Western Expansion

1
Western Expansion

• Miners, Cowboys, and Indians

2
How did mining become big business?

• After the California gold rush in the 1850s,
  miners began prospecting in other parts of the
  west.
• In 1858, miners were making 20.00 a day mining
  gold at the base of Pikes Peak in Colorado.
• Prospectors made a meager living panning gold
  from streams.
• Most of the gold was found in lodes-streaks of
  gold ore found between layers of rocks.

3
How was the mines mined and who invested in them?

• Extracting the ore required expensive machinery
  and Britain became a big investor in American
  mines.
• Mining companies soon replaced the individual
  prospector backed by American investors as well.
• Silver mining became a huge industry at sites
  like the Comstock Lode in Carson City, Nevada.
• Henry Comstock owned a share of the mine.

4
How did mining create boomtowns?

• The Comstock Lode made millions for the mining
  companies but Henry Comstock sold his share for
  11,000 dollars a two mules.
• Virginia City, Nevada was one of the first big
  boomtowns-cities that sprang up overnight.
• Money, violence, and vigilante (those who take
  the law into their own hands) justice was the
  norm as many towns had no police force, judges or
  juries.
• Men outnumbered women 2 to 1 in these towns.

5
How did boomtowns become ghost towns but bring
states into the union?

• Boomtowns like Virginia City became ghost towns
  as fast as they came into existence.
• In 30 years, Virginia Citys population dwindled
  from 30,000 to 400.
• Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington,
  and Montana became states during the mining boom
  out west.
• Gold silver moved to copper, lead, and zinc in
  these states.

6
How did railroads connect east and west?

• Mines had little value back east if their raw
  materials could not be shipped back.
• Wagons stagecoach lines could not move people
  or goods fast enough.
• From 1865-1890 the US went from 35,000 miles of
  track to over 150,000.
• National and state governments gave away land to
  railroad executives that was traded and swindled
  from Native Americans.

7
When did east finally meet west for railroads?

• The 1850s began a desire for a transcontinental
  railroad.
• Due to the Civil War, the Union made a northern
  route leaving the south without a major railroad
  connection.
• The Union Pacific Company laid track west from
  Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific worked
  east from Sacramento, Ca.
• Chinese Irish workers laid most of the track
  for low wages and harsh conditions.

8
When was it finished and what was its impact?

• The 2 tracks came together on May 10, 1869.
• By 1883, two more transcontinental lines
  connected many western towns to eastern ones but
  the time schedules needed to change.
• Railroad companies divided the country into four
  time zones exactly one hour apart.
• Congress passed a law making it official in 1918.

9
How did cowboys help settle the west?

• When the Spanish settled Mexico and Texas, they
  brought a breed of cattle with them called
  longhorns.
• Texas was open range-not fenced or divided where
  cattle ran wild until farmers burned brands in
  them to tell them apart.
• Texas had plenty of cattle and railroads took
  the beef north and east.
• Longhorns that were worth 3.00 rose to 40.00.

10
How did cattle create cowtowns?

• Cow towns were towns located near railroads to
  market and ship cattle.
• Abilene and Dodge City Kansas and Cheyenne
  Wyoming became important rail stations and cow
  towns.
• Long Drive-the herding of cattle one thousand
  miles or more to meet the railroads, became the
  norm in Texas.
• Two trails from Texas to Abilene were the
  chisholm and Goodnight- Loving Trail.

11
How was life on the trail?

• Cattle driving was hard work as cow hands road in
  the saddle up to fifteen hours in all weather
  conditions.
• Life was lonely as cow hands saw few outsiders.
• Most cow hands were Confederate army veterans.
• Some African Americans and Hispanics went west
  for the better life.
• Chaps lariats became tools of the trade.

12
What hazards did cowboys face?

• Violent storms, rustlers, Indians, and stampedes
  were many dangers on the trail.
• While all cowboys worked together, discrimination
  existed in the west too.
• Minorities never became trail bosses and were
  paid less.
• Towns discriminated against all minorities
  altogether.
• Towns were rowdy, lawless, and violent. Cow
  hands drank, gambled, fought, and used guns.

