Unit II A Growing America Chapter 18 Section 1 Americans Move West

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Unit II A Growing AmericaChapter 18Section 1
Americans Move West

• Miners, Ranchers, Cowboys and the Railroad

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Miners, Ranchers, and Railroads

• The Big Idea
• As more settlers moved West, mining, ranching,
  and railroads soon transformed the western
  landscape.
• Main Ideas
• A mining boom brought growth to the West.
• The demand for cattle created a short-lived
  Cattle Kingdom on the Great Plains.
• East and West were connected by the
  transcontinental railroad.

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Main Idea 1 A mining boom brought growth to
the West.

• Americans continued to move west during the
  1800s.
• The American frontier reached the Pacific Ocean
  when California was added to the Union in 1850.
• Settlers built homes, ranches, and farms.
• Railroads expanded west to bring western goods to
  eastern markets.
• Mining companies shipped gold and silver east
  from western mines.

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Mining in the West
Mining became big business with discoveries of
large deposits of precious metals, such as the
Comstock Lode in Nevada.
Miners from all over the world came to work in
the western mines.
Boomtowns grew quickly when a mine opened and
often disappeared quickly when the mine closed.
Mining was dangerous. The equipment was unsafe
and miners had to breathe hot, stuffy air that
causes lung disease. Poorly planned explosions
and cave-ins killed and injured miners. Fires
were also a threat.
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The Pattern

• Gold found- or at least reported as found
• Population Boom- Boom Town
• Gold either not found in abundance or it all gets
  mined out- Ghost Town

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Discovery of Gold

• Sam Brannan- a San Francisco merchant,
• a skilled craftsman of hype. Eventually, the Gold
  Rush would make him the richest person in
  California -- but Sam Brannan never mined for
  gold.
• running through the streets of San Francisco
  shouting about Marshall's discovery
• he wasn't planning on digging for it. He was
  planning on selling shovels. And the first person
  who sold shovels got a lot more gold that the
  person who had to dig for it."
• Brannan keenly understood the laws of supply and
  demand.
• His wild run through San Francisco came just
  after he had purchased every pick axe, pan and
  shovel in the region. A metal pan that sold for
  twenty cents a few days earlier, was now
  available from Brannan for fifteen dollars. In
  just nine weeks he made thirty-six thousand
  dollars.

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Gold Fever

• Farmers left their fields merchants closed their
  shops soldiers left their posts -- and made
  plans for California. Newspapers fanned the
  fires.
• Horace Greeley the of New York Tribune
  "Fortune lies upon the surface of the earth as
  plentiful as the mud in our streets. We look for
  an addition within the next four years equal to
  at least One Thousand Million of Dollars to the
  gold in circulation."
•  By early 1849, gold fever was an epidemic.
• "In the Richmond, Indiana paper (in 1849) for
  example, there was a big ad. This guy was selling
  salve you got it in a bottle -- and for 2.50 or
  5.00 you could get this bottle of salve. And all
  you did was rub it all over your body, get up on
  the top of the mountain and roll down and all the
  gold stuck to you and guaranteed you by the time
  you got to bottom with one roll you'd have enough
  gold, when you scraped it off, to live happily
  ever after. That was all you needed. And he sold
  two types of salve, one for gold and one for
  silver.

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• No expression characterized the California gold
  rush more than the words "seeing the elephant."
  Those planning to travel west announced they were
  "going to see the elephant." Those turning back
  claimed they had seen the "elephants tracks" or
  the "elephants tail," and admitted that view was
  sufficient.
• The expression predated the gold rush, arising
  from a tale current when circus parades first
  featured elephants. A farmer, so the story went,
  hearing that a circus was in town, loaded his
  wagon with vegetables for the market there. He
  had never seen an elephant and very much wished
  to. On the way to town he encountered the circus
  parade, led by an elephant. The farmer was
  thrilled, but his horses were not. Terrified,
  they bolted, overturning the wagon and ruining
  the vegetables. "I dont give a hang," the farmer
  said, "for I have seen the elephant."
• For gold rushers, the elephant symbolized both
  the high cost of their endeavorthe myriad
  possibilities for misfortune on the journey or in
  Californiaand like the farmers circus elephant,
  an exotic sight, an unequaled experience, the
  adventure of a lifetime.

