Chapter 19 Growth in the American West

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Chapter 19Growth in the American West

• The American West
• before and after the Civil War

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Find the West CoastFind the Rocky
MountainsFind the Great Plains
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The West Coast California, Oregon, and Washington
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The Rocky Mountains Colorado, Montana, Arizona,
and Wyoming
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The Great Plains
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The Great Plains

• The Great Plains is a large area in the middle of
  the United States.
• It is between the Mississippi River and the Rocky
  Mountains.
• It includes states such as Oklahoma, Kansas, and
  Nebraska.

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• It is flat and dry, but grassy, not a dessert.
• There are no trees, so the wind is strong.
• Winters are cold and summers are hot.
• Water is scarce.
• Dust storms, tornadoes, snowstorms, windstorms,
  and grass fires are common.

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Memory check

• Name three states on the West Coast.
• Name three Rocky Mountain states.
• Tell where the Great Plains are located.
• Name three states in the Great Plains.
• Describe the climate of the Great Plains.

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The American West Before the Civil War
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The Indians were the original inhabitants of the
West.
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Next came the Spanish
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Most of the West belonged to Spain.
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• The land was not good for farming, but it was
  good for raising cattle and horses. So, Spanish
  settlers raised cattle in the West. They were
  the first cowboys.

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• The West became part of Mexico when it got
  independence from Spain. But, eventually the
  U.S. took the West from Mexico.

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• Many of the cowboys were Hispanic or African
  American. They would raise the cattle and then
  herd them to a city to sell them.

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They raised longhorn cattle, because they could
travel long distances and survive tough climates.
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• They often had to take their cattle from Texas to
  Abilene, Kansas to catch a train. The train
  would take the cattle to Northern cities such as
  Chicago.

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The work was difficult, dangerous, and
lonely.They had to travel a long distance with
their cattle.
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• The Great Plains were called the Open Range
  because there were no fences and cattle could
  move freely.

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• Indians had always lived in the Great Plains, but
  the Plains were mostly empty. Plains Indians
  lived by hunting buffalo. They moved around
  following the buffalo herds.

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Native Americans from the East were forced to
move to the West.

• When the United States started expanding, the
  Indians east of the Mississippi were forced to
  move west of the Mississippi. They were promised
  the land west of the Mississippi. They lived in
  the Plains in places such as Oklahoma, and Kansas.

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Memory Check

• Who were the first people to live in the Great
  Plains?
• Who were the second people to come?
• What was the life of a cowboy like?
• What promise did the U.S. government make to the
  Native Americans?

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Before the Civil War, many people started moving
west of the Mississippi to start their own farms.
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Life was difficult for the settlers.

• They were isolated. They had no neighbors.
  There were no cities close by. And, the cities
  in the West had few stores to buy supplies from.
  

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• Transportation was slow and difficult. There
  were no trains or decent roads. They had to walk
  or ride horses.

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• Farming was difficult. It was too dry and the
  thick grass made plowing difficult.
• There were also many dangers. Bad weather could
  kill the settlers. It could destroy their crops
  and leave them without food. It could even
  destroy their homes and leave them to freeze.
  Also, Indians or bandits sometimes attacked
  settlers.

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Memory Check

• What problems did early settlers face as they
  settled on the Great Plains?

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Around 1865, new technology was helping farmers
to be more successful in the Great Plains.
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• The new steel plows worked better than the iron
  plows. Steel was stronger than iron. Iron plows
  would break on the tough grass roots.

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• Windmills could pump water from deep underground.

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• Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper---a machine
  that could harvest large fields of wheat or corn.

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• Farmers in the Great Plains began to grow very
  large crops of wheat and corn. More people
  wanted to move west to start their own farms and
  be successful.

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Memory Check

• What made it possible for the settlers to succeed
  in the Great Plains?

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While some settlers were starting farms in the
Great Plains, other settlers were moving to the
West in search of gold and silver.
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The Gold Rush

• 1849 was the year of the California Gold Rush.
  Many people moved to California to search for
  gold and become rich. They came from all over
  the world. Other gold and silver rushes followed
  in places like Nevada.

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Mining Towns

• Mining towns developed near the mines.
• Miners lived in the towns. They had stores,
  hotels, saloons, and more.

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Memory Check

• What were the two main reasons why people moved
  to the West?