13
How did farmers settle the plains?

• Railroads brought settlers to free land like the
  Homestead Act which gave one hundred and sixty
  acres to settlers that lived on the and for five
  years.
• Among the thousands of new settlers, immigrants
  and single women had the same rights as the white
  men.
• Twelve percent of all land claims were single
  women.
• Married women could not claim land.

14
What were Exo-dusters and Sodbusters?

• Exo-dusters were African Americans that came from
  southern states in the 1870s.
• Sodbusters known Plains Farmers used new methods
  and tools for farming.
• Barbed wire was used by farmers to protect their
  land.
• Farmers often clashed with open range cattle.
• Sooners came to Oklahoma and staked claims there.
• After 1890 Congress claimed the west was settled.

15
How did Native Americans cope with Western
advancement?

• Native Americans lived in the west for centuries
  until miners, railroads, cattle drives, and
  farmers disrupted that tradition.
• Omaha and Osage Indians were moved off of the
  Plains by farmers.
• Sioux, Comanche, Blackfoot Indians followed the
  migration of the buffalo until hunters with
  rifles slaughtered the herds.
• Railroad companies wanted the buffalo for their
  workers and to keep large herds from interfering
  with track lines.

16
What was the Reservation policy?

• This policy was enacted by the federal government
  to move Indians from the plains to large tracks
  of land.
• These lands were managed by the federal Bureau of
  Indian Affairs.
• Indians were often swindled and tricked onto the
  lands.
• The Bureau often failed to keep promises of food,
  supplies, and good land.
• Pockets of resistance grew set the stage for
  conflict.

17
What famous Indians led their tribes in revolt?

• Little Crow-led Sioux warriors in burning and
  looting Minnesota settlers, hundreds died.
• The Lakota-a branch of the Sioux fought in the
  Black Hills of South Dakota to keep their lands.
• Crazy Horse-led some Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
  in successful attacks from 1865-1867.
• Chief Black Kettle-led Cheyenne warriors to
  negotiate a peace treaty until they were attacked
  without warning and killed the peace seekers.
• The Cheyenne reacted by killing settlers until
  they finally agreed to stop fighting.

18
What happened at Little Bighorn?

• In 1868, a treaty was supposed to bring peace to
  the Dakotas until gold was discovered on land set
  aside for the Lakota and Sioux tribes.
• Whites decided they wanted the gold worse than
  they wanted peace tried several times to
  swindle the land away from the Indians.
• Sitting Bull Crazy Horse slaughtered the entire
  7th Calvary at Little Bighorn.
• Eventually starved into submission, the Indians
  agreed again to be moved to reservations.

19
What happened during the Apache wars?

• Geronimo-led Apache warriors into defiant revolt
  in Arizona, Mexico, and other areas in the 1870s
  until finally being the last Indian leader to
  formally surrender to American authorities in
  1886.
• Geronimo was exiled to Florida to hard labor on
  the promise he would be allowed to return to
  Arizona but that promise was never kept by whites
  that kept him in prison at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
  until his death.

20
Apache Wars Continued..

• Cochise-was the most famous of the two Apache
  warriors that fought for Apache freedom from 1861
  until his surrender in 1871.
• Fearing that whites would mutilate the body of
  Cochise when he finally died in 1874, the
  surviving Indians buried him in the Chiracahua
  Mountains never telling a white soul the
  location.

21
What was the ghost dance?

• The prophet Wovoka claimed the Sioux would
  reclaim their greatness if they performed a
  ritual called the ghost dance.
• The ritual spread and the reservation police
  believed that Sitting Bull was the real leader
  behind this movement and in an attempt to arrest
  him, killed him.
• The dance proved to be another false hope for the
  Sioux and the Lakota fled in fear.

22
What happened at Wounded Knee?

• The Lakota gathered at Wounded Knee, South Dakota
  at a creek in December of 1890.
• The army went to collect what few weapons they
  had and during the confiscation a shot rang out.
• The army opened fire on helpless and mostly
  unarmed Indian men, women, and children killing
  over 200 Indians.
• This marked the end of armed conflict between
  whites and Native Americans that lost their
  struggle for their independence.