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Entrepreneurs

• Sam Brannan- cornered the market on certain goods
  and raised the price.
• Levi Straus- pants out of canvas and the use of
  metal rivets
• Phillip Armour- opened a meat market and
  processing plant
• John Sudebaker- wheelbarrow maker turned covered
  wagon maker for the Oregon Trail
• Wells and Fargo make Wells Fargo, a giant in
  banking.

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Boom Town- one minute
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The Miner

• People, men almost exclusively, from all jobs and
  locales
• Expensive to head west and get started
• Many left families at home in towns out West
• Most busted, some very wealthy in the end
• Mining takes a large corporation to be profitable
  usually

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Mining Methods- 125
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California Gold Rush- 353
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Main Idea 2 The demand for cattle created a
short-lived Cattle Kingdom on the Great Plains.

• The increasing demand for beef helped the cattle
  industry grow.
• Cattle ranchers in Texas drove herds to Abilene,
  Kansas, to be shipped east.
• Cattle ranching spread across the Great Plains,
  creating the Cattle Kingdom that stretched from
  Texas to Canada.
• Ranchers grazed huge herds on public land called
  the open range.
• Competition, the invention of barbed wire, and
  the loss of prairie grass brought an end to the
  Cattle Kingdom.

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Ranching Culture
Ranching on the Plains
Cattle Drives
Ranching as Big Business
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Cowboys

• Cowboys were workers who took care of ranchers
  cattle.
• They borrowed many techniques from vaqueros, who
  were Mexican ranch hands.
• One of their most important duties was the cattle
  drive.
• The Chisholm Trail was a popular route for cattle
  drives.
• Life in cattle towns was often rough and violent.

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Cowboys

• Life on the Range

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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 1) The Cowboy Life was Glamorous.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- 18 hour days and the long trail drive were
boring
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 2) Most cowboys had small or medium frames
• Myth or Truth?

Truth- large men were to heavy to ride the
mustangs
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 3) The Cowboy would ride his favorite horse all
  day.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- Cowboys would ride a string of horses
depending the task at hand. Mild horses at
night, and quick horses for daylight roping and
driving.
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 4) Many Cowboys were Mexican or African
  American.
• Myth or Truth?

Truth- 1/6th of cowboys were Mexican and many
were African/American, Former Confederates and
even Native American.
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 5) Most Cowboys were older experienced
  wranglers.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- Most were young men who learned on the job.
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 6) Women could not be cowboys.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- Several women owned cattle ranches and ran
their own cattle drives.
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 7) Cowboys often had to fight off native
  Americans.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- Cowboys rarely if ever fought with Native
Americans
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Cowboys- Myths or Truth

• 8) The word Cowboy was invented in Texas.
• Myth or Truth?

Myth- The word Cowboy comes from the Spanish
word Vaquero
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Cowboy Legacy 233 min.
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Cowboys

• The word cowboy is actually a Spanish word,
  "vaquero." The word vaquero evolved from the root
  word "vaca" meaning cow. Ergo the word vaquero,
  (cowman), translated into the English - cowboy.
  The English term for someone who managed cattle
  prior to the adoption of the Spanish Vaquero
  method and name for cowboying was "Drover.
• The name Cowpoke comes from the end of the
  cattle drive when the cowboys had to push the
  cattle onto the trains with a stick or prod.

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Long Horns

• The hardy Corriente cattle allowed to free range
  in the 1600's evolved through the process of
  natural selection (and with some help by Spanish
  ranchers) in two hundred years into a breed which
  is now termed "Texas Longhorn." In reality the
  Texas Longhorn would more accurately be called
  the "Spanish American Vaquero Long Horn."

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Cattle Raising

• Early cattle raisers put their herds on "the open
  range" - public land open to anyone who used it
  for cattle grazing - and the cattle roamed and
  survived as best they could with a minimum of
  care, even in the winter months. The men held
  periodic roundups to brand and gather cattle for
  slaughter or market. From this cattle-rich area
  much of the stock for the trail herds later came.
  
• A less known aspect of "cowboying" was
  mustanging. Mesteneros or mustangers were the
  first people to make a living by catching wild
  horses (mestenos, or mustangs), on the American
  Great Plains reaching from New Mexico to the
  Dakotas.

