The West Transformed

Moving West

• After the Civil War the attention of people turned to the west

• The area stretched from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean– Known as the frontier

Moving West

• The Frontier had prairies, mountains, and forests

• Americans thought the land was unsettled but it was home to Mexican settlers and Native Americans

Boom and Bust

• Many settlers moved west in the hope of finding gold or silver– The gold rush of 1849 in California excited the

nation, and people quickly moved west

Boom and Bust

• After the Civil War, prospectors fanned out all over the west.– Montana, Idaho, and Colorado– Although many people went west few were able

to strike it rich

Boomtowns

• Towns often started quickly in areas where mining was taking place

• Merchants would follow prospectors into boomtowns– Merchants would bring tools, food, and clothing– Prices were extremely high

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110326121409/potcoplayers/images/8/85/Ghost_town_3-1-.jpg

Who were the miners?

• Half the miners were foreign born• Irish, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese• Mining towns had little law and order so

groups of vigilantes would impose their brand of justice

Railroad Boom

• Before 1860 Railroad lines ended at the Mississippi River

• Federal government start to offer Subsidies for every mile of track put down past the Mississippi

Transcontinental Railroad

• Westerners dreamed of a railroad that spanned the continent– Central Pacific Railroad won the right to build east

from Sacramento– The Union Pacific would build west from Omaha

Transcontinental Railroad

• Railroads hired thousands of workers– Native Born Whites, Mexican Americans, African

Americans, and immigrants– Central Pacific brought in 10,000 Chinese to the

United States to build the railroad

Transcontinental Railroad

• Work was dangerous, pay was low• Daily progress sometimes came in inches

Transcontinental Railroad

• May 10, 1869 the two lines met at Promontory, Utah– New towns sprang up in the West– People and supplies poured in, and Gold and Silver

Poured out– Population in the west grew rapidly• Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota,

Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming all became states by 1890

– Made it easier to settle the WEST

Native Americans

• Native Americans in the Plains lived by gathering food, hunting, and fishing.– They would follow the buffalo herds– In the winter they trailed the herds into protected

valleys, and in the summer onto the grass Plains

Native Americans

• Buffalo were important to their way of life– Buffalo were used for meat, the horns and bones

were turned into tools, tendons became thread, buffalo hide became clothes or tepees

Buffalo Hunt.3gp

Buffalo Hunt.3gp

Native Americans

• Division of Labor– Women managed the village, cared for children,

prepared food– Men were hunters and warriors

Broken Treaties

• The U.S. promised to safeguard Native American lands, but as miners and railroad crews moved west those treaties were broken

Broken Treaties

• Fort Laramie Treaty– In 1851, 10,000 people from the Plains nations

gathered near Fort Laramie to talk with U.S. officials

– Officials wanted the nations to stop following the buffalo, and if they permanently settles the government would protect their lands

– “FOR AS LONG AS THE GRASS WOULD GROW”

Broken Treaties

• As soon as some of the nations agreed settlers started moving onto their lands– In 1859, a gold strike in Colorado sent miners

swarming to the region

Broken Treaties

• Sand Creek Massacre– A band of peaceful Cheyenne settled in Sand

Creek Colorado were attacked– Ignited a new era of war

Broken Treaties

• Buffalo Soldiers– African American soldiers that were veterans of

the Civil War

Reservations

• Many of the Plains nations moved to reservations in Oklahoma– Poor soil made farming difficult– Life on Reservations was difficult

Little Bighorn

• Colonel George Custer had orders to force Native Americans onto reservations

• Custer led an attack on a band of Sioux and Cheyenne (Led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse)

• Custer and all of his men died

Ghost Dance

• Some Native Americans dreamed of returning to old ways– Native Americans would begin swaying and dancing– Believed they were talking to ancestors and that it

would bring back the old way of life– Soldiers guarding the Reservations saw this as an

uprising– 1890 Native Americans police went to a Sioux village

to stop the dances. In that struggle Sitting Bull was killed

Failure of Reform

• The poor treatment of the Native Americans brought criticism to the government

• The Dawes Act-1887– Hoping to improve Native American Life congress

passed the Dawes Act– It tried to turn Native Americans into farmers– Each male received 160 acres of farmland– The Act setup schools to make Native American

children more like other Americans

• The Dawes Act failed• Few Native Americans took to farming• most sold their land cheaply to dishonest

whites• Native Americans forced to give up their way

of life• As a result, Native Americans remained poor

and dependent on the government

Rise of the Cattle Industry

• For years wild cattle wandered the open range of Texas

• Ranchers began rounding up the cattle in order to deliver the beef to market

• Skilled riders had to drive the cattle from Texas to the rail lines in Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming

Rise of the Cattle Industry

• Cattle Drives lasted months as they followed the trails– Cattle Drives were dangerous and pay was low

The Wild West

• Cattle drives ended at towns along railroad lines. These Cow Towns were unruly places and helped to create the myth of the Wild West– Cow towns had Dance halls, saloons, hotels, and

restaurants that served the cowboys.– Drinking and gambling often led to barroom

brawls that spilled onto streets

The Wild West

• Myth of the West– Believed to be rough and tumble, full of violence

and adventure– Buffalo Bill Cody used this fantasy and created a

traveling wild west show.• The show featured daring feats of sharp shooting and

horse back riding.

Boom and Bust in the Cattle Kingdom

• Cattle boom lasted from 1860s to the late 1880s

• Ranchers earned high profits on cattle

Boom and Bust in the Cattle Kingdom

• An economic depression and over breeding helped to lead to a decline in the cattle industry

• Farmers fencing in the open range closed the cattle trails and stopped the cattle boom

Homesteading

• 500,000 farmers had settled on the Great Plains by 1900, many were attracted by the offer of free land

• Homesteaders- settlers who acquired free land from the government

Homesteading

• Homestead Act-1862– Congress passed in 1862 and it offered 160 acres

to anyone that resided on the land for five years– Gave poor a chance to own farms

Homesteading

• Few had the money to actually move west to get the land

• The land on the Plains was often dry and not suitable for farming– 1 out of 3 lasted the five years

Life on the Great Plains

• Life was not easy (water was scarce and crops were hard to grow)