History of the West

1. Unit 4 Notes Majors Changes in the Great Plains 1850-1880 History of the West

2. Last heyday for the family farmer • 1860—2 million farms • The 1862 Homestead Act encouraged people to leave the east for 160 acres of free land. • Moved to Great American Desert • By 1872 farms were producing surplus—growing cash crops • Expenses • $500 for land • $785 for machinery New Agricultural Empire

4. 1862 HomesteadAct offers 160 acres free to any head of household • 1862–1900, up to 600,000 families settle • Exodusters— Southern African-American settlers in Kansas • Railroad, state agents, speculators profit; 10% of land to families • Government strengthens act, passes new legislation for settlers Laws to Promote Settlement of the West

5. Examples: • 1873—Timber Culture Act • 1877—Desert Land Act • 1878—Timber and Stone Act • Agricultural Education • Morrill Act of 1862, 1890 finances agricultural colleges • 1887 Hatch Act creates agricultural experiment stations Laws to Promote Settlement of the West (Con’t)

6. Mass market for farm machines develops with migration to plains • 1866—hay baler • 1869—harrow • 1874—barbed wire and grain drill • 1876—hay loader • 1877—chilled iron plow • 1878—harvester and corn binder • 1880—lister to plant corn New Technology and Methods

7. The Farmers’ Alliances • 1867, Oliver Hudson Kelley starts Patrons of Husbandry or Grange • Purpose is educational, social; by 1870s, Grange fighting railroads • Farmers’ Alliances — groups of farmers and sympathizers • lectures on interest rates, government control of railroads, banks • Better techniques • Cooperative methods • Social institution • Political organization • gain over 4 million members New Technology and Methods (Con’t)

8. Dugouts and Soddies • Few trees, so many settlers dig homes into sides of ravines or hills • In plains, make soddy or sod home by stacking blocks of turf • Houses • 18 x 24 • Dripped mud or leaked when it rained Sod Busters of the Plains

9. Sod Homes, Etc. of the Plains

10. Sod Hotel in South Dakota

11. Soddie

12. Homesteaders virtually alone, must be self-sufficient • Women do men’s work—plowing, harvesting, shearing sheep • Do traditional work—carding wool, making soap, canning vegetables • Weave cloth from animal hair • Candles • Soak ashes for lye to combine with grease for soap • Gather buffalo chips or corn husks for fuel • Work for communities—sponsor schools, churches Women’s work

13. Still legal barriers • Wife could not sell property without husband’s permission • Could not sue for divorce • Could not serve on juries, as lawyers, or as witnesses • Breaking of barriers • Wyoming Territory allowed women suffrage in 1868. • Utah Territory followed suit in 1870 and also allowed women to vote. Women’s work (Con’t)

14. Hazards • Blizzards • Drought • Prairie fires • insects • Religion provided escape • Code of the West • Face any danger head on Women’s work (Con’t)

16. Officials merged public and private interests • Railroad, lumber, and mining companies and owners influenced government • Donated to both parties • Politicians received retainers from western companies • Lyman Trumbull was paid by the Illinois Central Railroad • Iowa Congressman Grenville Dodge was on the Union Pacific Railroad payroll Politics of Development

17. Officials merged public and private interests (Con’t) • The shell company of Credit Mobilier was established so that its stockholders could oversee government assistance and create contracts with themselves to build their own railroad lines at tremendous profits. • Shares were given to Congressmen to assure government assistance • Speaker of the House, James G. Blaine • Grant’s Vice Presidents Schuyler Colfax and Henry Wilson Politics of Development (Con’t)

18. Farmers and the Railroad Business • Railroads formed pools and set high rates for farmers to ship goods to market • Munn v. Illinois 1877 • States could regulate common carriers to prevent extremely high prices and pools Politics of Development (Con’t)

19. Stimulated markets for industry • Stimulated mining and agriculture • Boon for cities • Immigration (railroads advertised land for sale in Europe) • Established time zones Railroads

20. 1869 First Transcontinental Railroad • Central Pacific • Sacramento east • Chinese • Completed 689 miles • Union Pacific • Omaha west • Irish • Completed 1086 miles • Federal loans to railroads • $16,000 flat land • $48,000 mountains • Land bonuses • 200-400 square miles per mile of track • Became the biggest land owners in the West Railroads (Con’t)

21. Marred by corruption • Fraudulent stock • Corrupt accounting • Wholesale bribery (75 western railroads benefitted) • Railroads Built Cities Railroads (Con’t)

22. 1850–1871, huge land grants to railroads for laying track in West • 1860s, Central Pacific goes east, Union Pacific west, meet in Utah • By 1880s, 5 transcontinental railroads completed • Railroads sell land to farmers, attract many European immigrants Railroads Open the West

24. Lack of competition lets railroads overcharge to transport grain Farms mortgaged to buy supplies; suppliers charge high interest Problems with the Railroads

25. Communication from East to West was not very good • Travelling time from East to West took 6 months + • It would help fulfil ‘Manifest Destiny’ • The U.S. needed to keep up with other countries • Trade links with China and Japan • Help to bring law and order to the West Why did America need Railroads?