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Cattle Drives

• 1866- A Steer worth 4 in Texas sold for 40 in
  the East.
• Need to drive a herd to a railroad town (Cattle
  towns, or boomtowns) to be shipped east to the
  meat packers.
• Major trails- Chisholm, Goodnight Loving, Western
  and Sedalia.
• Drive lasted 3 months
• 10-12 miles per day.
• 2/3 of cowboys were teenagers between the ages of
  12-18.
• Conflict over the open range.

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Cattle Drives
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Branding

• The system of brands and brand registration was
  three-fold.
• First, the fierro or irion brand was burned into
  the animal's flank hide,
• Second was the senal or ear-mark.
• Lastly, the venta or sale brand was stamped on
  the animal's shoulder as a bill of sale.
• The new brand was burned below the venta brand
  and the new transaction was recorded.
• To the left are twelve different brands which
  show how one symbol-the letter "R"-can be
  manipulated into different designs.

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Saddle and Ropes

• The cowhand's most important piece of
  "equipment," however, was his horse. On the back
  of a horse, the cowboy could cover vast
  distances, and he could herd cattle all day.
• The saddle horn was an innovation invented
  through necessity by creative Spanish and Mexican
  vaqueros. Livestock was first tied to the
  horses's tail. To the horses dismay.
• Consequently, when they were not able to rope the
  steer, turn the rope around the saddlehorn, then
  remove their thumb between the rope and horn
  before the animal pulled tight enough to cut off
  the digit, they lost their thumbs. This was the
  beginning of the Texan tradition of roping
  technique where the rope was first tied to the
  saddlehorn, then lassoing the animal. To this day
  on occasion you will still come across a
  thumbless cowboy who lost his digit the same way.

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Clothing - Cowboy Hat and Boots

• A cowboys most prized possessions were his hat
  and boots. A cowboy hat would cost up to three
  months salary and there were three types of hats-
  ten-gallon, the Mountie and the Stetson.
• High leather boots protected the cowboys' feet
  and ankles the boots' pointed toes made it
  easier for the cowboys to slip their feet into
  their stirrups, and the boots' high heels helped
  to anchor the riders' feet and prevent them from
  slipping out.

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Clothing

• Every item of the cowhand's clothing was
  functional and originated for a practical
  purpose.
• The basics were long-sleeved cotton or wool
  shirts and work pants. Because the shirts rarely
  had pockets, vests were usually worn to carry
  small items and provide added protection.
• Hats and kerchiefs had multiple uses and were
  always part of the cowhand's attire.
• Other items included jackets or slickers to
  protect the men from the elements.
• Chaps worn over boots and pants to provide a
  shield against the harsh brush of the rough
  country.

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Cowboy Gear

• The knife in the waistband is an essential tool.
  The revolver on the hip, although not often used
  because of the common fear of stirring a
  stampede, provided a last defense against snakes,
  steers and other cowboys.
• The myth portrays cowboys with sharp shooters,
  fighting boisterously. The fact is cowboys used
  guns only as a last resort for defense. The noise
  of a gunshot would frighten the herds, possibly
  causing a stampede. The myth paints cowboys as
  adept and agile gunfighters. The truth is they
  had little opportunity to use them.

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Cowboy Life

• 1/3 of the cowboys were former slaves and most of
  the others were former confederate soldiers.
• Music was mostly to sooth the herds with human
  voices and to distract cattle from shadows at
  night. Harmonicas, fiddles, and a jew's harp were
  often stowed in a cowboys saddlebag. Only in the
  movies does the cowboy usually sing around the
  campfire.
• A cowboy worked 15 hours a day for .80 a day.
• Son of a Gun stew was the favorite meal (beans,
  cattle liver, kidney meat, cattle brains and
  intestines.)
• Cowboys didnt actually kiss their horses, they
  were actually licking the sweat off the cleanest
  part of the horse for it liquid and salt content
  due to the extreme summer heat of the American
  Southwest.
• When describing the cowboy's way of life, J.C.
  Funas wrote in his book, The American's, " He
  seldom had the opportunity to bathe or wash his
  clothing there were usually vermin in the
  bunkhouses of the ranch. On the trail, his diet
  consisted principally of beans, grease and tough
  meat. The trail boss got up first, usually at 3
  A.M. Then the cook would boil the coffee until a
  pistol would float on it while he prepared
  breakfast. The average working day began before
  dawn and ended after sunset. The average
  cowboy's wage was 25 a month, often spent in a
  few days in a cow town at the end of a long trip.
  Then the cycle would begin all over again."

