Chapter 5: Growth in
the West
1800s America
America Spreads Across the
Continent from Sea to Shining
Sea…
Section 1:
Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands
 Geography & Population
of the West:
 - not many lived in the Great
Plains at first because they
 thought it was empty and
worthless
 - Native Americans were
there and most followed the
buffalo herds along the
plains (for food, shelter, etc)
 - Railroads helped settle the
West when they were built
Section 1: Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands
Mining in the West:
 prospectors hit “pay
dirt” at the Comstock
Lode in Nevada
 Nearby Virginia City,
Nevada, became a boom
town
 #miner probs-dust
caused lung problems,
and cave-ins often killed
people
Mr. Pearce (just kidding! )
Baby Doe Tabor
Baby Doe rose from a simple life
to become “The Silver Queen” of
Colorado. Baby Doe was known
for her beauty, outgoing
personality, and drive to become
famous.
Leadville, Colorado
The Matchless Mine
In 1877 she married Harvey Doe. They
moved to Central City, Colorado where
her husband began mining for gold. The
miners found Elizabeth so beautiful that
they started calling her “Baby Doe,” and
the nickname stuck. After three years, her
husband fell into debt and began
drinking. Baby Doe sued him for a
divorce. She soon met the ‘Silver King,’
Horace Tabor. They fell in love, but Tabor
was married at the time. After his divorce,
Baby Doe and Horace got married.
Horace Tabor's 1st Wife
http://www.exploreold-westcolorado.com/babydoe-tabor.html
http://www.explore-old-westcolorado.com/baby-doe-tabor.html
Baby Doe's Last Home
In early March of 1935, her frozen body
was discovered on the floor of her cabin,
her arms peacefully crossed on her
chest. After a particularly cold spell, she
had apparently run out of wood for her
stove.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photostabor/TaborBaby_Does_Cabin_Interior3.1935.DenverPu
blicLibrary.jpg
Section 1:
Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands
 The Rise of the Cattle
Industry:
 - the RR helped beef sales
because they could ship
them
 - people would drive cattle
across the plains to RR
sites
 - cattle would feed on the
open range on the way
(grassland)
Section 1:
Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands
 Vaqueros and
Cowhands:
 - the first cowhands were
Spanish in the southwest
U.S. (1500s)
 - they helped teach
American cowhands how
to work cattle
Cowhands of the West


