Daily Speak

•Who won the Wacky Olympics on Friday?

Daily Speak

Section 1: Miners, Ranchers and Railroads

Main ideaAs more and more people move west, mining, ranching, and railroads are going to soon change the West

Western Growth Move out there? No Way! Many saw the west as a useless piece of

land much like the desert Frontier- HUGE undeveloped area in

Western United States.

Mining Boom In 1859 Comstock

Lode was discovered Getting rich quick Over the next 20 years

this site would produce $500M in gold.

New Immigrants Immigrants of all races and colors were

racing to the Western part of the U.S. to strike it rich!

New Towns Boomtowns- towns that grow suddenly

when a mine was opened

Cattle Kingdom Cattle ranching becomes popular in the

Midwest on the open range This is the same land the Indians lived off

of... we will revisit this later this chapter!

End of the Open Range Competition for land

ends the open range People started marking

off their land with barbed wire

Growing Communication More people in the West = needs for

communication and transportation to the West

Pony Express= messengers on horseback that delivered mail

Telegraphs put the Pony express out of business

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Transcontinental Railroad Many Americans wanted a railroad to

connect the East Coast to the West Coast Pacific Railway Act- the Government

gave loans and land to the railroad companies

The government land could be sold to help pay for railroad

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Transcontinental Railroad It was hard dangerous work building the

railroad. Two companies competed against each

other Union Pacific vs Central Pacific Golden Spike pounded in at Promontory

Utah, the meeting point of the two railroads

Results of the Railroad Helped economy Helped businesses Railroads becomes one of the largest

industries in America