Transcript Chapter 18 – Americans Move West Section Notes Miners, Ranchers, and Railroads Wars for the West Farming and Populism Quick Facts Causes and Effects of Westward Expansion Effects.

Chapter 18 – Americans Move West
Section Notes
Miners, Ranchers, and Railroads
Wars for the West
Farming and Populism
Quick Facts
Causes and Effects of
Westward Expansion
Effects of the Transcontinental
Railroad
Chapter 18 Visual Summary
Video
The Impact of the West
on American Culture
Maps
Routes West
Native American Land Loss
in the West, 1850-1890
Skills Page Maps: Migration
Images
Completion of the
Transcontinental Railroad
The Plains Indians
Pioneer Family
Deadwood, South Dakota
Miners, Ranchers, and Railroads
The Big Idea
As more settlers moved West, mining, ranching, and
railroads soon transformed the western landscape.
Main Ideas
• A mining boom brought growth to the West.
• The demand for cattle created a short-lived Cattle
Kingdom on the Great Plains.
• East and West were connected by the transcontinental
railroad.
Main Idea 1:
A mining boom brought
growth to the West.
• Americans continued to move west during the 1800s.
• The American frontier reached the Pacific Ocean when
California was added to the Union in 1850.
• Settlers built homes, ranches, and farms.
• Railroads expanded west to bring western goods to
eastern markets.
• Mining companies shipped gold and silver east from
western mines.
Mining in the West
Mining became big business with discoveries of large deposits of
precious metals, such as the Comstock Lode in Nevada.
Miners from all over the world came to work in the western
mines.
Boomtowns grew quickly when a mine opened and often
disappeared quickly when the mine closed.
Mining was dangerous. The equipment was unsafe and miners
had to breathe hot, stuffy air that causes lung disease. Poorly
planned explosions and cave-ins killed and injured miners. Fires
were also a threat.
Main Idea 2:
The demand for cattle created a short-lived
Cattle Kingdom on the Great Plains.
• The increasing demand for beef helped the cattle industry grow.
• Cattle ranchers in Texas drove herds to Abilene, Kansas, to be
shipped east.
• Cattle ranching spread across the Great Plains, creating the
Cattle Kingdom that stretched from Texas to Canada.
• Ranchers grazed huge herds on public land called the open range.
• Competition, the invention of barbed wire, and the loss of prairie
grass brought an end to the Cattle Kingdom.
Cowboys
• Cowboys were workers who took care of ranchers’ cattle.
• They borrowed many techniques from vaqueros, who were
Mexican ranch hands.
• One of their most important duties was the cattle drive.
– The Chisholm Trail was a popular route for cattle
drives.
• Life in cattle towns was often rough and violent.
Main Idea 3:
East and West were connected by the
transcontinental railroad.
• The growth of the West created a need for communication
across the country.
– The Pony Express carried messages on a route 2,000
miles long.
– Telegraph lines put the Pony Express out of business.
• Demand for a transcontinental railroad grew.
– Congress passed the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and
1864, giving railroad companies loans and land grants.
– The railroads agreed to carry mail and troops at a lower
cost.
The Great Race
• In the race to complete a transcontinental railroad, the
Central Pacific started in San Francisco and worked east,
and the Union Pacific started in Omaha and worked west.
• Large numbers of Irish and Chinese immigrants worked on
the railroads.
• Geography and weather posed many challenges to
building the railroads.
• On May 10, 1869, the railroad lines met and joined the
two tracks with a golden spike at Promontory, Utah.
• Companies continued building railroads throughout the
West.
Results of the Railroad
Growth
• Economic growth and population in the West increased.
• Railroads provided better transportation for people and goods
• They also encouraged people to move west.
• Railroads became one of the country’s biggest industries.
Panic of 1873
• Railroad speculation increased.
• The collapse of railroad owner Jay Cooke’s banking firm
helped start the Panic of 1873.
• Many small western railroads were deeply in debt by the
1880s.
Wars for the West
The Big Idea
Native Americans and the U.S. government came
into conflict over land in the West.
Main Ideas
• As settlers moved to the Great Plains, they encountered
the Plains Indians.
• The U.S. Army and Native Americans fought in the
northern plains, the Southwest, and the Far West.
• Despite efforts to reform U.S. policy toward Native
Americans, conflict continued.
Main Idea 1:
As settlers moved to the Great Plains, they
encountered the Plains Indians.
• The U.S. government negotiated treaties with Plains
Indians in the mid-1800s to gain more western lands for
settlers.
• Plains Indians, including the Sioux, Pawnee, and
Cheyenne, lived by hunting buffalo.
• Buffalo were used for food, shelter, clothing, and utensils.
• Conflict grew with the Plains Indians as miners and
settlers increased in number.
Struggle to Keep Land
The Treaty of Fort Laramie recognized Native American
claims to the Great Plains. It allowed the United States to build
forts and travel across Native American lands.
The U.S. government negotiated new treaties after gold was
discovered in Colorado, sending Native Americans to live on
reservations, areas of federal land set aside for them.
The movement of pioneers and miners across the Great Plains
and through Native American hunting grounds led to conflict
with the Sioux, led by Crazy Horse.
Most southern Plains Indians agreed to go to reservations under
the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge, but the Comanche
continued to fight until 1875.
