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Mining
• Placer mining – mining for the shallow ore at the earth’s surface. (Individuals)
• Quartz mining – corporate mining using heavy equipment to dig deep in the earth.
www.worldofrockhounds.com
The Rush for Gold
• Ever since the conquest of Mexico in 1521, people looked for their golden fortune.–Georgia 1828–California Gold Rush- one of the
largest migrations in the history of man.300,000 people migrated to California to enjoy the wealth.
The Comstock Lode
• 1859 Large silver strike in Nevada
• This strike financed the Civil War and the laying of the Transatlantic cable.
• At the peak, population 30,000. When mines petered out ghost towns
• “Boom and Bust”
Corporate Mining
• Quartz mining took mass amount of capital.
• Miners became wage earners rather than independent workers as the ore became deeper.
Other Mining Discoveries
• Over $1,000,000,000 ore (gold and silver) mined in Colorado during the 1870’s.
• Gold in the Black Hills of Dakota 1876
• Copper in Montana and Arizona
Worker Exploitation
• The Corporate owners set wages and hours for the miners.
• Safety was lax
• Benefits did not exist
• Formation of the Western Federation of Miners. Led to confrontations between miners and the states.
The Ranchers• Spanish and
Mexican heritage to run cattle on the open range.
• During the Gold Rushes, cattle drives began to move cattle from the plains of Texas to the camps.
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/cattle.html
Cattle Culture• Developed from
Hispanic heritage.
• Words such as lariat, lasso, stampede
• Old saying “American cattlemen walked to Texas in moccasins but left wearing boots on horseback”
Supply and Demand
• Industrialization of the North after the Civil War led to the cattle drives from the Texas.
• Cattle in Texas $3 a head; $10 - $40 a head in the North.
• No railroads in Texas connected to Northern markets.
The Era of Big Ranches
• The cattle prices led to corporate ranches being developed
• Examples: King Ranch and XIT Ranch in Texas; The TA and KC Ranches in Wyoming.
Replacement of American Cattle
• Land bought cheap and fenced off ending the open range.
• Market oversaturated with beef thus lowering the price of beef
• Blizzards
• European stock brought in to create new beefier breeds .
The Farmers• Farmers passed the
Great Plains area during the first westward movement.
• U.S. maps labeled the Great Plains as the “Great American Desert”.
• Oregon Territory was considered the land of opportunity.
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/oregonterritorydef.htm
Homestead Act of 1862
• Passed to give the idea of the Yeoman farmer a chance to own land.
• Gave 160 acres of land to a person 21 years or older that would make improvements on the land and build a permanent house within 5 years.
• Why did it pass in 1862?
Morrill Act
• Sets up land grant colleges in the U.S. to teach agriculture and engineering courses.
• Military courses were mandatory. What two Texas colleges were land grant colleges? What other colleges in the U.S. do you think started this way?
The Great American Desert?
• Railroads moved West and received large land grants from the Federal government.
• Sold land to settlers for low prices and with extended credit.
• A wet decade produced lush grass on the plains during the 1870’s.
• People adapted to the area.
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