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Cowboys and miners. Mrs. Dixon’s Class. Cowboy life. By the end of the Civil War, there were five million head of cattle in Texas. The cattle sold for just $4 each in Texas. But they were worth $40 in the East where cattle was scarce. Cowboy life.
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Cowboys and miners Mrs. Dixon’s Class
Cowboy life • By the end of the Civil War, there were five million head of cattle in Texas. • The cattle sold for just $4 each in Texas. • But they were worth $40 in the East where cattle was scarce.
Cowboy life • Ranchers realized that they could make huge profits if they could figure out a way to get the cattle across the county. • The solution was the cattle drive. • On cattle drives, cowboys guided huge herds of cattle north to the new railroad lines in the Great Plains.
Cowboy life • The cattle drives began in Texas and ended in towns along the railroad, such as Dodge City, Kansas. • From these towns the cattle were take by train to eastern cities.
Cowboy life • Cowboy life may have been an adventure, but it was exhausting and dangerous. • Cowboys worked 16-hour days on horseback. • They worked seven days a week for the two to three months it took to drive the cattle north.
Cowboy life • At night cowboys took turns watching the herd, guarding against the constant danger of stampedes. • Anything could set off a stampede. • To try to keep the cattle calm, the cowboys would sing to them.
Cowboy life • Cowboys were a varied group. • About one-third of all cowboys were Mexican American or African American. • Many were very young.
The end of drives • Cattle drives came to an end by the late 1880s. • One cause was the growing conflicts between cattle ranchers and farmers on the plains. • To keep cattle off their farms, homesteaders fenced in their land with barbed wire.
The end of drives • As new railroad lines reached into Texas, it was no longer necessary for ranchers to drive their cattle north. • The cattle drive ended, but cattle ranching continued to be an important industry. • People all over the country still wanted fresh meat.
The end of drives • Expanding railroads made it easier and cheaper to transport animals to cities such as Chicago, Illinois. • As a major railroad center near the middle of the country, Chicago was a perfect place to become the nation’s leading supplier of fresh meat.
Dreams of gold • People who moved West for gold also helped change the country. • During the gold rush thousands of people went to California to search for gold. • By 1850 California had enough people to become a state. • People also began to wonder where else they could find gold.
Dreams of gold • While people dreamed of finding big nuggets of shine gold, such discoveries were actually very rare. • Gold mining required long, hard days of work and patience. • Using a metal pan, miners scooped sand from the bottom of streams. • They would wash out the sand hoping to find tiny pieces of gold.
Dreams of gold • If miners were lucky, they slowly filled bags with gold dust. • The bags were taken to the nearest town, where the gold was traded for supplies or deposited in a bank.
boomtowns • Miners were always quick to rush to any spot where gold was found. • They set up camps of canvas tents, then went right to work. • As more and more miners ruched in, camps often grew into booming towns.
boomtowns • These “boomtowns” offered exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs. • Entrepreneurs are people who start a new business, hoping to make a profit.
boomtowns • Luzena Stanley Wilson moved with her family to the mining town of Nevada City, California. • Wilson saw a way to make money. • She built a long table and opened a restaurant in her home. • The miners were willing to pay her for a meal.
Blue jeans • An immigrant from Germany named Levi Strauss found opportunity in San Francisco, CA. • Strauss learned that miners wanted sturdy pants that would not fall apart under tough working conditions. • He began making pants out of blue denim, a strong cotton material.
boomtowns • The boom times did not last forever. • When the gold and silver ran out, people left towns. • Many mining towns became “ghost towns,” or a town with empty buildings.
boomtowns • All over the West the mining boom had a lasting effect. • It drew thousands of new settlers to the region. • Towns that had once been supply stations for miners soon grew into important cities, such as Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco.
Review Questions 1. Which statements best describes the relationships among miners? A. Prospectors cooperated with one another to mine claims. B. White miners created laws to exclude all Asian immigrants. C. Miners worked together to establish law and order in Boom Towns. • Mining companies competed with miners to claim the richest sites. 2. Explain the reasons for cooperation and conflict between ranchers and cowboys.
