Section 19.1: Miners,
Ranchers, and Cowhands
Today we will describe the geography
of the West and explain how its people
earned their living.
Vocabulary
• frontier – the boundary between civilization and wilderness
• boomtown – town that grows dramatic-ally
in a short time
• vaquero – a Mexican cowboy
• prospector – person looking for valuable
minerals, like gold or silver
• vigilante – unofficial crime fighter
Check for Understanding
•
•
•
•
•
What are we going to do today?
How does a vaquero get to work?
What does a prospector hope to find?
Why is living on the frontier dangerous?
Is Batman a vigilante? (Explain)
What We Already Know
Americans had
begun moving
west across the
Great Plains in
large numbers
since the 1830s.
What We Already Know
The California gold rush attracted
millions of people to the West Coast
in 1849.
What We Already Know
Americans had settled in
Texas and had helped
make it part of the United
States in 1845.
One American’s Story
• Nat Love (aka: Deadwood Dick)
– born a slave in Tennessee in
1854; left the South and went
west
• As a cowhand, he became well
known for his expert
horsemanship and rodeo skills.
• In his 1907 autobiography,
Love offered a lively but
exaggerated account of his life.
• Few cowhands led lives as
exciting as that
described by Nat Love, but
they all helped to open a new
chapter in the history of the
American West.
Geography and Population
of the West
Places such as St. Joseph and
Independence, Missouri, were the last
cities and towns before the frontier.
Geography and Population of
the West
• Most white people considered the Great
Plains an empty desert.
• Few had been attracted to its rolling
plains, dry plateaus, and harsh deserts.
However, settlers had followed
miners streaming into California
after the 1849 gold rush.
By 1850, California had gained
statehood. Oregon followed in 1859.
The Great Plains had few trees,
but its grasslands were home to
about 300,000 Native Americans
in the mid-1800s.
Most Plains Indian bands followed
the buffalo herds that rumbled
across the open plains.
Despite the presence of these
peoples, the United States claimed
ownership of the area.
Railroads played a key role in
settling the western United States.
Trains carried minerals,
timber, crops, and cattle
to eastern markets, and
brought miners, ranchers,
and farmers to the west.
As the railroads opened new areas to white
settlement, they also helped end the way of
life of the West’s first settlers—
…………………..…………..the Native Americans.
Adivina
esto,
Batman?
Why were few people been interested
in settling on the Great Plains before
the Civil War?
A. It was already the home of several
powerful American Indian groups.
B. The presence of so many buffalo
made farming impossible.
C. It was so dry and treeless that most
people considered it a desert.
D. The government had banned settlement west of the Mississippi River.
What is the frontier?
Where the end of civilization meets
the beginning of wilderness
How did the transcontinental railroad
spur Western settlement?
A. Carrying natural resources of the
West to the East
B. Providing jobs for settlers in railroad
construction
C. Bringing new settlers from the East to
the West
D. transporting soldiers west to fight the
Indians
Choose all that are true!
Mining in the West
In 1859, gold and silver
strikes drew as many as
100,000 miners to the Rocky
Mountains in Colorado.
Mining in the West
The same year,
Comstock Lode
in western
Nevada
produced some
$300 million in
silver and gold.
Any settlement near an ore
strike became a boomtown,
a town that has a sudden
burst of economic or
population growth.
Mining in the West
• Gold fever also attracted miners from
other parts of the world, including
Europe, South America, Mexico, and
China.
• Few prospectors became rich, and most
left disappointed and broke.
Over time, large mining
companies replaced
individual prospectors.
Small-scale miners could not afford water
cannons to blast away hillsides to expose gold
deposits, or the equipment needed to sink
shafts thousands of feet into the ground.
Results of Western Mining
• Hillsides were
stripped of
vegetation and
rivers were left
polluted.
• Once-thriving
communities
became ghost
towns.
• Nevada, Colorado,
and South Dakota
all grew so rapidly
that they soon
gained statehood.
Загадка
мне это,
Бэтмен?
Why did large mining companies
eventually replace individual
prospectors?
A. Individual miners could not afford the
equipment needed to make mining profitable.
B. The mining companies bought up the smaller
individual claims.
C. The government would only send troops to
protect the larger mining sites for Indian
attacks, leaving prospectors defenseless.
D. Prospectors couldn’t afford to pay the high
taxes placed on mining income by the
government.
Why did the mining boom end?
A. The costs of operating them had
become too high.
B. Too many miners left to work in the
oil fields.
C. The Indian threat frightened too
many mine workers away.
D. Ranching was easier and much
more profitable.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
The cattle trade had
existed in the
Southwest since the
1500s, but cattle
herds remained small
until the Civil War.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
With no efficient way to get the beef
to markets in the more heavily
populated cities of the East, ranchers
mostly sold their cattle locally.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
An Illinois
livestock dealer
named
Joseph McCoy
realized that railroads
could bring cattle from
Texas ranches to
meat-hungry Eastern
cities.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
By the 1860s,
railroad lines were
extended from
Chicago and St.
