Essential Question:

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• Essential Question
• What factors led to the settlement of the West
  during the Gilded Age (1870-1900)?
• Warm-Up Question
• Lets review the Unit 7 Organizer

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The Gilded Age 1870-1900

• After the Civil War, the U.S. entered an era
  known as the Gilded Age when America experienced
  rapid changes

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Overview of the West

• After the Civil War, the area west of the
  Mississippi River was settled
• Miners, ranchers, farmers flooded into the
  frontier looking for economic opportunities
• Transcontinental railroads connected the country
• Plains Indians were forced to assimilate move
  to reservations
• By 1890, the frontier was closed

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The Mining Bonanza

• Mining was the 1st magnet to attract settlers to
  the West
• Before the Civil War, miners discovered gold in
  California, Colorado, Nevada
• After the Civil War, miners resumed their
  migration into the West to find more gold silver

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Mining Regions of the West
John Mackay became the richest man in the world
earned 25 a minute from his Big Bonanza in
Sierra Mountains
Silver miners in Leadville, CO
306 million in gold silver was discovered at
the Comstock Lode
Mining towns were formed in the West Needed
govt, law enforcement, businesses
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Corporations had the expensive machinery
(hydraulic mining techniques) to extract most
of the gold in the West
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• Chinese Latin American immigrants came to find
  gold
• Nativism led Congress to pass the Chinese
  Exclusion Act in 1882 which ended Chinese
  immigration

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Ranchers The Cattle Boom

• After the Civil War, the demand for beef
  skyrocketed
• To meet this demand, ranchers drove Texas
  longhorns across the open range to railroad
  towns
• Cattle bought in Texas for 4 could be sold for
  40 in Kansas
• Cattle drives created new towns

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Ranchers The Cattle Boom
Ranchers used the open range to graze longhorns
during the 3 month long drive
By 1867, ranchers started using trains to ship
cattle to meatpacking cities like Chicago
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Ranchers The Cattle Boom

• By the 1880s, cattle ranching was difficult
  because
• The open range was closed as farmers used new
  barbed wire fencing to close off their farms
• Overgrazing drought left little grasslands for
  grazing cattle
• Competition from sheep herding

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Homesteads Farmers

• The U.S. govt offered incentives for farmers to
  settle the West
• Homestead Act (1862) gave 160 acres to citizens
  who pledged to improve the land for at least 5
  years
• Other govt acts helped develop western lands by
  planting trees building irrigation systems

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By 1900, 600,000 Americans claimed homesteads
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Homesteads Farmers

• Life in the Plains was difficult
• There were few trees so homesteaders built sod
  houses
• 60 of homesteaders failed
• But many homesteaders adapted
• Used dry farming techniques
• Planted tough varieties of wheat
• Used harvesting machinery

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By 1890, the U.S. became a major crop exporter
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Exodusters

• Exodusters were black farmers who moved West to
  escape crop liens Jim Crow laws in the South

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Exodusters
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Homestead Sales, 1870-1940
In 1890, the western frontier closed There
were no more unorganized territories in the West
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Rails Across the Continent

• In 1862, Congress authorized the first
  transcontinental railroad
• Union Pacific worked westward from Nebraska
  (Irish laborers)
• Central Pacific worked eastward from CA (Chinese
  immigrants)
• On May 10, 1869 the 2 tracks met at Promontory
  Point in Utah

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Irish workers made up a large percentage of
laborers on the eastern section
Chinese workers made up a large percentage of
laborers on the western leg
The 1st transcontinental railroad connected the
west coast to eastern cities in 1869
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Federal Land Grants to Railroads by 1871
The national govt gave out 65 million
millions of acres to railroad companies to
connect the East West coasts with railroads
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The Transcontinental Railroad
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Railroad Construction, 1830-1920
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The Plains Indians
In 1865, 2/3 of all Indians lived on the Great
Plains
Their culture was dependent upon the buffalo
the horse
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The Importance of the Buffalo in Indian Culture
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Americas Indian Policy

• Americas Indian policy changed
• In the 1830s, Indians were moved across the
  Mississippi River into one big reservation
• In the 1850s, (due to Manifest Destiny), Indians
  were moved into concentrated reservations
• In the 1860s, reservations were violated by
  farmers miners

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Indians Wars
In 1876, Americans flooded into Sioux territory
in South Dakota when gold was discovered
The Sioux, led by Sitting Bull, retaliated by
ambushing Colonel Custer all 197 soldiers in
the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big Horn
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Indians Wars
When the U.S. army tried to stop Sioux ghost
dances, 200 men, women, children were
slaughtered during the Battle of Wounded Knee
The Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 was the last
Indian war in American history
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The End of Tribal Life

• The final blow to Indian culture came with
  annihilation of buffalo
• Began with the construction of the
  transcontinental RR in 1860s
• From 1872
  to 1874,
  3 million
  buffalo
  were killed each year

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Lands Lost by Native Americans (1894)
The Cession of Indian Territory
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Conclusions

• By 1890, the frontier was closed
• Miners, ranchers, farmers flooded West at the
  expense of Indians
• But, Westerners began to grow frustrated due to
  their dependency on Eastern railroads, banks,
  politicians

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Closure Activity

• What was the American West in 1750? 1800?
  1850? 1900?
• Now that the United States has acquired
  occupied all lands between the Atlantic
  Pacific, whats next?