Looking to the West
Chapter 8
I. Moving West:

Before the C.W.: Americans had settled the
areas just west of the Miss. River (MO, NE,
KA, etc.) and the southern Pacific coast (CA)

After the C.W.: Began to settle the areas in
between (Great Plains, Southwest, Pacific
Northwest)
I. Moving West:

2 Laws encouraged settlement of the West:
1)
Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862)
-federal gov’t gave millions of acres to state
gov’ts to be sold to fund state colleges
-land was sold for .50 an acre to bankers and
land speculators (people who bought large
areas of land hoping to sell it for a profit
later)
I. Moving West:
2)
Homestead Act (1862)
-offered 160 acres of land to anyone who met
the following:
a. Must be at least 21 or the head of the
family
b. Had to be an Am. citizen or an
immigrant applying for citizenship
c. Had to pay a $10 registration fee
I. Moving West:
d. Had to build a house and live on the
land at least 6 months out of the year
e. Had to farm the land for 5 years before
claiming ownership

By 1900: 600,000 families had claimed 80
million acres in the West
I. Moving West:

Problems on the homestead:
-little farming experience
-poor soil
-lack of water
-extreme climates (very hot or very cold)
-loneliness
-lack of trees for building
-grasshopper and locust plagues
I. Moving West:


Families often lived in sod houses (soddies) –
made of dirt and grass (i.e. sod)
Settlers had to work together to survive – built
houses and barns together, farmed together,
etc.
I. Moving West:


Most of the settlers were white – however,
approximately 50,000 African Am.’s moved
west after the C.W. to escaped racism – they
were called exodusters
Women faced loneliness because the men were
often forced to find work elsewhere – women
also fought for the right to vote – Wyoming
was the first state to grant women suffrage in
1890
II. Conflict with Native Americans

1830s: several eastern N.A. tribes were forced
to settle in Indian Territory, present-day
Oklahoma – tribes included: Cherokee, Creek,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, etc.

The expansion of railroads threatened N.A.
lands in the Great Plains region – many Plains
Indians were forced to reservations (federal
land set aside for N.A.’s)
II. Conflict with Native Americans

Chivington / Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
-Col. John Chivington’s men killed 150-450
peaceful Cheyenne men, women, and children
in present-day Colorado

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
-Gen. George Custer and 200+ soldiers were
killed by the Sioux, led by Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse, in Montana – “Custer’s Last
Stand”
II. Conflict with Native Americans

Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890)
-on a reservation in South Dakota
-200+ unarmed Sioux were killed while
handing over weapons
II. Conflict with Native Americans

Chief Joseph
-leader of the Nez Perce in NW U.S.
-promised his father that he would never sell
their homeland
-ordered to move to a reservation and Joseph
decided to give in
-before he did so, a group of young warriors
attacked some white settlers
II. Conflict with Native Americans
-Joseph wanted to stay and fight but decided to
run along with his entire tribe
-defeated less than 40 miles from Canada
-said, “I am tired of fighting…I will fight no
more forever.”
-sent to Indian Territory
II. Conflict with Native Americans

1)
2)
How was the N.A. culture destroyed?
Buffalo were killed – used for food, clothing,
shelter, fuel, tools, and weapons
Dawes Act (1887) – gave land to the head of
the family to be farmed – whites were trying
to “Americanize” the N.A.’s – problem: they
were not farmers
II. Conflict with Native Americans

Fate of Indian Territory:
-settlers began to try to take the land after the
C.W. – the Indians protested
-1889: Congress opened up 2 million acres for
settlement that had not been given to the
Indians
-Oklahoma Land Rush (Apr. 22, 1889) –
settlers were called boomers – those that
cheated and went early were called sooners
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching
A.

Farming:
New technology and methods made farming
the dry Great Plains easier:
-used dry farming – planting crops that do
not require a lot of water (corn, wheat)
-steel plow, steel windmill, cornhusker,
cornbinder
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching

Bonanza Farms – farms controlled by large
businesses and professionals
-specialized in one crop – mass production
-led to a surplus which dropped the prices at
the market and led to debt for all farmers
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching
B.



