Chapter 18 – Americans Move West

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Chapter 18 Americans Move West
Section Notes
Video
Miners, Ranchers, and Railroads Wars for the
West Farming and Populism
The Impact of the West on American Culture
Maps
Quick Facts
Routes West Native American Land Loss
in the West, 1850-1890 Skills Page Maps
Migration
Causes and Effects of Westward Expansion Effects
of the Transcontinental Railroad Chapter 18
Visual Summary
Images
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad The
Plains Indians Pioneer Family Deadwood, South
Dakota
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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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Main Idea 3East 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.

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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.

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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 countrys biggest
  industries.

Panic of 1873

• Railroad speculation increased.
• The collapse of railroad owner Jay Cookes
  banking firm helped start the Panic of 1873.
• Many small western railroads were deeply in debt
  by the 1880s.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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Main Idea 2The 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.

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Fighting on the Plains

• Northern Plains
• Battles with the Sioux throughout the 1800s.
• In 1876 George Armstrong Custers troops were
  defeated by Sioux forces led by Crazy Horse and
  Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn, the
  Siouxs last major victory.
• U.S. troops killed about 150 Sioux in the
  Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.

• Southwest
• Navajo refused to settle on reservations.
• U.S. troops raided Navajo fields, homes, and
  livestock.
• 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.

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Main Idea 3Despite 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

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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.

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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.

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New Lives in the West

• Farming
• Breaking up tough grass on the Plains earned
  farmers the nickname sodbusters.
• 1880sMechanical farming was becoming common.
• 1890sFarmers 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.

• Building Communities
• Women were an important force in settling the
  frontier.
• 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.

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Main Idea 2Economic challenges led to the
creation of farmers political groups.

• The United States was growing during the period
  1860-1900.
• 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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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Main Idea 3By 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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