Mining, Ranching, and Statehood: Settling the American West

1. Chapter 2 Settling the west 1865-1890

2. Boomtowns & Mining Leads to Statehood • What was the Comstock Lode & what type of ore was found there? • Why are they called boomtowns? • Who enforced law & justice in boomtowns? • What happened to boom towns when mine dried up? • What is the correlation between mines & new states? • What town had deep deposits of lead & silver? • Name states that applied for statehood during time period. Use Abbreviations

3. Mining Technology • Name & describe 4 types of mining • What type of mining was ruled by a federal judge to a “public and private nuisance and why?

4. Pictures of Mining

5. Ranching & Cattle Drives • What type of cow could survive on the tough grasses on the Great Plains? • What is the open range? • Who owned the open range? • What is a long drive and what two things made the long drive profitable? • What is the major route to Abilene, Kansas called? • What was used to fence off the open range?

6. Pictures of Long Drives

7. Settling the Hispanic Southwest • What is a hacienda and who owned them? • What caused tensions between English speaking ranchers and Hispanics? • What state did the Hispanics have a majority in the population and state legislature? • How did barrios keep Spanish culture present in the community?

8. Silver Ore strike near VA. City,NA that brought many prospectors to the West • Quick growing towns around mines with quick economic growth • Vigilance committees- self-appointed volunteers who would track down & punish wrongdoers • Went bust because economy collapsed

9. Mines brought people to the West • Built railroads to mine towns • Enough people in territories to apply for statehood • CO, AZ, ND, SD, MT, NM

10. Placer mining- used simple tools like picks, shovels, and pans • Sluice mining- diverted the current of a river into trenches, screens separated the minerals • Hydraulic mining- sprayed high pressure water against hill or mountain washing away dirt, gravel, and rock exposing the minerals beneath the surface

11. Quartz mining- deep mine shafts are dug & miners go underground to extract the minerals • Hydraulic mining caused tons of silt, sand, and gravel to wash into local riverbeds causing floods that wrecked property and farmland.

12. Texas Longhorns • Vast area of grasslands that the federal government owned • Trains & price up beef went up • Chisholm Trail • Barbed wire

13. Landholding elite owned huge ranches that covered thousands of acres • Ownership of land caused tensions • Barrios had Spanish-speaking businesses and Spanish-language newspapers • Barrios kept cultural and religious traditions alive

14. SETTLING THE WEST 1865 - 1900 Chapter 8

15. Section 1 Miners and Ranchers Main Idea: Miners and ranchers settled large areas of the West. Growth of the mining industry: * Placermining - prospectors used picks, shovels, pans, etc; scooped up shallow deposits.

16. * Quartz mining - dug deep beneath surface. * Henry Comstock - discovered the “Comstock Lode” - huge silver vein near Virginia City, Nev. “Boomtown”“Ghost town” Wild mining towns led to vigilance committees (volunteers who enforced law in the West).

17. Boomtown to Ghost town

18. Ranching & Cattle Drives * Early 1800s - People thought that eastern cattle could not survive the Great Plains (water scarce, prairie grasses tough). * Texas longhorns were well-adapted to Plains. * Open range - vast area of gov’t-owned grassland.

19. * After Civil War - beef was rare & expensive; RRs could carry rounded-up longhorns to markets in the East. * Longdrive - cattle was “driven” (herded) long distances to railheads (RR stations) & shipped East.

20. * Chisholm Trail - Famous long drive route from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. * Range Wars broke out when sheep herds moved onto open range & also when farmers moved in. * Barbed wire - enabled huge areas to be fenced in cheaply. (Can you think of another advantage to using barbed wire on the Great Plains?)

21. Why did long drives end? * Fencing-in of the open range. * Brits & European investors poured $$$ into cattle business oversupply prices fell ranchers went bankrupt! * Blizzards in 1886-87; killed huge numbers of herds. Result……. Fenced-in ranches made long drives difficult.

22. Section 1 Settling the Hispanic Southwest(cont.) • In place of the mission system in California, landowners owned vast haciendas. • After the California gold rush, however, Hispanic Californians were vastly outnumbered. • As they had done with the Native Americans, settlers from the East clashed with the Mexican Americans over land.

23. Section 1 Settling the Hispanic Southwest(cont.) • As more railroads were built in the 1880s and 1890s, the population of the Southwest continued to swell with American, European, and Mexican immigrants. • In the growing cities of the Southwest, Hispanics settled in neighborhoods called barrios.

