The Transformation of the West
West vs. South: 1877-1900
• West
– Linked to Industrial Future
– Home to booming towns
– Producing food and raw materials for industry
by increasingly industrialized means
• South
– Only industrializing a little
– Still cotton dependent
Jackson Frederick Turner
• Frontier Thesis
– Frontier conditions create and reinforce
democracy
– What happens when frontier closes in 1890?
Transcontinental Railroad
• Two Lines Become One: Union Pacific and
Central Pacific
• July 1862-May 10, 1869
• Government Funding is key
– 131 million acres - Feds
– 49 million acres from States
Transcontinental Railroad Route
At The Golden Spike
Rail Growth
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1860: 30,000 miles of rail exist
1864: Northern Pacific Commissioned
1910: 240,000 miles of track
National Market
Northern Pacific Line
Native Americans
• Great Basin Tribes--Shoshone, Paiutes
– Stone Age Technology
– Hunter/Gatherers
– Family Organization
• Plains Indians
– American Technology, Native Lifestyle
– Skilled Warriors and Buffalo Hunters
– Tribal Organization
Relations
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Reservations and Indian Territory
Tensions due to settlers
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)
Dakota War: 1862
Sand Creek Massacre: 1864
Indian Wars (1864-1892)
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Plains War (1864-7)
Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
Little Big Horn: 1876
Nez Pierce
Destruction of the Buffalo
Ghost Dance: 1890-2
Indian Reform
• Assimilation
• Dawes Severality Act of 1887
• Education
The Mining Frontier
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Colorado, 1859 and the Comstock Lode
Deadwood (1874)
Transitory Settlements
Hope of Wealth
Few Women
Ethnically Diverse
Placerville, California, 1850
Deadwood, Dakota Territory,
1877 (Wall Street)
Violence
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Racism
Poor Law Enforcement
Violence
Vigilante Justice
Prospector to Prospectus
• Precious Metals: Gold and Silver
• Practical Mining: Iron, Coal, Quartz,
Copper
• Private to Corporate
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Hydraulic Mining
Wage Labor
Pollution
Unions and Union Busting
1893: Western Federation of Miners
River Mining
Gold Dredging Damage
The Cattlemen: Glory Days
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The Chisholm Trail
Cattle Drives
Cowboys
Cattle Towns
Hispanic-styled Ranch House
Industrialization of Cattle
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Northern Cattle
Industrialization
Sheep
Specialized Farming
Cherokee Strip
Settling the West: The
Landscape
• Great Plains
• Great Basin
• Buffalo
Prairie in Washington State
Land Grants
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Homestead Act of 1862
Timber Culture Act of 1873
Desert Land Act of 1877
Speculators
Water Policy
• Prior Appropriation Doctrine
• Carey Act of 1894
• Newlands Act of 1902
Going West
• 1840: 175,000 west of Mississippi
• 1880: 10 million (20% of US pop)
• Exodus Movement
Western Hispanics
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New Mexico, California, Texas
Rights?
Loss of Land
Wage Labor
Agriculture and Food Influence
Home on the Range
• Frontier Women
• Isolation
– The Grange
• Churches