Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States' history was characterized by its westward expansion. A lasting institution instrumental in understanding this mass settlement is the United States Postal Service (USPS), which sprung up in correspondence to the booms and busts that occurred in town development. With historical post office location data, Dr. Cameron Blevins, an associate professor of history at the University of Colorado Denver and author of the book Paper Trails: The US Post and the Making of the American West, has been able to apply GIS and digital mapping methods to better understand US westward expansion and the development of the USPS. He joins us today to discuss his research and the techniques he used in analyzing trends in Western settlement.

More about his research can be found on his website The Gossamer Network: https://gossamernetwork.com/