 - about 1 in 3 cowhands
American
were Mexican or Africancowhands learned
American
to rope and ride
from the Mexican • How many cowhands were
vaqueros, the first
women? VERY FEW
cowhands
they adapted the
saddle, spurs,
lariat, and chaps
of the vaqueros
Open Range
 Clip about cattle industry and cattle
drives (intro section)
Section 1: The “Wild West”:
Why did vigilante groups form?
~rapidly growing cow towns had Wyatt Earp
no local governments
~ to protect themselves from outlaws like Billy
the Kid
~some Civil War veterans expressed their anger
about the war through crime
How did vigilantes handle the law?
~vigilantes took the law into their own hands
~ caught suspected criminals and punished them
without a trial
~hung suspects from the nearest tree or shot
Tombstone
them on the spot.
trailer
Section 1:
Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands
 End of the Long Drives:
 -the cattle boom lasted about
20 years
 - in 1886, the boom came to an
end because of:
 1) supply increased and the
price dropped severely
 2) barbed wire was invented
and people fenced in the open
range, making cattle drives
nearly impossible
 3) harsh winter of 1886-1887
led to many cattle deaths
Moving to Sec. 2
 Okay, so a lot of people are moving out west
to move cattle, find gold, etc.
 They are also building railroads across the
plains (more on that later)
 The U.S. government is giving away free land
in the great plains as well (more on that later)
 What about the people already living in the
Great Plains? The Native Americans
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 Native American Life on the
Plains
 - many Plains Native
Americans followed the buffalo
herds
 - it provided meat, skins for
tepees, hides for clothing,
bones and horns for tools &
bowls, buffalo “chips” for fuel
 -everything that was able to be
used, was used by the Native
Americans
 - the buffalo was basically
sacred to them
Dances With Wolves
Buffalo hunt scene (8)
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 A Clash of Cultures:
 - the government made
treaties with Native
Americans
 - the treaties were broken
when we wanted to move
there
 - some tribes fought
against more treaties and
relocation
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 A Clash of Cultures (con’t):
 - after Cheyenne warriors
attacked miners and soldiers
in Colo., soldiers fired on a
village in Colorado and killed
150+ men, women, and kids in
the Sand Creek Massacre in
1864
 - some Native Americans
attacked white settlements
after this, the U.S. signed the
2nd Treaty of Ft. Laramie,
which gave the Native
Americans land in the Black
Hills, S.D. region
Into the West
Sand Creek Massacre (7)
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 Battle of Little Bighorn:
 -white prospectors found gold
in the Black Hills, thousands of
miners flooded Sioux land
Sitting Bull
Crazy Horse
 -then, many Sioux united
under the leadership of Crazy
Horse and Sitting Bull
 - The U.S. 7th Cavalry, under
leadership of George Custer
 attacked them near the Little
Bighorn River in Montana
George A. Custer
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 Battle of Little Bighorn (con’t):
 - Custer was over- confident and
attacked, even though they were
severely outnumbered by the
Native Americans
 - In a short, decisive victory, the
Native Americans defeated
Custer’s army, killing all 211
soldiers in the regiment
 - Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
later surrendered and the battle
was the last major victory for
Native Americans
Into the West
Battle of Little Bighorn clip (10)
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 Resistance in the
Northwest and Southwest
 - the Nez Perce tribe in
Oregon and Idaho region
was forced off their land
 Chief Joseph, and his
followers fled rather than
move onto the reservation
 - they were caught just
before they got to Canada,
and surrendered
Chief Joseph
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 Resistance in the Northwest
and Southwest (continued)
 -- In the southwest, the Navajo
and Apache tribes were also
forced off of their land by the
U.S. soldiers
 - after the U.S. burned crops
and homes, about 8,000
Navajo had to walk to a
reservation in New Mexico
 - the Apache tribe was forced
to settle on a reservation in
Arizona
Geronimo
-Geronimo and
his followers
also fled rather
than moving
onto a
reservation.
-they escaped and
survived by raiding
settlers' homes.
Geronimo was
captured many times
but always managed to
escape.In 1886, he
finally surrendured and
was sent to prison.
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 A Way of Life Ends:
 - buffalo herds were nearly wiped
out by hunters who used mainly
the skins, etc. for making $$$
 - this severely hurt the Native
American way of life, forcing
many of them to surrender and go
to reservations
 - many fled the reservations to
gather for the Ghost Dance
spiritual gathering in the Pine
Ridge (South Dakota) reservation
to celebrate Wovoka’s vision of
the buffalo return
Youtube Ghost Dance
Dances with Wolves
Buffalo death scene…
Next slide
Wovoka
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 A Way of Life Ends
(continued):
 - the U.S. soldiers thought
they were gathering to prepare
for war. This resulted in:
 - the U.S. sent the army to
gather up the Native Americans
 - as the Sioux were giving up
their weapons, a shot was fired,
leading to U.S. troops opening
fire and killing about 300 men,
women, and children in the
Wounded Knee Massacre

Youtube Wounded Knee
text p. 164
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 The Dawes Act Fails
 - Some white Americans had
been calling for better treatment
and better policy toward Native
Americans
 - many felt that assimilation was
necessary to make it work
 - they felt that Native Americans
needed to be “ American-ized”
 - the Dawes Act was passed that
divided reservations into
segments for them to farm, then
sold leftover land to settlers
Section 2:
Native Americans Fight To Survive
 The Dawes Act Fails
(continued)
 - because most Natives
didn’t want to give up their
traditional ways or become
farmers
 - another attempt to “Americanize”
the Native Americans was using
special schools for children to
teach them American values, etc.
 - this also was a sad chapter of
U.S. history as we tried to “erase”
their culture
Into the West
Native American schools clip (8)
Moving to Ch. 5, Sec. 3
“Life in the West”
 The legend of the “wild west” has been
in movies, songs, paintings, etc. for
many years
 But what was life really like in the west?
 We’ll see in this section…
Women’s Suffrage in the West



