Americans Move West
Miners, Ranchers, and railroads~The Big Idea
As more settlers moved
West, mining, ranching, and
railroads soon transformed
the western landscape.
Main Ideas
1.A mining boom brought growth to the West.
2.The demand for cattle created a short lived
Cattle Kingdom on the Great Plains.
3.East and West were connected by the
transcontinental railroad.
establish
to set up or create
frontier
an undeveloped area
Need to know~Mining boom
The addition of the state of California to the
union, the western boundary of the United
States reached the Pacific Ocean.
Comstock Lode
Henry Comstock discovered a huge deposit of
gold and silver in Nevada, started mining
boom
boomtowns
communities that grew suddenly when a mine
opened
Cattle Kingdom
Great Plains area where many ranchers raised
cattle in the late 1800’s.
Need to know~Cattle Kingdom
The Texas longhorn was a very hardy breed
of cattle and could withstand the harsh
weather of the midwest.
ranchers grazed huge herds on public land
called the open range.
vaqueros- mexican ranch hands who cared
for cattle and horses
Cattle Drive
long journeys cowboys herded cattle to the
market or to the northern Plains for grazing.
Chisholm Trail
a popular route for cattle drives, San Antonio,
Tx to Abilene, KS.
Pony Express
a system of messengers on horseback
transcontinental railroad
a railroad that would cross the continent and
connect the East to the West.
Need to know~transcontinental R.R.
Golden spike -connected the Union Pacific
and Central Pacific railroad
Pacific Railway Acts- loans and grants that
were given to help build the railroad.
Causes and Effects of westward exp.
Causes
● New land for
Settlers/ranchers
● Mineral resources
● Business to support
settlers, ranchers, and
miners
● Immigration
Effects
New towns
railroads across the
continent
cattle kingdom
Wars for the West~The Big Idea
Native Americans and the U.S. Government
came into conflict over land in the west.
Main Idea
As settlers moved to the Great Plains, they
encountered the Plains Indians.
The U.S. Army and Native Americans fought
in the northern plains, the southwest and the
far west.
Despite efforts to reform U.S. policy toward
Native Americans, conflict continued.
Need to know~ Settlers & Indians
Plains Indians depended on two animals for
survival, the horse and the buffalo.
Crazy Horse- ambushed and killed 81 U.S.
cavalry troops.
Treaty of Fort Laramie
the first major treaty between the U.S.
government and Plains Indians, first U.S.
attempt to avoid disputes with the Indians
reservation
areas of federal land set aside for Native
Americans
Treaty of Medicine Lodge
most southern Plains Indians agreed to live on
reservations
Buffalo soldiers
American soldiers, some African American,
sent to force the Indians out from their
homeland
General George Armstrong Custer
found Gold in the Black Hills of the Dakotas
defeated by Sioux forces at “Custer’s Last
Stand”
Sitting Bull
Leader of the Lakota Sioux
protested U.S. demands for their land defeated
Custer
Massacre at Wounded Knee
U.S. Army shot and killed 150 Sioux indians
last major incident on the Great Plains
Need to know~ Fighting on the Plains
●U.S. raids on Navajo homes/fields/livestock
○ caused Navajo to run out of food and thus led to the
long walk
○ Nez Perce- tried to escape to Canada, caught and
sent to reservation in Oklahoma
●Geronimo- An Apache who avoided capture
for many years
Long Walk
300 mile trek across the desert to a reservation,
Bosque Redondo, New Mexico
Geronimo
An Apache Indian who continued to fight for his
land long after others stopped.
He surrendered to U.S. forces in September of
1886.
Ghost Dance
a religious movement that predicted the arrival
of paradise for Native Americans
Sarah Winnemuca
a Paiute Indian who called for reform
spoke out on problems for the fair treatment of
her people
gave lectures on problems of the reservation
system
Dawes General Allotment Act
an agreement that made land ownership
private rather than shared.
Farming & Populism ~ The Big Idea
Settlers on the Great Plains created new
communities and unique political groups.
Main Ideas
Many Americans started new lives on the
Great Plains.
Economic challenges led to the creation of
farmers’ political groups.
By the 1890’s, the western frontier had come
to an end.
Homestead Act
This act gave government owned land to small
farmers.
Morrill Act
This grant gave more than 17 million acres of
federal land to the states.
Exodusters
Were southerners that made a mass exodus, or
departure from the South.
sodbusters
Plains farmers were called this because of their
hard work breaking up the sod.
dry farming
- Is a new method of farming that shifted the
focus away from water-dependent crops
such as corn.
Annie Bidwell
She was one of the founders of Chico,
California, who used her influence to support a
variety of moral and social causes such as
women’s suffrage and temperance.
National Grange
- was a social and educational organization for
farmers
deflation
- a decrease in the money supply and overall
lower prices
William Jennings Bryan
- was a candidate that supported free silver
coinage (making as many silver coins as
possible)
Populist Party
- a political party that supported the “free
called for the
and unlimited coinage
government to own of silver”
railroads, telephone
and telegraph
systems