The West is Transformed

Topic 2 Lesson 2Notes

Describe the development of mining areas:

  1. What were some major mining areas in the U.S. and its territories?

1.Denver, Colorado

2.Boise, Idaho

3.Helena, Montana

While some dreamed of becoming rich quick, others saw opportunities to make their fortunes through:

1.Supplying food for minors

2.Supplying clothes for minors

3.Supplying mining tools for minors

Mining areas were often rough and tumble, where violence was common. For this reason what steps did miners and others take to quell the violence?

1.Setting up rules or laws

2.Establishing ways of settling disputes

3.Vigilantes punishing law breakers

Early sheriffs and marshals kept the peace. Churches addressed social problems and issues.

Early lawmen:

1.Wyatt Earp

2. Bat Masterson

Where did mining companies get their workers? China and Mexico

Issues with mining companies included polluted water sources from mine run off, heavy metal concentration in water and the consumption of vast amounts of water to separate ore from rock using high pressure. Farmers and ranchers complained due to a lack of water for

  1. crops and cattle
  2. pollution of water sources

Growth of Railroads:

Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869.

Idea was not new

Delayed by the Civil War

Congress kept route from the southern states that had been in rebellion

Railroads in the United States different from those in Europe:

  • European railroads were state built and owned

Those in United States were built by

  • privately or publicly owned companies

Congress encouraged construction in two ways

  • Provided money for construction in form of loans
  • Through land grants providing vast amounts of land in alternating sections on each side of proposed right of way (track)
  • Immigrants from Ireland and China helped build the railroad.
  • Same year transcontinental RR was completed, the French completed work on Suez Canal in Egypt

Railroads drew settlers and immigrants to the west. Railroads also:

  • Spurred industrial development
  • Moved products and people
  • Brought western meat and farm products to eastern tables
  • Goods produced in eastern factories went west by rail improving lives of those on frontier

Railroads spurred:

  • Growth of towns and cities
  • Speculators competed for land where lines might be built
  • Existing cities/towns petitioned to become stops on rail routes
  • Brought settlers west who competed with the Indians and Mexican communities in the Southwest for land
  • The development and expansion of the Railroad led to the closing of the frontier in late 19th century
  • Railroad helped 10 territories meet requirements for statehood between 1869 and 1896.

Purpose of Cattle drives:

  • Cattle drives were meant to drive cattle to railroads to be shipped to markets

How long would a drive take:A drive could take weeks or even months

Groups of cowboys were made up of whites, Mexican Americans, and African Americans

What types of people and events took place in cow towns?

  • Rodeos
  • Bill Pickett _an African American__ cowboy credited with inventing ___bulldogging_____
  • Outlaws such as ____Jesse James and Wild Bill Hickock______often frequented “cow towns”

What factors brought the open range to a close?

1.Barbed Wire

2.Price of beef dropped

3.Harsh weather conditions

4.Ranchers raising hay for their herds

Homestead Act of 1862:

Provisions of the act included

a.Government gave 160 acre plots to adults

b.Recipient had to live on the land 5 years

c.Recipient had to improve the land with a well, and a road

New settlers in the west after the Civil war included Exodusters, a group of former slaves who took their name from the Book of Exodus, the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

  • Lead by Benjamin Singleton a black businessman from Tennessee
  • Saw the west as “the promised land”
  • Settled in Kansas and Oklahoma
  • Founded several all black towns

Three Technological advances allowed farmers to survive on the Great Plains:

a.Steel plows to break through the sod

b.Seed drills to plant better

c.Windmills and dry farming techniques

Chinese Exclusion act of 1882:

Prohibited __Chinese workers from coming to the United States_____

Chinese immigrants turned to __U.S. federal courts______to protect their rights with mixed results

Boomer: Thousands of settlers who raced to make land claims the day Oklahoma territory opened for settlement on April 22, 1889.

Sooner: Individuals who had sneaked into new Oklahoma territory prior to April 22, 1889