Mining:
1849: CA gold rush – 49ers
1859: gold found at Pike’s Peak, CO and
silver at Virginia City, NV – 59ers
Mining brought people from all nationalities
to the frontier – Chinese, Japanese, Mexican,
etc.
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching




Miners usually worked in small groups and
many used placer mining – shoveled loose dirt
from streams into boxes
Boom towns – when gold or silver was
discovered in a location, a town was built
Ghost towns remained when the miners left
Large businesses got involved in mining – dug
into the mountains
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching
C.


Ranching:
most of the cattle ranches were in Texas –
began in the early 1800s – raised Texas
Longhorns
White ranchers learned from Mexicans –
adopted several Spanish words: coral, chaps,
lariat, rodeo, etc.
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching




Cattle industry boomed during the 1860s and
1870s with the increased population in the East
Early 1800s: $3 to $5 a head
After C.W.: $30 to $50 a head
Cattle was first driven all the way to major
mid-western cities – esp. Chicago and St.
Louis
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching



1867: the first cow town was est. by Joseph
McCoy in Abilene, KA – other cow towns
emerged (ex: Cheyenne, WY; Dodge City,
KA; Sedalia, MO)
Cattle were now driven north from TX to these
new cow towns and then placed on a train and
sent East
Cattle trails included: Goodnight-Loving,
Western, Chisholm, and Sedalia Trails
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching


1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Long Drive / Cattle Drive – the moving of
cattle from TX to the cow towns
Problems on the Drive:
Rivers difficult to cross
Native American attacks
Cattle thieves (rustlers)
Stampedes
Weather
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching

Positions of the cowboys:
-Point – rode in front of the herd
-Flank – rode beside the herd
-Drag – rode behind the herd
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching

Each Drive Consisted of:
-Trail Boss – rode point – most experienced –
in charge
-Cowboys – 12-15 per drive – depended on
size of the herd – some were in charge of the
extra horses (horse wrangler)
-Cattle – up to 2,500 head
-Cook – usually Mexican – rode in front of the
herd with supplies and food in a chuckwagon
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching

1)
2)
The cattle boom ended in the mid-1800s –
Why?
Barbed wire fences – invented by Joseph
Glidden – farmers used it to keep out grazing
cattle – led to the disappearance of the open
range
Overstocking of cattle – led to lower prices at
the market
III. Farming, Mining, Ranching
3)
4)
Overgrazing of cattle – the grass began to
disappear
Harsh Climate – from 1885 to 1887 there
were droughts in the summer and harsh
winters – caused many cattle to die
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities


One by one, areas of the West became United
States territories – as populations increased,
these territories applied for statehood
Many of the farmers in the West were deep in
debt due to declining market prices and the
high cost of farm equipment
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities


1872: federal gov’t established Yellowstone
National Park to preserve western lands
-located in northwest WY, southern MT, and
eastern ID
-the first national park
Despite this step, in 1890 the Census Bureau
announced the end of the frontier
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities

1893: a young historian named Fredrick
Jackson Turner delivered a speech in which he
claimed that the frontier had played a central
role in forming the Am. character (Turner
Frontier Thesis)
-said settlers in the West were forced to shed
their old ways and “adapt, innovate, and
invent”
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities

-frontier life had created Americans who were
ready for adventure and committed to
democracy
Not all western settlers were white:
-Chinese and Japanese settlers farmed the West
Coast
-Chinese and African Am. railroad workers
often established businesses in western towns
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities

The cost to the environment was high:
-settlers treated natural resources as if they
were unlimited
-railroad tunnels destroyed mountains
-mines scarred the land and leveled forest
-buffalo were almost wiped out
IV. Frontier Myths and Realities


The romantic image of the cowboy began as
early as the 1870s, in dime novels – outlaws,
miners, gang leaders, cowboys, lawmen
became heroes
1883: William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) Cody began
his Wild West shows – drew 1000s of people –
steer-roping contests, rodeos, battles between
the cavalry (“good”) and the Indians (“bad”)