Life in the West

• Mormon - religious group created by Joseph
Smith
• Mormons treated bad by others (Smith killed by mob)
• Brigham Young leads Mormons west to settle in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Believed in Polygamy - men could have more than 1 wife (stopped this in 1890)
• Farmed in the dessert

• 49er - went to California looking for gold in 1849
• Finding gold risky work requiring lots of equipment
• Some buyers of gold ripped off the sellers
• Miners lived in temporary houses and moved often (tents and hotels)
• Lots of crime (stolen gold) in mining towns and no law system
• Mining towns almost all men

• Women in west were some of 1 st to win right to vote
• Not many women went west
• Wagons at time used as bedrooms (babies slept in them)
• Struggle to get good food (sickness and death common)
• Weather conditions bad
• Most female pioneers cooked, cleaned, tended to children, organized parties
• Some women did traditional “men’s” farming work

• First came to America for gold rush but later most worked on railroad
• Many made money off miners by selling food, washing clothes, renting rooms
• Many whites were racist towards them due to willingness to accept low pay
• Whites stole gold from Chinese who found it
• Lived in filthy and crowded housing
• Mined spots abandoned by whites and often found more
• Did dangerous jobs on the railroad
• Continental railroad mostly built by Chinese

• Group attempting to take Oregon Trail to
California
• Captain George Donner tried to take “shortcut” through desert with 20 wagons
• Went terribly wrong costing water, food, resources…
• After desert arrived to mountains with earliest snow in 30 years. (abandoned wagons)
• Had to turn to cannibalism for survival
• Half of 87 on shortcut died. (George Donner died)

• In 1850’s “Big 4” business men created plan to connect railroad from Mississippi to Pacific Ocean
• Sold stock to raise money for project
• National government supported project
• 1863-1869 construction
• Chinese good workers (cheep and fast)
• Many deaths while building (avalanches and explosions)

• Some runaway slaves became pioneers
• Many Af. Americans looked for gold but others worked as farmers or for businesses
• Some slave holders brought slaves to
California and paid them (some purchased freedom)
• Some got rich finding gold. Some bought families out of slavery
• Unfair laws in CA…couldn’t testify in court

• Vaquero - Mexican cowboy
• Vaqueros faced racism from white cowboys
• Held weekly rodeos for prize of “beef” and practice herding
• Vaqueros thought only cowards carried guns…believed in knives.
• Would herd for a few weeks and herd several hundred steer before taking to sell
• Cowboys known for drinking and gambling when not herding