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• Settlers in the West created problems for the
  Indians. By 1850, the U.S. government was letting
  White settlers move into the Indian Territories
  and take their land. The White settlers and the
  Indians started fighting.

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Memory Check

• Why did Indians and settlers fight?

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• Congress wanted people to settle in the Great
  Plains, so they passed the Homestead Act of 1862.
  This law gave each settler 160 acres of free
  land if he could stay and farm it for five years.
  About two million people moved to the Great
  Plains to get their land.

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• In 1860, the United States started building the
  Transcontinental Railroad. The transcontinental
  railroad was a railroad that went all the way
  across the U.S.A. from East coast to West coast

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Many people worked building the transcontinental
railroad.

• The work was very dangerous. Workers had to dig
  tunnels, build bridges across fast rivers and
  deep canyons, and work in cold weather.

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• Many people died building the railroad. Most
  were immigrants from China, Ireland, and Europe.
  Some were African Americans.

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The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in
1869.

• Before the railroad, it took six months to cross
  America by covered wagon. After the railroad, it
  took only one week.

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• By 1870, the farmers in the Great Plains were
  fighting with the cowboys. The farmers didnt
  want the cowboys to herd their cattle over their
  land because it destroyed their crops. The
  farmers wanted to build fences, but the cowboys
  wanted to keep the open range.

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In 1873, the invention of barbed wire changed the
Great Plains.

• It was a cheap way to make fences that would keep
  cattle off of farms. People built barbed wire
  fences everywhere and the open range ended.

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The Cattle Kingdom

• Eventually the cowboys were replaced with large
  scale ranchers. These ranchers owned giant
  ranches and used the newly built railroads to
  take their cattle to the cities instead of paying
  cowboys to herd the cattle for them. These
  ranchers were so rich and powerful that they were
  called the cattle kingdom.

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Memory Check

• What brought more settlers to the West after the
  Civil War?
• Where did the people who built the
  Transcontinental Railroad come from?
• What invention finally ended the Open Range?

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• In 1868, the U.S. government had given the Sioux
  Indians a large amount of land in South Dakota.
  But, when gold was discovered there in 1874, the
  U.S. Army wanted to move the Sioux Indians out
  and take that land.
• Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
  refused to move and decided to fight back.

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The U.S. Army sent General Custer, a General
famous for fighting against the Indians.
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• In 1874, the Sioux defeated General Custer in the
  Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer and all of his
  soldiers were surrounded and killed.

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• More U.S. Army troops came and eventually Sitting
  Bull and Crazy Horse had to surrender. Crazy
  Horse was later killed while in jail.

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Indians were forced to live on reservations.

• The reservations were land for the Indians to
  stay on, but it was land the White people didnt
  want. They had no water. Farming, ranching, or
  hunting were nearly impossible. Many starved to
  death or froze. The U.S. government encouraged
  people to kill all the buffalo so the Indians
  would not have any food and would have to move to
  the reservations.

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The Dawes Act

• Some people felt sorry for the Native Americans.
  They wanted to help them, so they made a law
  called the Dawes Act. The purpose of the Dawes
  Act was to force Native Americans to become like
  Europeans. They were taught how to farm, wear
  European clothes, and speak English.

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• Indian children were taken away from their
  parents and put in special schools. They were
  taught English. They were taught that Indian
  culture was bad. The Dawes Act destroyed Indian
  culture.

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The Ghost Dance Movement

• In 1890, Sioux Indians at the Wounded Knee
  Reservation in South Dakota started doing Ghost
  Dances.
• They believed that these dances would bring up
  ghosts to push back the White man.

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Massacre at Wounded Knee

• The U.S. Army wanted to stop the Ghost Dance.
• They killed over 300 men, women, and children.
• The Wounded Knee Massacre virtually ended the
  Indian resistance.

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Memory Check

• Why did Crazy Horse decide to fight the U.S.
  Army?
• What happened at Little Bighorn?
• What is a reservation?
• How did the Dawes Act destroy Indian culture?
• What is reservation land usually like?
• What happened at Wounded Knee?

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The Great Plains becomes Americas Breadbasket

• By 1890, the Great Plains were producing large
  amounts of wheat and corn.
• The land was divided into fenced-off farms.
• The Indians had been moved onto the reservations
  or killed.
• Railroads connected the American west to the rest
  of the country.