SETTLING THE WEST(1865-1890)

Chapter 2

Objectives

Lessons 1 & 2: Mining and Ranching & Farming the Plains

1) Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of key challenges faced when settling the West.

Settling the West

Manifest Destiny – 19th century doctrine that westward expansion of the U.S. was not only inevitable but a God given right

Manifest Destiny encouraged westward expansion

Manifest Destiny justified the mistreatment of Native Americans because they were considered uncivilized. It was the right and “duty” of Americans to civilize & Christianize the Native Americans.

“American Progress” – John Gast

“American Progress”

Analyze the “American Progress” painting by John Gast and briefly respond to the these questions in your notes:

1) Describe what is happening in the picture? 2) What does the woman represent? 3) What does the artist want you to think,

know, and feel? 4) What is the artist’s opinion about

westward expansion?

Lessons 1 & 2– Transforming the West

Manifest Destiny realized Western

Settlement

FARMING

RANCHING

MINING

RAILROADS

RAILROADS

While MANIFEST DESTINY encouraged Western settlement, RAILROADS allowed for people to move WEST

*It took 250 years to settle first 400 million acres

**It took 30 years to settle next 400 million acres (1870-1900)

Railroads open the West Transcontinental Railroad built connecting

East & West – authorized by Congress during the Civil War

Private Companies Built Central Pacific – Mostly Chinese immigrants Union Pacific – Mostly Irish immigrants

Supported By Government Land Grants

for every mile of track laid in a state, RR companies received 10 square miles

For every mile of track laid in a territory, RR companies received 20 square miles

170 million acres (1/2 billion $ worth of land) Loans & Subsidies

Transcontinental RR finished 1869 at PROMONTORY POINT, UTAH

Settlement of Western Territories follows Ten territories become states (1864 – 1896)

Transcontinental Railroad

Promontory Point, UTAH(May 10, 1869)

Mining Towns

Boomtowns to ghost towns

Mining helped to:

1)Finance the Civil War

2)Facilitate building of RR

3) Intensified bitter conflict between white settlers & Native Am.

Discovery of Gold or Silver Major discoveries in Nevada (Comstock

Lode), Colorado (Pikes Peak), Black Hills (Dakotas)

People move to area Miners want to strike it rich –

“Prospectors”Boomtowns created

Communities developed around mining – Leadville, CO; Helena, MT; Denver, CO

Saloon keepers, boarding houses, casinos, hotels

Justice and order needed to limit violence & lawlessness

Marshalls & Sheriffs Vigilantes – Self-appointed enforcer of the

law Vigilance Committees - group of citizens

organized to find criminals and bring justice.

Mining and Western settlement

Mining Leads to Statehood Nevada – Comstock Lode in 1864 led

prospectors to flood the area “Pikes Peak or Bust” – Gold and Silver in

Colorado; Denver becomes 2nd largest western city

North and South Dakota– Black Hills gold rush

Montana – Copper Mining/RanchingBig Business Took over

Once loose surface gold was gone, big machinery was needed to mine & extract minerals

Hydraulic Mining – method of mining by which water was sprayed at a very high pressure to expose large deposits of minerals beneath the surface

Corporations came to dominate mining & advanced techniques along the way (quartz mining)

Mining

Boom Towns

Creede, Colorado (Silver Mining)

Now

Mining Regions

“Ghost Towns” (Calico, CA)

Cattle Ranching

Open Range System – cattle grazed on un-fenced property

END OF THE OPEN RANGE1)Overgrazing2)Barbed Wire3) Bad weather –

harsh winters and dry summers

Cattle business on the Great Plains expanded after the Civil War due to the demand for beef in growing cities

Railroads allowed ranchers to make profit off cattle Started to round up the longhorn cattle and ship them

east to market

COWBOYS – drove herds of cattle across the open range Language, skills , and identity

influenced by Mexican vaqueros Real-life of cowboy differed greatly from

romanticized myths of the “old west” 35,000 worked b/w 1864 & 1884 (drove

over 5,000,000 head of cattle during this time)

Cattle drives lasted about 3 months – dangerous overland transport of cattle herds

Legends of the West: “Wild Bill” & “Calamity Jane”

Barbed Wire Ends the Open Range

Settling the Hispanic Southwest

With the U.S. victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American War in 1848, the U.S. acquired the vast region of the American Southwest. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – granted

the region’s residents property rights and citizenship

As Americans moved to the West, cultures clashed.

Hispanic Americans struggled to hold on to economic, political, and cultural dominance

Increasingly, the original Hispanic population found its status diminished and often relegated to lower paying and less desirable jobs

US Land Acquisition

Mexican Land Given to the USA

TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO – 1848