fly our parachute
safely into the given spot.
We have to learn how to hit the ground
and roll properly
so we don't injure any part of our body.
Smokejumpers have a lot of gear.
My normal weight is 175 pounds,
but when I'm jumping out of the airplane,
I weigh 250 pounds,
so we have just over 70 pounds of gear.
So when we show up onto a fire,
sometimes we don't know how long we're going to be there.
We could be there for a couple hours
or we could be there for a couple weeks.
Fire is part of our natural process.
It's part of the ecosystem.
It kind of sweeps the forest up.
It burns out all the debris
and the sticks and the twigs that accumulate in the forest,
but if it's burning into an area where there might be homes,
we make a fire line with our hand tools.
We're basically building a clearing
around the edge of a fire
so that as it burns up to that clearing,
it has nothing else to burn, and it'll go out.
Anything can go wrong out there,
so you really need to be on your toes,
and we won't leave a fire until it's completely cold.
Smokejumping is the most amazing job I've ever had in my life.
Forest fires can be destructive,
and so can earthquakes,
which can also happen in parts of the West.
Earthquakes are caused by a sudden shift
of the rock layers beneath the Earth's surface.
An earthquake causes violent shaking of the ground,
which can damage buildings and roads.
Today, buildings in the West near earthquake trouble spots
are built to withstand shaking,
and warning systems are in place to help people get to safety.
Volcanoes are also found in the West
and are places in the Earth's surface
where hot gas and rock can shoot out,
sometimes with a great deal of force.
When Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted in 1980,
the strength of the eruption
was equivalent to 10 million tons of dynamite.
Hey, Alicia, I've got two more for my list.
I've just been to the state
with the wettest place in the whole U.S.
Hawaii's Mount Waialeale.
And I've also been to the driest place in the country.
That's Death Valley, California.
That's not all.
Death Valley is also the lowest and hottest place in the U.S.
Because the West region is so large,
its climate is really different from place to place.
And within the region, there are many different kinds of land,
which influences the weather, too.
The mountain states have climates
that range from dry and cool in the valleys
to heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures
high in the Rocky Mountains.
The Pacific states have weather
that can range from cold and wet in Washington
to hot and dry in Southern California.
Alicia, I'm in one of the highest cities in the U.S.
Denver is more than a mile above sea level.
I guess that's why it's called the Mile-High City.
Hi there.
My name is Susan, and I live in Denver, Colorado.
I live in a neighborhood called Washington Park near downtown.
We call it Wash Park.
Denver is very green
with many parks where we spend lots of time.
Most of the time, we like to be outside,
especially in the summer.
It's warm and sunny in Denver lots of the time,
but the weather can change fast,
so our neighborhood swimming pool is indoors.
Snow stays on the tops of the mountains around Denver
pretty much the whole year,
except maybe in the middle of the summer.
On the weekends, we go to one of the nearby ski slopes
and ski all day long.
During winter break,
we go to Southern California to see my relatives.
Since Denver gets lots of snow,
it's fun for a change to go to the beach
and watch the surfers.
The arts are really important to people in Denver,
and I'm learning to play the piano.
I love to go see the ballet,
like at the Art Center in Lower Downtown,
which is called Lodo,
and my mom likes to go hear the symphony orchestra play.
Living in Denver is really fun
because there are so many different things to do.
Many people in the West live in urban or city areas,
like Denver.
Some cities are a part of large metropolitan areas,
like Los Angeles.
Its metropolitan area includes both the city
and the many suburbs that surround it,
such as Santa Monica and Pasadena.
Even though there are a few very large metropolitan areas,
in general, people in the West live farther apart
than in other areas of the U.S.
Some people live in rural areas,
which are places located outside of cities.
Rural areas can be small towns, forests, or farms.
Some people in the West live on ranches,
which are places where livestock,
such as cattle or sheep, are raised.
Alicia, have a look at this.
It's an ancient village built right into this cliff.
It's called a pueblo.
Those houses are adobe houses
made of clay and straw by Native Americans.
Long before Europeans began arriving in the West,
the land was home to many groups of Native Americans.
Several groups of Native Americans,
such as the Shoshone and the Nez Perce,
hunted in the many forests
and fished in the Pacific Ocean.
The first Europeans to arrive to the area were fur traders.
Many of the fur traders were French,
and France claimed a big portion of the land
that would become the United States.
In 1803, President Jefferson bought the land,
known as a Louisiana purchase from France,
and the size of the U.S. nearly doubled.
After that, settlers began moving west,
hoping for opportunities to make money
and attracted by descriptions of the land in the West.
There were many conflicts between settlers moving to the West
and the Native Americans who were already living there.
The settlers forced many Native Americans from the land
that their families had been living on for generations.
Eventually, the U.S. government set aside land
for Native Americans to live on, called reservations.
Settlers wanting to move west of the Rocky Mountains
faced a difficult road
because these high mountains were in the way.
The Rockies are one of the reasons
why states in the West were settled much later
than the other states.
As many as 200,000 settlers traveled the same path
to the Rockies along a route called the Oregon Trail.
In many places in the West,
you can still see the ruts in the ground
left by their wagon wheels.
Though it was difficult getting over the mountains,
something happened in 1848
which made thousands of people want to try anyway.
