The Wild Wild West

1
The Wild Wild West
2
Geography of the West

• Towns in Missouri were thought to be the end
  before the frontier
• Frontier unsettled land in western United
  States
• The West is considered states beyond the Rocky
  Mountains like Oregon, California, etc.
• There are deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes,
  basins, plateaus, mesas, even a volcano in the
  West

3
Influence of Railroads

• Railroads helped settle the West
• Trains carried resources like minerals, timber,
  crops, cattle to the East coast
• Trains also carried miners, ranchers, farmers
  to settle the West
• Trains Native Americans not friends
• Train routes often went through the routes of the
  animals they hunted or even through their own
  lands

4
Go West, Why?

• Before the Civil War, the South did not want the
  land in the West settled
• They feared more non-slave territories
• Government decided it was time to settle the west
  by offering free land
• Homestead Act You can have 160 acres for free
  if you live on it for 5 years and improve it
• Many African Americans settled in Kansas,
  Missouri, Indiana, Illinois after the Civil War
• The Railroads were growing
• Its easier to head west

5
Challenges in the West

• Many challenges faced the people who moved West
• There were no trees, so houses were built from
  sod (thick grass)
• Had to dig wells for water
• Blizzards, hailstorms, tornados, fires, drought
• Insects ate crops
• New inventions helped some of the challenges
• Steel plow helped farming built sod houses
• Windmills helped pump water from wells
• Barbed wire kept cattle in or out
• Reapers threshers helped harvest crops

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Mining in the West

• Gold has struck again in Nevada, Colorado,
  South Dakota
• People raced to go to these areas
• Boomtowns appeared due to gold strikes
• Boomtown a town that has a sudden burst of
  population economic growth
• When the gold other mined resources ran out
  people moved to the next town
• Boomtowns became ghost towns

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Cattle Drives

• Cattle ranching made big money for 20 years
• Ranchers hired cowhands to drive cattle from
  Texas to Kansas
• Vaqueros 1st cowhands came from Mexico
• Cattle was put on trains sent east
• Cattle driving was very difficult - you had to
  keep the cows or the money together
• Obstacles were nature, thieves, Native
  Americans

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Native American Life

• Most Plains tribes lived in villages
• The Spanish brought horses in the 1500s to the
  Native Americans changed their way of life
• Horses helped travel hunting buffalo
• All parts of the buffalo were used food,
  clothing, blankets, tools, jewelry, etc.
• Now Native Americans could travel with the buffalo

9
The Government Lies

• The Native Americans were promised no one would
  take their land (HA! We know better)
• When the settlers kept whining they wanted more
  land the government broke their promise
• The government set up boundaries or
  reservations for the Native Americans
• Some Native Americans went along with this while
  others resisted
• Sand Creek Massacre The Cheyenne fought back
  the militia killed 150 tribe members

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Native American Leaders

• Sitting Bull Crazy Horse Sioux chiefs who
  tried to push settlers off their land
• Chief Joseph Nez Perce chief said, It makes my
  heart sick when I remember all the good words and
  all the broken promises.
• Geronimo an Apache leader who resisted to being
  put on a reservation
• No matter how hard they tried, unfortunately the
  Native Americans ended up on reservations anyway

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Dawes Act

• There were people who actually believed what we
  had done to the Native Americans was wrong
• An idea of assimilation was discussed as a way
  for Native Americans to fit in to white culture
• Dawes Act encouraged Native Americans to give
  up their customs to become farmers on
  reservations
• Not all Native Americans wanted to be farmers
• If they did want to be farmers, they werent
  given the tools or technology the white man had,
  so it was very difficult

12
Women in the West

• Life was challenging for women in the West
• Life was lonely due to few neighbors women did
  not go into town with the men
• Women were doctors, nurses, cooks, mothers,
  teachers, responsible for the homestead
• Homestead a piece of land the house on it
• The Western states acknowledged the importance of
  women
• Wyoming was the first state to fight for womens
  right to vote
• Soon after Colorado, Utah, and Idaho stood up for
  women too

13
Western Cities

• Cities grew for a few reasons
• Gold precious mineral strikes
• A refueling or supply renewal point
• Railroad stops
• Many cities did not have formal laws or
  government
• Cities towns were rough
• Some people took the law into their own hands
• Vigilantes made their own rules

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Dont Forget Us

• There were many groups of people who helped make
  the West what it is today
• Vaqueros the 1st cowhands from Mexico
• African Americans cattle ranchers western
  army soldiers
• Chinese immigrants builders of the railroad in
  the West
• Native Americans promises broken forced to
  leave their homes
• Pioneers all those crazy, um, I mean brave
  people who took a chance

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Closing the Frontier

• Fenced in fields replaced open plains
• In Oklahoma thousands of people rushed at the
  sound of a gun shot to claim land for themselves
  2 million acres were sold
• The frontier meant opportunity for many
• You could make something of yourself if you moved
  West
• You could start a new life
• A good day - was a day of good, hard work

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How the West has influenced us today

• Cowboy boots hats
• Blue Jeans
• Leather goods (bags, coats, vests, suspenders,
  etc.)
• Home remedies (Hiccups drink water while
  standing on your head)
• Saddles
• Stories (Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, Jesse
  James)
• movies, books, poems, songs
• Railroad growth travel
• Food - apples, potatoes, salt water taffy
• Activities rodeos, card games, bull riding
• Patterned clothing
• Treasure hunts
• Pony Express the 1st post office
• Bandanas

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Slang of the Wild West

• Big Bug - - an important person
• Coffee boiler - - a lazy person
• Dude - - a person from the East
• Fandango - - a big party
• Fetch - - Bring or give
• Fork over - - to pay
• Fuss - - disturbance
• Get a wiggle on - - hurry up
• Grand - - excellent beautiful
• Hobble your lip - - be quiet
• Howdy - - hello
• In apple pie order - - in tip top shape
• Jig is up - - it is over
• Pass the buck - - to avoid responsibility
• Pull in your horns - - Back off!
• Skedaddle - - RUN!
• Stumped - - confused

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Sources

• Garcia, Jesus, et.al. (2003). Creating America.
  Chapter 19 Sections 1-4. McDougal Littell.
  Evanston, Illinois.
• Atwater, G.M. Western Slangs Phrases. A
  Writers Guide to the Old West. October 26, 2006.
  April 21, 2007. http//freepages.genealogy.rootswe
  b.com/poindexterfamily/OldWestSlang.html