Technology and the West

1
Technology and the West
2
Need for a Transcontinental Railroad

• To connect East Coast to Oregon and California
• Would reduce travel time from months to days
• Would lead to growth along the rail line
• But where should it be built?
• Southerners wanted a route out of New Orleans,
  which required purchase of land from Mexico
  (Gadsden Purchase) arranged by Secretary of War
  Jefferson Davis
• Northerners wanted a route out of Chicago, but
  Southerners blocked their efforts in hopes that
  they could barter the route for an expansion of
  slavery

3
Pacific Railway Act

• 1862
• Provided for construction of a transcontinental
  railroad as a joint effort between the Union
  Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads
• Both companies were given land along the
  right-of-way to encourage competition and rapid
  construction

4
The Union Pacific

• Led by Grenville Dodge, former union general
  known for his organizational and managerial
  skills
• Started rail line heading west out of Omaha
  Nebraska in 1865

5
Union Pacific Workers

• Civil War vets
• Irish immigrants
• Bankrupt miners and farmers
• 10,000 men living in camps along the tracks and
  in rolling dorms
• Lots of rough living gambling, drinking,
  fighting

6
The Central Pacific

• Organized in California under 4 investors,
  including Leland Stanford, future governor of
  California and founder of Stanford University
• Hired 10,000 Chinese laborers
• Had drawback of having to have all equipment for
  railroad and for construction brought by ship

7
Promontory, Utah 1869
8
Time Zones Introduced

• Time had been measured purely by the suns
  position, so what time it was determined locally
• 1883 American Railway Association divided nation
  into 4 time zones to ease railroad scheduling and
  improve safety by eliminating wrecks caused by
  discrepancies in how time was measured

9
Standardization of Trains

• Hundreds of railroads consolidated into just 7
  major companies, increasing efficiency, lowering
  shipping and travel costs, and allowing the
  development of improved technologies which
  further increased efficiency
• Railroads tied Americas regions together after
  the war, helping end sectionalism

10
The Land Grant System

• Federal government gave land to railroad
  companies alongside their rail lines to encourage
  development
• Railroads sold this land to settlers to raise the
  capital needed to build the railroad
• Over 120 million acres of public lands were given
  to rail companies in mid-1800s

11
Plow Technology

• Jethro Wood patented an iron-bladed plow in 1819
• John Deere patented a steel-bladed plow in 1837
  that could cut through tough sod of the Great
  Plains
• Steel plows were the only way for sodbusters to
  farm the prairie, but also led to the breakdown
  of prairie soils and loss of topsoil to wind
  water erosion

12
Mechanical Reaper

• Developed by Cyrus McCormick in 1834
• Machine pulled by a horse could harvest far more
  grain than a man swinging a scythe, led to
  farmers planting more acreage and an increase in
  grain production

13
Dry-farming

• Plant seeds deep in the ground where there is
  enough moisture to allow them to germinate
• Doesnt require surface watering or depend as
  heavily on regular rainfall
• Mainly used for wheat and corn farming in the
  Great Plains

14
The Wheat Belt
15
Range Wars

• As farmers moved onto the plains, they needed to
  define and enclose their fields
• As sheep ranchers moved in, they needed access to
  water and pastures
• Both groups were in conflict with the cattle
  ranchers who depended on the open range to graze
  and move their herds
• Brief but violent range wars became common

16
Barbed Wire Ends the Open Range Era

• Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874
• Allowed huge areas of land to be fenced off
  cheaply and easily
• Allowed farmers and sheep ranchers to fence in
  the prairie and shut down routes (like the
  Chisholm Trail) for driving cattle
• Forced cattle ranchers to change their practices,
  organize defined, enclosed ranches

17
Farmers Fall on Hard Times

• In 1880s, a serious drought struck
• In 1890s, excessive wheat production caused
  prices to drop
• Farmers mortgaged their land to banks to survive,
  but often lost their land when they couldnt meet
  their mortgage payments

18
Commercial Farming

• Practiced mechanized farming
• Usually 50,000 acres
• Called bonanza farms
• Massive investment was required in land and
  equipment
• Required hired laborers (most regular farms were
  family worked)