Transformation in the West GOLD DISCOVERED Pikes Peak

Transformation in the West

GOLD DISCOVERED - Pikes Peak 1. Mountains of Colorado 2. Gold had been discovered early in 1858 but it slowly took hold 3. Became one of the most important mines in Colorado 4. Begins a craze for gold similar to the California gold rush of 1849

Comstoke Lode 1. 1 st major silver strike in 1859 in Virginia City, Nevada 2. Begins a craze for silver through out the Rockies including San Francisco and other communities 3. Silver mining does ease after 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 TOWNS 1. Many communities in the west sprang up quickly 2. Mines often were shallow and their supply of minerals dried up quickly 3. Many towns then died 4. Empty stores, churches and houses left behind

EFFECTS OF MINING 1. Big business took over ownership of many mines—when remaining mineral was located deep underground ($$ for mining equipmentdrills, tracks, underground tunnels) 2. Poisons and chemicals used to separate gold and silver from rocks polluted the Environment—water used by farmers and livestock 3. Abandoned mines are still dangers 4. Early mining towns like became the center 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 TEXAS RANGERS in place. • Vigilantes stepped forward—selfappointed law enforcers • Set up rules of conduct • Eventually, towns hired marshals & sheriffs.

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 Nebraska 2. Laid tracks across the Great Plains – westward 3. Used Irish workers called PADDIES 4. Received large land grants from U. S. government

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD 1. San Francisco, California 2. Laid tracks across several mountain ranges 3. Used Chinese workers 4. Also received land grants 5. Had the hardest challenges crossing the Rockies

PROMONTORY POINT UTAH 1. Rail lines meet in Utah 2. May 10 th, 1869 3. Leaders use GOLD SPIKES to connect the lines 4. 1 st transcontinental railroad 5. Begins a boom in western railway construction 6. Speculators bought up thousands of acres of land to plan for future railroads

Effects of the Railroads 1. Tied the Nation together 2. Spurred industrial development 3. Transported people and products more quickly and efficiently 4. Stimulated growth of new towns and cities 5. 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 1880 s—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 Mexico 2. Roamed the western Frontier 3. Workers to herd the cattle were needed 4. The cattle needed to be 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 Characteristics 1. Good horsemen 2. Mixed race 3. Young men 19 -30 4. Talented ropes men 5. Not necessarily violent or good shots

Joseph Mc. Coy’s Cow Towns 1. Mc. Coy saw the need for small centers to sell cattle and then transport them to major cities 2. Cowboys had fatten the herds for months and were ready for sell 3. He created “cow towns” 4. The cow towns were centers 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 years 3. Build a house 4. dig a well and build a road 5. Make the land useful and profitable 6. Land became theirs after they have met these terms and paid a small fee.

SODDIES 1. Western farmers were required to build houses 2. Limited supply of trees and money 3. Used hard soil and stacked it like bricks to make walls 4. Bones and tree branches used to build roof supports 5. 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 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 weather 3. WIND drove many crazy 4. 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 death 8. Education, religion, medicine were done by family members 9. 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 land from animals and other farmers • Wind mills were used to help pump water for irrigation and drinking

MORRILL ACT of 1862 2. They set aside funds for states to create research colleges – land grant 3. These colleges would focus on agriculture and other research 4. Different from liberal arts – private schools 5. GOAL -One in every state

Diversity & Discrimination in the West • Fewer than 20% of • Differences in language, nation’s population, yet food, religion, & culture home to more than 80% • Fear & distrust among of U. S. Asian, Mexican & groups Mexican-American, and • Discrimination Native American residents • Many Chinese and European immigrants

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 1870 s, 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 RUSH 1. Families gathered at the border waiting for their chance 2. Some Individuals snuck across illegally SOONERS 3. Claimed the best land in Oklahoma – much of it had been native land from the Indian Removal Act