Pull Factors: things (usually good) attracting settlers1. Get rich fast

1. Gold2. Silver (Comstocke

Lode)2. Private property

1. Gov’t was practically giving the land away

3. Independence and spirit of individualism

Push Factors: things that make (usually bad) settlers want to leave their homes1. Political

instability2. Economic hard

times3. Racial

discrimination for AA

Plagued by windstorms, blizzards, droughts, locusts and loneliness

Tough life but were inventiveCreate sod homes Build wind mills to

harness wind for electricity

Used the steel plow to help cultivate land

Government offered farm plots of 160 acres to anyone willing to:1. live on the land

for five years2. dig a well3. build a road

Many were former slaves

Passed by Congresslands to states to establish higher

education agricultural schoolsA&T UniversityNC State

African Americans who fled the South after Reconstruction

headed West looking for more opportunities

Get their name from the Book of Exodus when Moses led his people to the Promised Land (Oklahoma)

Government going to sell plots of land in Oklahoma

50,000 line up but only 42,000 plotsBiggest rush to the West in one single

day (April 22, 1889)

1. What did the government do to encourage westward expansion after the Civil War?

A. Paid people to move west

B. Allowed slavery in western states only

C. Gave away free landD. Exempted western

settlers from taxes

2. Which of the following was not a reason people moved west after the Civil War?

A. Free or cheap farm landB. Escape slaveryC. Escape racial

discrimination and violence

D. Mining opportunities

3. The word Exodusters refers to which of the following groups of western settlers?

A. European immigrantsB. White AmericansC. African AmericansD. Chinese settlers

4. Which of the following was a problem that settlers in the west faced?

A. Lack of wood for construction

B. Desert climateC. Plentiful land for

farmingD. Competition from

Native Americans

A railroad between the East and West to transport goods

Built by private companies, not the government but still gave their support by giving loans for the land to companies

Central Pacific laid tracks east of Sacramento, CAUse Chinese immigrants for labor

Union Pacific laid tracks west from NebraskaUse Irish immigrants for labor

Central Pacific

Union Pacific

Chinese Immigrants

IrishImmigrants

• where east met west

To keep order, vigilantes (self-appointed law enforcers) settled disputes but still lots of crime

Cities only “boomed” when the resources were plentiful

when they were gone (the bust) so were the people and the town became a Ghost Town

Comstock Lode:first major discovery

of silver in U.S.discovered under

what is now Virginia City, Nevada

Helped spur advances in the technology of mining

California Gold Rush:1849, discovery of

Gold“49ers”, nickname

for those who ventured out to CA in search of riches

1. What role did the transcontinental railroad play in the settling of the West?

A. Very small role, wasn’t used much

B. Significant for miners onlyC. Key role, people wanted to

visit relatives back eastD. Key role, expanded trade

between eastern and western US

2. What contributed the most to westward expansion?

A. Overcrowding in NYCB. The Civil WarC. RailroadsD. Mining opportunities

3. Why did so many boom towns bust?

A. Mining was dangerous and many died.

B. When the gold or silver dried up, many moved out

C. Sink holes were created by mines, making towns dangerous.

D. Boom towns never actually existed.

4. If you had been a Civil War veteran, would you have moved west? Why or why not?

The Texas longhorn roamed freely on open range (not fenced in)branded for

identificationRanchers hired

cowboys to round up their cattle, took them on cattle drives to the railroads for eastern markets

Invention of refrigerated railcars by Gustavus Swiftmeat can be shipped not the entire cow…much cheapdecreases need for cattle drives and cowboys

The age of open range ends because of barbed wire