Transcript Document

There’s gold in them thar hills!
Placer Mining was used to
extract gold & minerals from
the ground, but only the
shallow level of ground was
penetrated with this method.
Equipment like picks, shovels
and pans were used in Placer
Mining
Panning for Gold
Diggin’ Deeper
When deposits near the
surface ran out, miners began
hydraulic mining. Miners
sprayed high pressure water
against the mountain side
exposing the minerals beneath
the surface.
Hydraulic mining devastated
the environment by depositing
tons of silt, sand, and gravel
into local rivers.
Today, most mining companies
dig deep mine shafts into the
ground to extract minerals.
This is called quartz mining.
Hydraulic Mining
1859 Boomtown
Henry Comstock claimed some
land in Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada.
The blue-gray mud there turned
out to be pure silver!
News of this strike caused a boom
of 30,000 people to crowd into
Virginia City, Nevada almost
overnight!
So many people came that Nevada
became a state in 1864.
Known as the Comstock Lode, it
generated $230 million to help the
Union finance the Civil War.
Virginia City, Nevada
Ranching and Cattle Drives
In the early 1800s, no one thought
building a cattle ranch on the Great
Plains would be successful because
the cattle from the east couldn’t live
on the tough prairie grass. Before the
Civil War, there was no reason to
round up the Texas Longhorns
because beef prices were so low! Two
developments changed this situation.
Two Developments Made Cattle Drives Worthwhile
During the Civil
War, the cattle
were needed in
the east to feed
the soldiers.
Cattle could be driven
up north to the rail
lines and transported
to the east at 10 times
the price the cowboys
could get in Texas for
the same cows.
Can you name this
famous sheriff of
Dodge City?
Dodge City, Kansas Front Street- 1870’s
Vaqueros, Spanish word for “cowboys,” taught American
cowboys their trade and enriched the English language with
words of Spanish origin- “lariat,” “lasso,” and “stampede.”
The End of the Open Range
The open range would end when ranch owners began to build fences
(barbed wire) to prevent sheep herders from grazing the land meant
for cattle. The price of beef fell due to oversupply and many ranchers
went bankrupt. Then, in the winter of 1886, blizzards covered the
ground so deep that cattle could not graze any grass.
Farming the Plains
In 1862 the government encouraged settlement of the Great Plains
by passing the Homestead Act. For a $10 registration fee, an
individual could file for a homestead- a tract of public land available
for settlement. A homesteader could claim up to 160 acres of land
and could receive title to that land after living there for five years.
The steel plow, invented by
John Deere, made it easy for
farmers to plow through the
hard ground.
To get water, settlers drilled deep wells
and used windmills to pump the water
to the surface.
On April 22, 1889, the government opened one of the last large
territories for settlement. Within hours, more than 10,000 people raced
to stake claims in an event known as the Oklahoma Land Rush.
Oklahoma Land Rush 1889