Main Idea 2:
The U.S. Army and Native Americans fought
in the northern plains, the Southwest,
and the Far West.
• When Native Americans resisted confinement on
reservations U.S. troops forced them to go.
– Included African American cavalry called buffalo
soldiers
• Most Native Americans had stopped fighting by the
1880s, except the Apache, led by Geronimo, who
fought until 1886.
Fighting on the Plains
Northern Plains
Southwest
• Battles with the Sioux
throughout the
1800s.
• Navajo refused to
settle on
reservations.
• In 1876 George
Armstrong Custer’s
troops were defeated
by Sioux forces led
by Crazy Horse and
Sitting Bull at the
Battle of Little
Bighorn, the Sioux’s
last major victory.
• U.S. troops raided
Navajo fields,
homes, and
livestock.
• U.S. troops killed
about 150 Sioux in
the Massacre at
Wounded Knee in
1890.
• Out of food and
shelter, the Navajo
surrendered.
• Navajo were forced
on a 300-mile
march, known as
the Long Walk, to
a reservation and
countless died.
Far West
• Initially, the
United States
promised to let the
Nez Percé keep
their Oregon land.
• Later, the
government
demanded land.
• Fighting broke out.
• U.S. troops forced
the Nez Percé to a
reservation in
what is now
Oklahoma where
many died.
Main Idea 3:
Despite efforts to reform U.S. policy toward
Native Americans, conflict continued.
• Ghost Dance movement
– Predicted the arrival of paradise for Native Americans
– Misunderstood by U.S. officials, who feared it would lead to rebellion
– Gradually died out after the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890
• Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute, lectured on problems of the reservation
system and called for reform in the 1870s.
• Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887
– Made land ownership among Native Americans private
– Tried to lessen traditional influences of Native American society so as
to encourage them to adopt the ways of white people
– Ended up taking about two-thirds of Native American land
Farming and Populism
The Big Idea
Settlers on the Great Plains created new communities
and unique political groups.
Main Ideas
• Many Americans started new lives on the Great Plains.
• Economic challenges led to the creation of farmers’
political groups.
• By the 1890s, the western frontier had come to an end.
Main Idea 1:
Many Americans started new lives
on the Great Plains.
• Two important land-grant acts helped open the West to
settlers in 1862.
– The Homestead Act gave government land to farmers.
– The Morrill Act gave federal land to states to sell in
order to fund colleges to teach agriculture and
engineering.
• People who made new lives in the West included women,
immigrants, and African Americans.
– Thousands of southern African Americans, known as
Exodusters, moved to Kansas.
New Lives in the West
Farming
Building Communities
• Breaking up tough grass on
the Plains earned farmers the
nickname “sodbusters.”
• Women were an important
force in settling the
frontier.
• 1880s—Mechanical farming
was becoming common.
• 1890s—Farmers began dry
farming, growing hardy
crops such as red wheat.
• Crops were shipped east by
train and then overseas; the
Great Plains became known
as the breadbasket of the
world.
– Annie Bidwell, a
founder of Chico,
California, supported
many social causes.
• Harsh life on remote farms
led farmers to form
communities, creating
churches and schools.
• Children helped with many
chores on the farm.
Main Idea 2:
Economic challenges led to the creation of
farmers’ political groups.
• The United States was growing during the period 18601900.
– The population more than doubled.
– The number of farms tripled.
– Farmers could harvest a bushel of wheat 20 times faster in
1900 than in 1830.
• Farm incomes fell.
– More farms and greater productivity led to overproduction,
which led to lower prices.
– Many farmers lost their farms and homes and became tenant
farmers.
– By 1880, one-fourth of all farms were rented by tenants.
• Farmers formed associations to protect their interests.
The National Grange and the Railroads
The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was a social
and educational organization for farmers.
The Grange called for laws to regulate railroad rates.
The Supreme Court ruled:
• 1877 that the government could regulate railroads
• 1886 that government could regulate only companies doing
business across state lines
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to
provide national regulations for trade, but could not enforce
them.
Free Silver Debate and the Populist Party
Free Silver Debate
• The U.S. had been on the
gold standard since 1873,
resulting in deflation.
• Many farmers supported
the unlimited coining of
silver and the backing of
paper currency with silver.
• Congress passed the
Sherman Silver Purchase
Act to increase the amount
of silver purchased for
coinage, but it did not help
farmers much.
Populist Party
• The Farmers’ Alliances formed
the Populist Party to have
power and a candidate that
would represent them.
• It supported government
ownership of railroads and
communication systems, free
silver, and labor regulation.
• It supported William
Jennings Bryan in the
election of 1896, but his
defeat marked the end of the
Farmers’ Alliance and the
Populist Party.
William Jennings Bryan
• Politician from Nebraska; served in Congress
• Supported free silver coinage
• Populist
• Influential speaker and newspaper editor
• Democratic candidate for president in 1896
• Populists supported Bryan instead of splitting the silver
vote.
Main Idea 3:
By the 1890s, the western frontier
had come to an end.
• Only small portions of the Great Plains remained unsettled
by 1870.
• U.S. officials allowed homesteaders to settle the Indian
territory in what is now Oklahoma in 1889.
– Settlers claimed more than 11 million acres of former
Indian land in the Oklahoma land rush.
• The frontier had ceased to exist in the United States by
the early 1890s.
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