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Famous Cowboys

• Sally Skull"The Two Gun Terror". Horse trader,
  champion cusser, trail boss, and wife to many.
  Sally Skull growled a command and people moved.
  Her men couldn't decide which was harsher, her
  black handled whip or her tongue. They worked
  from sunup to when the shadows stretched long
  over the prairie, yet she never cracked a smile.
  Tough and tireless, this horse woman envied no
  man "Sally Skull belonged to the days of the
  Texas Republic and afterward. She was notorious
  for her husbands, her horse trading, freighting,
  and roughness." And her death remains as much a
  mystery as most of her life.
• Nat Love He was a cowboy in the wild west. He was
  born a slave in Davidson County, Tennessee. After
  his fathers death , he was about 15. A few days
  later he gathered his belongings and headed to
  Dodge City, Kansas to work as a cowpuncher for
  30 a month. After a few months there he headed
  north for a cowboy competition in Deadwood City,
  South Dakota. Love was excellent in everything!
  He succeeded in roping, tying, bridling, and
  wrestling in 9 minutes flat, the closest
  competitor was 14 minutes. Next he had the
  marksman competition, he shot 15 out of 15 shots
  with a rifle at 250 yards. The crowd was so
  impressed they gave him the nickname that would
  have followed him for a lifetime....' Deadwood
  Dick '!

Nat Love
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Famous Cowboys

• Calamity Jane- Martha Jane Canary (1848-1903) was
  born in Princeton, Missouri. This hard drinking
  woman wore men's clothing, used their bawdy
  language, chewed tobacco and was handy with a
  gun. She traveled from Arizona through the Dakota
  territories during her rough life. At her death,
  the "White Devil of the Yellowstone" was
  remembered as a saint by the citizens of
  Deadwood, where she helped nurse the sick during
  a smallpox plague. She is buried near Wild Bill
  Hickock at Deadwood, South Dakota.
• Bill Pickett- oldest of 13 children, was the son
  of a former slave. The most famous Black rodeo
  performer. credited with inventing the rodeo
  event called bulldogging, also known as
  steer-wrestling, in 1903. In 1971, he became the
  first African-American cowboy to be inducted into
  the Rodeo Hall of Fame.
• Annie Oakley- She could handle a rifle or a
  six-gun with an artistry unsurpassed by that of
  any human being before her time or, probably,
  since. And when she appeared with Sitting Bull
  and other notables in Colonel Cody's Wild West
  Show, she thrilled your father and mother -- not
  as Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses but as "Little Sure
  Shot," the immortal Annie Oakley.

Calamity Jane
Bill Pickett
Annie Oakley
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Cowboys in the Movies

• Just as it seemed America was growing tired of
  Buffalo Bill's Western stage show, the motion
  pictures were born. Tom Mix, who had been a real
  cowboy, began his movie career in 1909 with Ranch
  Life in the Great Southwest. After demonstrating
  his trick-riding skills, Mix won a part in the
  movie as a bronco buster.
• Gilbert M. Anderson created the character of
  "Broncho Billy," whose popularity led to a series
  of 375 western films made between 1908 and 1915,
  many of them made at Chicago's Essanay movie
  studios. Both the Tom Mix and Broncho Billy films
  typically followed a melodramatic plot in which
  the star battled outlaws and won the affections
  of a lovely girl.

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Wild West 255 min.
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Main Idea 3East and West were connected by the
transcontinental railroad.

• The growth of the West created a need for
  communication across the country.
• The Pony Express carried messages on a route
  2,000 miles long.
• Telegraph lines put the Pony Express out of
  business.
• Demand for a transcontinental railroad grew.
• Congress passed the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862
  and 1864, giving railroad companies loans and
  land grants.
• The railroads agreed to carry mail and troops at
  a lower cost.