Gold was discovered in California.
A rush of settlers moved west,
hoping to find gold themselves and become rich.
Hey, so that's why they called it the Gold Rush!
So many people moved to California the next year
in 1849 that they were nicknamed 49ers.
Soon afterwards, gold was also discovered
in other western areas,
such as Colorado and Alaska.
Psst! Alicia, I'm in Virginia City, Montana.
It's a ghost town!
Don't worry, Miguel.
There aren't any ghosts there.
It's called a ghost town because once the gold was gone,
everyone left the town.
But there's still a lot of gold mined in the West.
Mining for many different valuable natural resources
takes place in many parts of the West.
Lead and silver mines are located in Idaho.
Copper is found in Montana and Utah.
Coal, a fuel that is burned to produce heat and electricity,
is located in the mountainous areas of Wyoming.
And in California and Alaska,
two of the most valuable natural resources are found,
oil and gold.
In Utah, there is an unusual lake, the Great Salt Lake.
It's different than most lakes
because it's made up of salty water, like the ocean.
Large parts of the West's mountains have been set aside as parks
where hikers and campers can see some spectacular sights.
The Pacific Crest Trail goes through almost every kind of land,
from dry desert areas to wet rainforests,
from steep mountains to low valleys.
The trail zigzags all the way from the United States-Mexican border
to its Canadian border through California, Oregon, and Washington.
The trail starts in Southern California near the small town of Campo.
For the next 700 miles, there is lots of sun and very little water.
The trail runs right through the Anza Borrego Desert State Park,
where there are lizards, snakes, and rabbits.
The trail crosses the edge of the Mojave Desert in California
before entering the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Now it's time to pull out the jackets.
As the trail moves into the mountains, it can get mighty cold.
In Northern California, the trail enters another mountain range, the Cascades.
Don't forget to warm up next to one of the many steaming hot springs in this area.
Off the trail in Oregon, stop and see the deepest lake in the entire U.S., Crater Lake.
Washington's Cascade Mountains are home to one of the few rainforests in the U.S.
A rainforest is an area that gets a great deal of rainfall
and is home to many plants and trees growing close together.
Along this part of the trail in the Northern Cascades,
hikers can see many small glaciers on the sides of mountains and past frozen lakes.
It can snow in early September here, so better take some warm hiking clothes.
It can take hikers up to six months to hike the whole Pacific Crest Trail
through all of its extremes in land and weather.
But the amazing sights along the way are worth the trip.
Hey Alicia, I'm at a rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
It's a big celebration of Western culture.
I'm staying as far away as I can from the bulls.
Those horns look sharp.
Many different groups have influenced the West's history and culture,
in addition to pioneers, ranchers, and Native Americans.
The gold rush and railroad work brought immigrants from all over the world.
Immigrants are people who come from one country and go to live in another.
Many of the immigrants in the West came from across the Pacific Ocean.
San Francisco and Seattle both have large Asian communities.
And in Southern California, many people have immigrated over the years
from Mexico and other countries to the South.
The wide variety of groups living in the West
means that there are a wide variety of foods to eat too.
Hello, and welcome to my kitchen.
I am Jeff, and I am the chef.
Let's see, where are we today?
The West!
First state, as far south as we can go, Hawaii.
Now, what do they eat in Hawaii?
That's right, fish.
We've got some tuna and red snapper.
Now they have livestock, but that's saved for special occasions,
like when they put a pig in a sand pit and have a luau.
Now, we don't have enough room for that here, but we do have some nice Hawaiian fruit.
We've got a pineapple and bananas.
Next, Alaska.
Surrounded by water, so of course, more fish.
Now, there's a little bit extra there, because we've got
Alaskan salmon and the delicious Alaskan king crab legs.
Now, let's move on to the next state, California.
What doesn't grow in California?
Oh, they have so many foods.
They have fruits like oranges and vegetables like lettuce and nuts like almonds.
Washington and Oregon.
Now, again, on the coast.
So what are you going to find?
That's right, fish.
But not just any fish, we've got shellfish.
We've got these beautiful clams and these wonderfully big oysters.
And let me tell you, Washington State's weather is right
for growing more apples than any other place in the country.
Onto the mountain states.
Can't eat those forests, but there's lots of game on those ranches.
We've got lamb and beef and bison.
Bison are back, and Westerners love them as buffalo burgers.
What goes well with buffalo burgers?
You got it.
Fries.
From Idaho.
There's so much food in the West.
This is only a sample.
Better start eating.
I'll see you next time.
Come back to my kitchen real soon.
The West is full of extremes.
High mountains and low basins and valleys.
Cold, snowy areas and hot, dry deserts.
Both big, sprawling cities and rural mountain towns are located there.
The West is rich in natural resources.
Some of these resources, like gold, helped bring settlers to the area,
even though the Rocky Mountains were a barrier to people moving westward from the East.
Native Americans, pioneers and immigrants have influenced the West's history and culture.
Its unique features draw tourists from all parts of the world to visit the region.
Okay, Alicia, I'm going to try and take on one of those high Western mountains.
I've got my ski goggles, my ski parka, my ski gloves and my ski poles.
I think I'm ready to hit the slopes.
Um, wait a minute, Mikel.
Don't forget your skis.
Okay.