Transformation in the West

GOLD DISCOVERED - Pikes Peak1.Mountains of Colorado2. Gold had beendiscovered early in1858 but it slowly tookhold3. Became one of themost important mines inColorado4. Begins a craze for goldsimilar to the California gold rush of 1849

1. 1st major silver strikein 1859 in Virginia City,Nevada2. Begins a craze for silver through out theRockies including SanFrancisco and other communities3. Silver mining does easeafter the 1880’s

Mining Towns

• Gold and silver attracted prospectors from the Eastern U.S. and from all over the world.

• Investors built hotels, saloons, banks, stables, and other necessities for miners

• “Boomtowns”—thriving towns that were abandoned once gold & silver ran out

GHOST TOWNS1. Many communities in

the west sprang up quickly2. Mines often were

shallow and their supply of minerals dried up quickly

3. Many towns then died4. Empty stores, churches and houses left behind

EFFECTS OF MINING1. Big business took over ownership of many mines—when

remaining mineral was located deep underground ($$ for mining equipment-drills, tracks, underground tunnels)

2. Poisons and chemicals used to separate gold andsilver from rocks polluted theEnvironment—water used by

farmers and livestock3. Abandoned mines are still dangers

4. Early mining towns like became thecenter of violence

5. Shipping gold and silver back East became a target of robbers and gangsters

Vigilantes

• Many mining towns sprung up with no laws in place.

• Vigilantes stepped forward—self-appointed law enforcers

• Set up rules of conduct• Eventually, towns hired

marshals & sheriffs.

TEXAS RANGERS

Railroads in the West

• Need for a transcontinental railroad to transport goods between the East and the West

• Congress supported private enterprise construction of the railroad by providing money in the form of loans & made land grants to builders.

UNION PACIFIC

1. Omaha Nebraska2. Laid tracks across the Great Plains – westward3. Used Irish workers calledPADDIES4. Received large landgrants from U.S. government

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD

1. San Francisco, California2. Laid tracks across severalmountain ranges3. Used Chinese workers4. Also received land grants5. Had the hardest challenges crossing the Rockies

PROMONTORY POINT UTAH

1. Rail lines meet in Utah2. May 10th, 18693. Leaders use GOLD SPIKES to connect the lines4. 1st transcontinental railroad5. Begins a boom in westernrailway construction6. Speculators bought upthousands of acres of land to plan for future railroads

Effects of the Railroads

1. Tied the Nation together2. Spurred industrial development3. Transported people and products more

quickly and efficiently4. Stimulated growth of new towns and cities5. Intensified demand for Natives’ land—waves

of pioneers moved West

CATTLE AND COWBOYS

Cattle Ranching

• Another western boom!• Railroads provided a means to move meat to

Eastern markets• Vast acres of grass• Open-range system until mid 1880s—cattle

grazed freely—branded for identification• In the spring, cowboys hired to round up cattle

in the open range that had roamed all winter

LONG HORNS!!1.Unique type of Cattle—originated in

Mexico2.Roamed the westernFrontier3. Workers to herd thecattle were needed4. The cattle needed

tobe fatten for market

Vaqueros & Cowboys

• Cowboys originated from Mexican “Vaqueros,” who had learned to train horses to work with cattle

• Hard and dangerous work• Cattle drive-trek to

railroad for transportation to eastern markets—closest railroad junction could be weeks or months away

COWBOYS

Characteristics1. Good horsemen2. Mixed race3. Young men 19-304. Talented ropes men5. Not necessarily violent or good shots

Joseph McCoy’s Cow Towns

1.McCoy saw the need for small centers to sell cattleand then transport them tomajor cities2. Cowboys had fatten theherds for months and wereready for sell3. He created “cow towns”4. The cow towns werecenters for cowboys who had spent months on the open range

End of Open-Range Ranching

–Invention of barbed wire–Supply of beef exceeded demand

—Drop in price of beef–Extreme weather-herds of cattle

starved–Ranchers began to raise hay to

feed cattle

WESTERN FARMERS

HOMESTEAD ACT of 1862

1. 160 acres to farmers 2. Live on the land for five years3. Build a house4. dig a well and build a road 5. Make the land usefuland profitable6. Land became theirsafter they have met theseterms and paid a small fee.

SODDIES1. Western farmers were required to build houses2. Limited supply of treesand money3. Used hard sod soil andstacked it like bricks tomake walls4. Bones and tree branchesused to build roof supports5. Many leaked when it rained

DUGOUTS

1. Some farmers used the sloping countryside to help build homes

2. Part their home was actually dug into the side of a hill

3. Several rooms were in the sides of hills and mountains

EXODUSTERS

1. Many freed slaves at the end of the war needed land

2. The Homestead Act offered them free land in the west

3. Went to Kansas & Oklahoma

4. The land and climate was not what they were use to in the SOUTH

PROBLEMS on the HOMESTEAD

1. Land was not suited for crops many had been used to planting

2. Droughts, blizzards and extreme weather3. WIND drove many crazy4. Loneliness – only families in miles!!5. INSECTS 6. Claim jumpers – individuals trying to steal claims to lands—

illegally occupies property

7. Poor housing led to disease - death8. Education, religion, medicine were done by family members9. Banks, railroads and companies blocked water sources and

forced homesteaders off their land

INVENTIONS TRY TO HELP

• Steel plow to break up the hard soil

• Reapers to harvest crops- speed up the process

• Barbed Wire allowed farmers to protect their landfrom animals and other farmers

• Wind mills were used to help pump water for irrigation and drinking

MORRILL ACT of 18622. They set aside funds forstates to create researchcolleges – land grant3. These colleges wouldfocus on agriculture andother research4. Different from liberal arts– private schools5. GOAL -One in every state

Diversity & Discrimination in the West

• Fewer than 20% of nation’s population, yet home to more than 80% of U.S. Asian, Mexican & Mexican-American, and Native American residents

• Many Chinese and European immigrants

• Differences in language, food, religion, & culture

• Fear & distrust among groups

• Discrimination

El Paso Salt War--1877• Different views on ownership

of resources• For a long time, Mexicans

mined salt beds of El Paso Valley-viewed as public property

• Americans claimed salt beds in the 1870s, and wanted to sell salt for profit.

• Conflict over access to the salt• OUTCOME—salt beds no

longer communal property—users would have to buy

Salt Bed Mining

Last Rush

• April 1889—last major rush on the Oklahoma Territory—federal government opened land to homesteaders.

• By 1890, the era of free Western land came to an end.

• National Census concluded there was No longer a square mile without at least a few white residents!!

OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH1. Families gathered at theborder waiting for theirchance2. Some Individuals snuckacross illegally SOONERS 3. Claimed the best land inOklahoma – much of it hadbeen native land from the Indian Removal Act