Ch 18 The Western Frontier

1. Ch 18 The Western Frontier 1858-1896

2. Why did many Americans move to the western frontier in the mid 1800s?

3. The Mining Booms Sec 1

4. Mining is Big Business • After the California Gold Rush ended in the mid-1850s, miners began prospecting in other parts of the West • Most gold was located in underground lodes- rich streaks of ore sandwiched between layers of rock • Large mining companies began to replace the lone miner

6. Comstock Lode- rich lode of silver found on the banks of the Carson River in Nevada Comstock Lode

8. Gold strikes created boomtowns- towns that grew up almost overnight around mining sites Mining Frontier

9. What was life like in a boomtown?

10. Lively, often lawless Violence was a part of everyday life Many people carried large amounts of cash and guns Vigilantes dealt out their own kind of justice without judge or jury Life in Boomtowns

11. Many mining booms were followed by busts. Many boomtowns turned into ghost towns as people left when the ore was gone Boom and Bust

12. Railroads • The nation’s railways expanded rapidly to meet demands of the miners in the west • Miners needed to get their ore to the East and they need to get supplies • Railroad track increased from 35,000 to 150,000 miles

13. Government and Railroads • To promote growth the government gave the railroad companies 130 million acres of land • Much of the land was purchased or obtained in treaties from Native Americans

15. Transcontinental Railroad • Transcontinental Railroad- railway that would span the continent and connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts • TCRR Map

17. What kind of challenges did the railways face in building the transcontinental railroad?

19. Challenges • 1700 miles • Weather • Hot plains • Cold mountains • Geography • Rugged mountains • Labor

27. Transcontinental Railway • Completed May 10, 1869 • Union Pacific working from the east completed 1038 miles of track • Central Pacific working from the west completed 742 miles of track • Met in Promontory Point, Utah

28. Promontory Point

30. How did the Railroads affect the economy of the United States?

31. Effects of Trains • Steel Industry • Coal Industry • Timber Industry • Railroad car manufacturing • Creation of time zones

32. Ranchers and Farmers Sec 2

33. If you were a settler in the West how would you build a house?

34. When the Spanish settled Mexico they brought longhorns, a tough breed of cattle with them These cattle eventually spread throughout Texas Cattle on the Plains

35. At this time, much of Texas was open range, not fenced or divided into lots Ranchers added to their herd by rounding up wild cattle and branding them Branding Open Range

37. The Long Drive • To sell their cattle ranchers had to drive them to the nearest rail point • The Long Drive- led cattle more than 1000 miles to meet the railroads • Between the late 1860s and the mid 1880s more than 5 million cattle traveled on long drives

39. What was life like for cowboys on the trail?

40. Life on the Trail • Hard work • Long hours- up to 15 hour days • Bad weather- hot sun, bad rainstorms, dust storms • Lonely • Rustlers • Geography- raging rivers

47. Cattle Kingdom Ends • Just like mining the boom eventually bust • Overgrazing depleted farmlands • Too many cattle on the market

48. Farmers • Early pioneers did not believe the land of the plains could be farmed • Dry • Tough soil

50. Homestead Act • Homestead Act- law passed by Congress that gave people 160 free acres of land if they paid a fee and lived on the land for 5 years • This brought farmers to the plains to homestead- earn ownership of land by settling on it