Technology and the West

1. Technology and the West

2. Railroads

3. Why Build a Transcontinental Railroad? • Would tie the nation together • Would reduce travel time between East Coast and West Coast from months to days • Would lead to growth of towns and cities along the rail line • Would make moving goods and raw materials easier

4. Which Route to Build? • Southerners wanted a route out of New Orleans, but rough terrain in Arizona led to the purchase of flatter land from Mexico (the Gadsden Purchase) • Northerners wanted a route out of Chicago, but Southerners blocked their efforts in hopes that they could barter the route’s location in exchange for an expansion of slavery

5. The Pacific Railway Act • Passed in 1862 (during the Civil War, so the Northern route won) • Congress approved the construction of a transcontinental railroad, awarding contracts to both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads • Both companies were given land along the right-of-way as payment, rather than cash; this encouraged competition and speedier construction – whoever built the most railroad, got the most land

6. The Union Pacific Railroad • Led by Grenville Dodge, a former general known for his organizational and managerial skills • Started construction on a rail line heading west out of Omaha, Nebraska in 1865

7. Union Pacific’s Workforce • The Union Pacific used a mixture of unemployed Civil War veterans and Irish immigrants for labor • They hired over 10,000 men and housed them in camps along the tracks and in rolling dormitory cars • Rough living conditions led high crime rates – lots of gambling, drinking, and fighting between workers

8. The Central Pacific Railroad • Organized in California under 4 investors, including Leland Stanford, the future governor of California and the founder of Stanford University • Started construction of a railroad heading east out of Sacramento • Had the major disadvantage of having to have all their railroad and construction equipment delivered by ships from the east • Also had to begin building in the mountains almost immediately, slowing their progress and increasing their expenses

9. Central Pacific’s Workforce • The organizers of the Central Pacific chose to hire over 10,000 Chinese laborers • Chinese were willing to work very cheaply because unemployment in China was very high due to the Taiping Rebellion • Chinese immigrants, who faced tremendous racism and were rarely treated fairly, tended to band together, creating “Chinatown” neighborhoods in major cities like San Francisco

10. The Workingman’s Party of California • The growing numbers of Chinese workers led to increased nativism and anti-immigrant political activism • The Workingman’s Party of California was a political party founded by Irish immigrant Denis Kearney in the 1870s to oppose Chinese immigration and the use of Chinese labor to build the railroads • Simple motto: “The Chinese Must Go!”

11. The Chinese Exclusion Act • Growing anti-Chinese sentiments led Congress to pass a bill in 1882 banning all Chinese immigration for 10 years • Additionally, Chinese immigrants already in the U.S. were blocked from becoming citizens • Congress renewed the Act for ten more years in 1892 before banning Chinese immigration permanently in 1902 (the Act was repealed in 1942) • The ban led to a decline in the Chinese population in the U.S., since most early Chinese immigrants were men

12. Completion of the Railroad • The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads finally met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869 • The completion of the railroad was celebrated with the driving of a golden spike to mark the spot where the two lines met • Amazingly, the entire railway had been built in only about 4 years

13. Time Zones Introduced • Prior to the railroads, time had been measured purely by the sun’s position, so the time of day was determined locally • In 1883, the American Railway Association divided the nation into 4 time zones to ease railroad scheduling and to improve safety; train wrecks were common due to discrepancies in local time, so a standardization of time measurement was necessary

14. Standardization of Trains • Hundreds of small, independent railroads quickly consolidated into just 7 major companies, increasing efficiency, lowering shipping and travel costs, and allowing for the development of standardized technology which further increased efficiency • The growing railroad networks also tied America’s regions together after the Civil War, helping minimize sectionalism

15. The Land Grant System • The federal government continued to give land to the railroad companies alongside their rail lines as payment and to encourage development • The railroads sold this land to settlers to raise the capital needed to build more railroads • Over 120 million acres of public lands had been given to the railroad companies by the late 1800s

16. Farming Technologies

17. The Steel Plow • John Deere patented a steel-bladed plow in 1837 that could cut through the tough sod of the Great Plains • Deere’s steel plow opened the way for “sodbusters” to farm the prairie, but they also led to the breakdown of prairie soils and the loss of topsoil to wind & water erosion, factors that would later cause serious problems for Plains farmers

18. The Mechanical Reaper • Developed by Cyrus McCormick in 1834, the mechanical reaper was a horse-drawn machine which could harvest far more grain than a man swinging a scythe • The reaper led to farmers planting more acreage, leading to an increase in grain production

19. Dry-farming • Farming method where seeds are planted deep in the ground where there is enough moisture to allow them to germinate without irrigation or surface watering • This was the perfect method for use on the Plains where surface water was scarce and rainfall irregular • The best crops for dry-farming were grains, so Plains farmers grew wheat and corn out of necessity

20. The Wheat Belt

21. The Range Wars • As more farmers moved onto the Plains, they wanted to define and protect 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 to the railheads • As a result, brief but violent range wars became common

22. Barbed Wire Ends the Open Range Era • Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874, barbed wire allowed large areas of land to be fenced off cheaply and easily, without the use of very much wood • It allowed farmers and sheep ranchers to fence in the prairie and shut down routes (like the Chisholm Trail) used by cattle drivers • Cattle ranchers were forced to change their practices, and organize defined, enclosed ranches rather than drive cattle across the open range

23. Farmers Fall on Hard Times • In the 1880s, a serious drought struck the Plains, wiping out many farmers and ranchers • In the 1890s, excessive wheat production caused grain prices to drop, hurting farmers again • To survive, farmers often mortgaged their land to banks, but frequently lost their land when they couldn’t meet their mortgage payments