Chapter 3, Lesson 3
Cowboys and Miners
5th Grade
Essential Question
 How
did cattle drives and
a search for gold offer
new opportunities and
lead to changes in the
U.S.?
Places
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Dodge City, Kansas
Chicago, Illinois
Denver, Colorado
Virginia City, Nevada
People
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Charles Goodnight
Nat Love
Luzena Stanley Wilson
Levi Strauss
Mark Twain
Vocabulary
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Cattle drive
Gold Rush
Entrepreneur
Cowboy Life
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Longhorn cattle sold for $4.00 in
Texas but $40.00 in the east.
Cowboys began the cattle drive or
guiding herds of cattle north to the
railroad.
The cattle drive began in Texas and
ended in railroad town like Dodge
City, Kansas.
The cattle was then placed on trains
and sold in the east.
Cowboy Life
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Ranchers like Charles Goodnight
established cow trails.
Cowboy life was hard but offered
adventure.
Cowboys had to care for the
animals both cows and horses.
Freed slaves like Nat Love found a
life as a cowboy.
The End of the Drives
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Cattle drives came to an end in the
late 1880’s
One reason was a conflict between
farmers and ranchers.
Farmers used barbed wire to keep
the cattle away from their crops and
water.
Railroads in Texas also helped end
the cattle drives.
The End of the Drives
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Although the cattle drives were over
the cattle business was still a big
business.
The railroads made places like
Chicago, Illinois important to
ranchers.
The cattle was delivered to Chicago
and from there fresh meat was
delivered all over the country.
Dreams of Gold
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People who moved to the west
helped change the country.
People like Luzena Stanley Wilson
moved her family to California to
look for gold in 1849.
During the gold rush, thousands of
people went to California to look for
gold.
People felt that gold may be found
in other parts of the country as well.
Dreams of Gold
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In a small creek near Denver,
Colorado, gold was also found.
People from all over began moving
to all parts of the west.
Miners scooped sand from the
bottom of streams looking for “gold
dust.”
Boomtowns and Blue Jeans
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Miners were quick to rush to towns
were gold was found.
As people rushed into towns it
created a boom or a period of quick
economic gain. Boomtowns offered
many opportunities.
Entrepreneurs began opening
business in these boomtowns.
One such entrepreneur was Levi
Strauss
Boomtowns and Blue Jeans
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Levi Strauss found that miners
wanted sturdy pants. He made
pants out of blue denim and rivets to
hold the pants together.
These were the first blue jeans.
One of the biggest boomtowns was
Virginia City, Nevada when gold and
silver was discovered there.
Boomtowns and Blue Jeans
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A writer named Mark Twain arrived
in 1862, years before he became
famous.
The boomtowns did not last,
creating a bust or a ghost town.
Review Questions
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Why did ranchers decide to drive
cattle from Texas to towns along the
railroad?
What changes brought cattle drives
to an end?