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Pony Express

• The "Pony Express" was the next important
  enterprise organized and put into operation on
  the "desert." It made its first trip in April,
  1860, and continued its flying runs across the
  continent twice a week between the Missouri river
  and Sacramento. The pony express lasted only
  nineteen months, from April 3, 1860 to October
  24, 1861.
• The pony express ended when the telegraph first
  crossed the continent in November, 1861.
• Financially, the owners spent 700,000 on the
  Pony Express and had a 200,000 deficit. The
  company failed to get the million dollar
  government contract because of political
  pressures and the outbreak of the Civil War.

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Pony Express

• Riders Between 80 and 100
• Salary 100 per month
• Qualifications Age ranged from 11 to mid 40s.
  Riders had to weigh less than 125 lbs. One of the
  most famous was Buffalo Bill Cody
• Youngest Rider Legend has it that Bronco Charlie
  Miller was eleven years old when he rode for the
  Pony Express.
• Riders Changed 75 to 100 miles.
• Horses Changed 10 to 15 miles.
• Speed of Rider Average 10 miles per hour.
• Horses About 400 Mustangs and Morgans
• Stations Estimated between 150 and 190 of them.
  Located every 5 - 20 miles.
• Mochila Saddlebag designed especially to carry
  mail on the eastern end were made by Israel
  Landis.
• Route 1966 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri to
  Sacramento, California. Crossed Missouri River
  by Ferry boat, at the foot of Francis
  Street.Time 10 days.
• Quickest Run 7 days and 17 hours. The riders
  were carrying President Lincoln's Inaugural
  Address.
• Total Miles Covered Approximately 650,000 miles.
  
• Longest Ride Pony Bob Haslam. rode 370 miles --
  Friday Station to Smith Creek Station and back
  again.
• Cost of Mail 5 per 1/2 ounce at first. Later,
  the price was 1 per 1/2 ounce.

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Transcontinental Railroad

• Congress authorized two companies to build rail
  lines to the west coast- Union Pacific and
  Central Pacific.
• 6 1/2 years to complete
• Union Pacific from Omaha, Neb.
• Quick work on gentle rolling hills and prairie
• Central Pacific from Sacramento, California.
• Faced Indian attack, tough terrain, crossing
  deserts, tunneling in mountains, Indian attacks.
• May 10, 1869- Promontory Point, Utah east and
  west linked. Trade, jobs, and settlement.

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The Great Race

• In the race to complete a transcontinental
  railroad, the Central Pacific started in San
  Francisco and worked east, and the Union Pacific
  started in Omaha and worked west.
• Large numbers of Irish and Chinese immigrants
  worked on the railroads.
• Geography and weather posed many challenges to
  building the railroads.
• On May 10, 1869, the railroad lines met and
  joined the two tracks with a golden spike at
  Promontory, Utah.
• Companies continued building railroads throughout
  the West.

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Railroads expand and gird the nation

• 1865-1890- miles of track increase over 5 times.
• Land grants were given to the railroads by the
  Federal Government (131 million acres) and State
  governments (49 million acres).
• Two mile on either side of track the railroad got
  every other square mile to sell and use for
  building. Both prospered from this.

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Transcontinental Railroad- 200
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1st Continental Railroad 131
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The Transcontinental Railroad- 124
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The Transcontinental Railroad and the Growth of
Denver.
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Standard Time

• Time
• Each town had its own time according to the sun.
• Using local time caused confusion between cities.
• Being on time could stop fatal collisions.
• Decided to have railroad time be Standard Time-
  4 time zones across the nation and marked on maps
• Adopted in 1918

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Standard Gauge

• Gauge
• 1860- 350 different railroad companies and 30,000
  miles of track.
• No national network- many railroad had different
  gauge (distance from one rail to the other.)
• 11 different gauges
• This caused a lot of changing of railroad cars.
• 1869 transcontinental railroad used 4feet 8 1/2
  inches
• This became the standard gauge.

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Results of the Railroad
Growth

• Economic growth and population in the West
  increased.
• Railroads provided better transportation for
  people and goods
• They also encouraged people to move west.
• Railroads became one of the countrys biggest
  industries.

Panic of 1873

• Railroad speculation increased.
• The collapse of railroad owner Jay Cookes
  banking firm helped start the Panic of 1873.
• Many small western railroads were deeply in debt
  by the 1880s.

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