Abigail Scott founded the Oregon Equal
Suffrage Association
Wyoming agreed to join the Union only if
women could vote.
By 1900, women in WY, CO, UT and ID
could vote
Section 3: Life in the West
Women’s Roles in the West:
 Women worked hard and
faced loneliness on
homesteads
 Women were family doctors
(set bones, delivered babies)
cooked,etc
 - most held traditional jobs of
teaching, sewing, laundry, etc.
 - a few were outlaws, ran
hotels, some gambled, etc
 - Women were so respected
in WY that WY only agreed to
join the Union if women
could vote.
Section 3:
Life in the West
 The Rise of Western Cities
 - Cities seemed to grow overnight
due to population booms
 - different things led to the rise of
cities over time
 - San Francisco, CA: the gold
rush brought many people in
search of “instant” riches
 - Denver, CO: mining and
railroads drew people to move
there
 - Omaha, NE: the cattle yards
there and meatpacking plants
brought work and people
 - Portland, OR: fishing, grain, and
lumber markets drew people
there
Section 3:
Life in the West
 Mexicanos in the
Southwest:
 - New Mexico, Arizona,
Texas, and California were
under Spanish control before
the U.S.
 - After 1840s, white settlers
began arriving for farming,
etc.
 - Many Mexicanos lost land
and power when U.S. courts
did not recognize previous
land grants
Section 3:
Life in the West
 The Myth of the Old West:
 - in the 1890s, the myth of the
west grew, becoming a “fantasy”
of heroes, gunfights, Indians, etc.
 - spread through the use of dime
novels, etc.
 - stories were exaggerations or
just plain fiction
 - Buffalo Bill Cody’s “Wild West
Show” was a huge production that
traveled to cities, showing what
the “Wild West” was like (but it
wasn’t! It was exaggerated)
Youtube
Disney’s
WWS
Some Myths/Legends of the
“Wild West”
 Annie Oakley - female gunslinger, Bio.com
video
 Billy the Kid - famous outlaw
(American Experience short clip)
 Buffalo Bill Cody - Wild West Show (lived in
North Platte - Wild West Show (lived in North
Platte, NE) (Disney)
 Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday- famous lawman
(Tombstone trailer)
Section 3:
Life in the West
 The Real West
 - Many people who really helped
in the West were ignored
 - vaqueros were Spanish
cowhands who helped a lot
 - “Buffalo soldiers” (African
Amer.) fought for the army
 - Legends often told of Native
American attacks on settlers, but
ignored the breaking of treaties
and massacres by US
 - the governments role of helping
people in settling the West was
often downplayed
Moving to Section 4
 Farming and Populism
 How did many of the farms of today in
Nebraska get started during this era?
 How did the U.S. government get
people to move to the Great Plains
region?
Section 4: Farming and Populism
U.S. Government Encourages
Land in Settlement
the West  the govt. gave millions of acres
of public land to the RRs to
was
promote expansion. The RRs
advertised then sold much of the land to
in Europe. settlers. This affected Western
Migration.
 - in 1862, the Homestead Act was
passed by Congress and gave 160
acres of free land in the West to
anyone who was willing to farm it
for 5 years
 - many people took advantage of
this offer, including immigrants
from Europe and African
Americans (“exodusters”) trying
to own their own land
Section 4:
Farming and Populism
 Life on the Farming
Frontier - life was not easy
on the farm
 - farmers had to adapt in
many ways to make a living
there
 - had to make their house
out of sod because of few
trees
 - had to dig deep wells to
get to underground water
 - had to use “cow pies” for
fuel to heat, cook, etc.
Section 4:
Farming and Populism
 Life on the Farming
Frontier (con’t)
 - key inventions:
 steel plow for cutting
through the sod
 windmill to use wind to
pump water;
 barbed wire for fencing in
the land;
 reapers and threshers to
harvest crops faster/easier
Video Clip
Homestead Monument video
(12)
Section 4:
Farming and Populism
 Problems of Farmers:
 - more food grown = more supply
 - more supply = falling prices and
farm economic problems
 - machinery cost more $, and
railroads were over-charging
 - famers formed the Grange, which
helped meet the social and economic
needs of farmers (help them work
together)
 - they started cooperatives, which
are organizations owned and run by
the members, which allowed them to
store crops in their buildings and
negotiate better prices for them
The Grange Cooperatives


Farmers demanded
action from the
government
Grangers were
angry about high
prices the RRs
charged to
transport and
store their grain

Grangers asked
states to regulate
RR freight rates
and storage
charges
Section 4: Farming and Populism
 The Rise of Populism - the
Populist party was mainly
farmers
 In 1892, the Populist Party
supported: free silver to
expand the money supply,
government ownership of
RRs, and shorter working
hours.
 - they wanted a “free silver”
policy that would have used
silver instead of gold to back
U.S. dollars
 - this would raise prices by
causing inflation (more dollars)
Why did Populists support
free silver? Populists believed
the unlimited coinage of silver
would drive up the price of
crops
Section 4:
Farming and Populism
 Closing the Frontier
 - in 1889, the Oklahoma land
rush signaled the “closing of
the West” because the last
“open” land in the U.S. was to
be given away (it was meant
to be for the Native
Americans
 - America was basically now
completely settled, and the
population of the U.S. was
spread across the country
Youtube clip
From “Far and Away”
“Sooners” story