27. Quick and easy travel to the West • Previous methods • Wagon Train • Foot • By boat • Pony Express • The railroad turned a 6 month journey into a maximum of 8 days Effect of the Railroads:

28. Cheap land for people wanting to go West • Once the Railroads were built the Railroad companies had no use for the excess land • Sold land off cheap • Benefitted Homesteaders and Ranchers who came west. • Destruction of the Indians • Hunters used the Railroad to go west to hunt the buffalo • Hunters were only interested in buffalo skin • 1875 southern buffalo herds wiped out • 1885 northern buffalo herds wiped out • Indians and Whites equally responsible for the devastation to the Buffalo population Effect of the Railroads: (Con’t)

29. Coolies (Central Pacific) & European immigrants (Union Pacfic) • Chinese labourers • Brought into the United States by the Central Pacific • After slavery was abolished, there was a severe lack of labour in many European colonies • Labourers were supposed to be recruited by voluntary negotiation, and this was probably usually the case, though kidnapping and trickery were frequent • The treatment of coolies was often very harsh, and the government involved did little to remedy their plight Who actually built the railroads?

30. Use of Coolies during the railway boom • Chinese coolies contributed to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States (as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway in Western Canada) • But the Chinese labourers were not welcome to stay after its completion • 1862: California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 • 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act • Both of these Acts contributed to the oppression of Chinese labourers in the United States Who actually built the railroads? (Con’t)

31. Analyze the Political Cartoon

32. Union of Central Pacific & Union Pacific • May 10, 1869: two rail lines meet at Promontory Point (mountains of Utah) • Result of this union: • By the early 1900s: 4 transcontinental lines & the US had a vast railroad system Driving the Last Spike:

34. Helps develop the Cattle Industry • Cattle were transported by the railroads making it easier to move them from Texas to the East • Cow Towns grew up around these railroad stops • Sedalia, Missouri • Cheyenne, Wyoming • Abilene, Kansas • Dodge City, Kansas • Greeley, Colorado Effect of the Railroads: Revisited

35. Texas and high plains of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana • 1860 – 5 million head west of Mississippi • Boom or Bust • 25-40% • Competition • Natural controls—not enough grass, blizzards, drought Cattle Kingdom

36. Used Mexican methods (horses, branding irons, riata[ ropes], chaps, spurs, broad-brimmed hat, cowhands, cattle drives) • Trails • Chisholm—to Ellsworth or Abilene • Western—to Dodge City or Ogallala • Sedalia-Baxter—to Sedalia or Baxter Springs • Goodnight-Loving—to Denver or Cheyenne Cattle Kingdom (Con’t)

37. 1860—1870 population tripled • Transportation center for resources • Iron • Coal • Timber • Processing center for raw materials • Meat packing • Flour mills • Steel mills • Agricultural equipment • Distribution center for manufactured goods from the North Chicago

38. Open range v. fences Feed cattle v. range cattle Sheep v. cattle Control of water Range Wars

39. Vaqueros andCowboys • American settlers learn to manage large herds from Mexican vaqueros • adopt way of life, clothing, vocabulary • Texas longhorns — sturdy, short-tempered breeds brought by Spanish • Cowboys not in demand until railroads reach Great Plains • Growing Demand for Beef • After Civil War demand for meat increases in rapidly growing cities Cattle Become Big Business

41. The Cow Town • Cattlemen establish shipping yards where trails and rail lines meet • Chisholm Trail becomes major cattle route from San Antonio to Kansas • A Day in the Life of a Cowboy • A Day’s Work • 1866–1885, up to 55,000 cowboys on plains • 25% African American, 12% Mexican • Cowboy works 10–14 hours on ranch; 14 or more on trail • Expert rider, roper; alert for dangers that may harm, upset cattle Cattle Become Big Business (Con’t)

42. Roundup • During spring roundup, longhorns found, herded into corral • Separate cattle marked with own ranch’s brand; brand calves • The Long Drive • Herding of animals or long drive lasts about 3 months • Cowboy in saddle dawn to dusk; sleeps on ground; bathes in rivers • Legends of the West • Celebrities like “Wild Bill” Hickok, Calamity Jane never handled cows Cattle Become Big Business (Con’t)

43. Changes in Ranching • Overgrazing, bad weather from 1883 to 1887 destroy whole herds • Ranchers keep smaller herds that yield more meat per animal • Fence land with barbed wire; turn open range into separate ranches The End of the Open Range

44. Spreads west to east • Most made money supplying the miners • Boom or Bust • Quick profits (individuals) • Followed by consolidation and order (corporations, machinery, paid labor) • Mining areas grew large cities first • Attracted immigrants • California passed Foreign Miners’ Tax • Riots against Chinese • 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act Mining

46. After the California gold rush, Colorado was next. Most who went there were disappointed, but the silver in the Comstock Lode in Nevada lasted for more than 20 years. • The Klondike gold rush • The Yukon Territory was the site of a huge gold rush, but getting there was treacherous • Canadians required miners to bring a year’s worth of supplies with them, and that was a difficult task. • Reports of “gold for the taking” were false. Discovering Gold and Silver

48. Mining camps and towns • Thousands of men poured into mining areas. Camps were hastily built and had no law enforcement. • Vigilante justice was used to combat theft and violence. • Camps become towns • Some camps developed into towns, with hastily constructed buildings of stores and saloons. • As towns developed, women and children came to join the men, making the towns more respectable. Townspeople established churches, newspapers, and schools. Development of Communities

49. 1849 California

50. California, cont.