Louis into Kansas.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
Cowhands had only to drive cattle
herds north from Texas to his
stockyards in Abilene, Kansas.
From there,
the beef could
be shipped to
Chicago and
points east by
rail car.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
Cattle fed on the open range for a year or
two and ranchers then hired cowhands to
round up the cattle and take them to
Abilene, where they were sold for as much
as ten times their original price.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
The success of the Abilene stockyards spurred
the growth of other Kansas cow towns,
including Wichita and Dodge City.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
• Cowhands followed specific
trails across the plains, such
as the Chisholm Trail, which
stretched from San Antonio
to Abilene.
• From 1867 to 1884, about
four million cattle were
driven to market on this trail.
• As cattle raising became
more profitable, ranching
spread north across the
plains from Texas to
Montana.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
• The first cowhands were vaqueros, who
had developed in Mexico with the
Spaniards in the 1500s.
• From the vaquero, the American cowhand
learned to rope and ride.
• Cowhands also adapted the saddle, spurs,
lariat, and chaps of the vaqueros.
Rise of the Cattle Industry
About
one in three
cowhands in
the West
was either
Mexican or
African
American.
Also among the cow-hands were a large
number of former Civil War soldiers.
Palaisipan
sa akin ito,
Batman?
Before the mid-1800s, why were beef
cattle only sold locally in Texas?
A. Consumers in the East didn’t trust the
quality of Texas beef.
B. There was no way to ship the beef
cattle from Texas to other markets.
C. Before the mid-1800s, beef was not a
popular meat on most tables.
D. Government regulations didn’t permit
meat and poultry to be sold across
state lines.
How did Joseph McCoy change
the history of the West?
A. He invented the repeating rifle, which helped
bring about the defeat of the Indians.
B. He invented barbed wire, which ended the
open range and made farming possible on
the plains.
C. He came up with the idea of driving cattle
from Texas ranches up to Kansas railroad
towns for shipment to Eastern cities.
D. He developed the idea of vigilante justice,
which brought law and order to towns
without official sheriffs or marshals.
What helped the cattle industry
to grow?
A. The Plains Indians were all defeated
and forced to move onto reservations.
B. Railroad lines were built linking
Kansas with Chicago and St. Louis.
C. The mining boom ended in 1882.
D. Barbed wire was invented in 1882.
Who were the
first American cowhands?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Civil war veterans
Former slaves
European immigrants
Mexican vaqueros
The “Wild West”
At first, cow towns had
no local governments.
The “Wild West”
There were no law officers to
handle the fights that broke out as
cowhands drank and gambled
after a long drive.
The “Wild West”
A more serious
threat to law and
order came from con
men, who saw the
new towns as places
to get rich quick by
cheating others.
J.R. “Soapy” Smith
The “Wild West”
• Outlaws like “Billy the
Kid” and Jesse and
Frank James made
crime a way of life.
• Some women, such as
Belle Starr, became
outlaws, too.
The “Wild West”
For protection,
citizens formed
vigilante groups,
taking the law into
their own hands.
The “Wild West”
Vigilante justice
often consisted
of hanging
suspects from
the nearest tree
or shooting
them on the
spot, so it was
common for
innocent people
to be unjustly
executed.
The “Wild West”
As towns became more settled, vigilantes
were replaced by elected sheriffs and federal
marshals, who would arrest lawbreakers and
hold them in jail until the time of trial.
Riddle mér
þetta,
Batman?
Why did Westerners form
vigilante groups?
A. They didn’t want to become dependent on
the government for protection.
B. There were no authorized government
officials in their vicinity for them to call on.
C. Taking the law into their own hands made
them feel self-reliant.
D. The towns were to poor to be able to pay
for real law enforcement officials.
What did vigilante justice look like?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Posse made up of private citizens
Active participation by sheriffs or marshals
Accused people locked up until trial
Swift execution by hanging or shooting
Great care exercised to protect the rights of
the accused
F. Innocent people unjustly punished
Choose all that are true!
End of the Long Drives
In 1886, the
price of beef
dropped
sharply
as the supply
increased.
End of the Long Drives
More farmers moved in to
farm or raise sheep, fencing
in their lands with barbed
wire, and the
open range disappeared.
End of the Long Drives
In the harsh winter of 1886–1887,
thousands of cattle froze to death
and many ranchers were put out of
business.
Meanwhile, as the mining and cattle
industries were developing,
the Native Americans of the Great Plains
were being pushed off their land.
Teka-teki
saya ini,
Batman?
What economic activities drew large
numbers of people to the West
beginning in the 1860s?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
oil drilling
mining
ranching
farming
manufacturing
Choose all that are true!
What factors led to
the end of the cattle boom?
A. The price of beef dropped as the supply
grew.
B. Buffalo were competing with the cattle for
food on the prairie.
C. The use of barbed wire by farmers closed
the open range.
D. The severe winter of 1886-87 destroyed a
large percentage of the cattle herds.
E. Raids by vaqueros and vigilantes made
ranching too dangerous.
Choose all that are true!