24. Southwestern Borderlands • After the Mexican War, American ranchers and settlers in the Southwest took over the territorial govts. • Forced most of the Spanish-speaking population off the land • The Mexican minority tended to become low-paid day laborers • Faced discrimination and periodic violent attacks

25. Southwestern Borderlands (cont.) • Mexican-Americans fought back by organizing groups such as Las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps) • They had little success • The Hispanic struggle for justice and equality would continue throughout the 20th century

27. Section 2 - Farming the Plains Main Idea: After 1865, settlers staked out homesteads and began farming the Great Plains - from the central Dakotas through Abilene, Texas. Stephen Long - explored the region in 1819 and called it the Great American Desert.

28. Why did settlement of the Great Plains begin? * RRs - ensured easy access -- Advertised sale of cheap land along RR lines. * Gov’t passed the Homestead Act (1862) - 160 acres free to settlers who would live on the land for five years and make improvements.

29. Homesteaders on the Great Plains

30. Challenges for Great Plains settlers: * Lack of trees and water. -- Had to build sod houses (“soddies”). -- Had to drill deep wells. * Heat & drought in summer. * Blizzards in winter. * Prairie fires!!! * Swarms of grasshoppers destroyed crops.

31. A Great Plains “Soddie”

32. Interior of a sod home

34. Wheat Belt - eastern edge of Great Plains. * New farming techniques. -- Dry farming - planted seeds deep for moisture. -- Steel plows (John Deere), seed drills, reapers, & threshers. -- Mechanical reapers - faster harvest. * Bonanza farms - huge wheat farms up to 50,000 acres; often owned by big corporations.

35. New farming techniques made farming possible in the Great Plains.

36. The New Steel Plow by John Deere

37. Problem: * Better farming techniques * Oversupply of crop * A drop in crop prices * Farmers had to mortgage the land * Often led to farm foreclosures by the banks because farmers could not pay off their mortgages.

38. Section 3 - Native Americans Main Idea: Settlement of the West dramatically changed the way of life of the Plains Indians. Most were nomads - wandered the Plains following the buffalo.

39. How many ways did the Native Americans use the buffalo?

40. Native Americans and their Life Most Natives were lumped together in areas of the West • Despite their different language, beliefs, and ways of life • One thing in common: view themselves as part of nature and viewed nature as sacred • Food was grown according to their geography • Hunted buffalo • Homes were built out of mud or clay, and in high cliffs for protection (from aggressive neighbors)

41. Hunting grounds were disrupted by white settlers. Indians often attacked the settlers. * Dakota Sioux Uprising -- Gov’t delayed payment of promised annuities (pmts to Indians on reservations). -- Chief Little Crow asked traders for food on credit; was turned down. -- Sioux attacked, killing hundreds of white settlers. Little Crow

42. 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre - Colorado militia attacked Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek - Indians thought they were under the protection of a nearby government outpost - Over 100 Indians were slaughtered (including women and children)

43. Sand Creek Massacre (Colorado)

44. Indian Peace Commission (1867) proposed: * Two large reservations on the Great Plains. * Bureau of Indian Affairs would run them. * Forced Indians to sign treaty. * Bad living conditions for the Indians on reservations; they received what was seen as the least desirable land.

45. 1866 - Chief Red Cloud (Sioux:) defeated Captain W.J. Fetterman and 80 U.S. army soldiers Led them into a trap and killed them Fighting begins

46. Fighting begins • Little Bighorn (most famous battle of the Indian wars) • The Black Hills of South Dakota had been set aside for the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne

47. 1874 - U.S. Army exploring party found gold - Settlers went looking for gold - Gov. tried to buy the Black Hills (Sioux considered land sacred) - 1875 and 1876 - Sioux warriors left their reservations and united under the leadership of two Sioux chiefs (Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse)

48. Fighting begins • June 25, 1876 - George Armstrong Custer and several hundred army soldiers found a Sioux camp near the Little Bighorn River - Custer gained fame fighting in Civil War - Admirers considered him a daring brilliant officer

49. - Critics considered him a dangerous showoffCuster had orders to attack any Indians he came into contact withWhen he attacked he was actually stepping into a trapCuster and all of his men were killed - Became known as "Custer's Last Stand"

50. * Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) Lakota & Cheyenne vs. General George Armstrong Custer & 210 soldiers. Custer & all his men were killed. General George Armstrong Custer