What is prospecting Extracting minerals from the ground

What is prospecting? • Extracting minerals from the ground – Gold, copper, silver, and other metals (later—oil) – Placer mining • Simple tools (shovels, pans, and sluices) for shallow minerals – Quartz (reef) mining • Using explosives and mine shafts deep beneath the surface • Quartz contained gold

• Discovery of materials created bonanzas – Sudden abundance of wealth/materials How did mining – Rapid expansion of towns affect the Western • Boomtowns US? – Vigilante justice—outside the law – Leadville • Thousands of incomers per week • $20 billion of silver and gold in today’s money – Comstock Lode • Mud outside a Nevada town turns out to be silver/gold ore • 30, 000 flock to the town

• Ranching is raising livestock for meat & hides What is ranching? • Ranching wasn’t practical until… – Longhorns survived on the Plains – Civil War raised price of meat • Supply↓, demand↑= cost↑ • Supply↑, demand↓= cost↓ – Railroads could transport cattle • Open range – Huge body of grassland on plains owned by the gov’t (no fences) – Open for herds to graze for free

• Cowboys and the Long Drive – 8 -12 cowboys could escort herds with How did ranching as many as 3, 000 cattle affect the Western – Texas Midwest Railroads East Coast US? • High demand: Eastern US paid 10 x more than TX – Major trails like Chisholm Trail • Death of the open range & long drive – Increase in competition (supply) decreased price – Government sold land to settlers • Fenced off with barbed wire

• Railroads made the plains accessible – Railroads sold land cheaply Why did Americans • Homestead Act, 1862 start settling on the – Up to 160 acres for a $10 fee plains? – Improve land receive title after five years • New technology made dry farming possible – Steel plows & seed drills could plant seeds below surface where there was more moisture – Mc. Cormick reaper made harvesting easier

• Extreme temperatures: Above 100°F in summer & sub-zero temps in winter What kind of hardships did settlers face? – Tough on livestock & humans alike • Extremely arid • Had to drill up to 300 feet for water • Swarms of bugs – Plagues of locusts destroyed crops • Very few trees – No protection from wind = big storms • Wind erosion destroyed dry topsoil – No wood; houses made of sod

• Wheat Belt – US became largest exporter of what How did farming by 1880 s affect the Western • Competition from other countries hurt farmers US? • Many families lost their land due to tough conditions – Birth of commercial farming – Bonanza farms = 50, 000 acres or larger • Hired poor, desperate family farmers and purchased their land

Who were the Plains Indians? • Nomadic lifestyles – Followed main source of food— buffalo • Gender roles – Women raised children, prepared food and clothes – Men were hunters, traders, and warriors • Spiritual religion – Based on nature • Government – Small councils of elders, but most tribal members had input

• Relocation to Reservations – Indian Removal Act, 1830 What policies did • Trail of Tears the US gov’t enact – Reservations on undesirable land towards the Plains • Violent, impoverished, and corrupt Indians? – Indian Peace Commission • US Army sent to deal with any resistance • Annuities – Annual payments made to reservation dwellers – Cheap, usually stolen by American traders

• Assimilation – Absorbing Native Americans into What policies did American society the US gov’t enact towards the Plains – Very difficult after years of mistrust Indians? • Allotments – Reservation territory divided and given to Native American families – Rest sold to American settlers