Life in the West

1
Life in the West

• Mr. Melendez
• US History

2
Gold Discoveries

• Gold Discovered
• California, 1849
• Colorado, 1858
• Black Hills, South Dakota, 1874
• Brings thousands of men out west hoping to
  strike it rich
• Some, like Levi Strauss, made money by supplying
  the miners needs
• Small and dirty mining towns spring up all over
  the west

http//www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives
/three/63_02.htm
3
How many western states had gold strikes?
4
160 acres of free landhard work, but not a bad
deal!
Homestead Act of 1862 and Oklahoma Land Rush

• 1862, US government passes the Homestead Act
• Gives 160 acres to heads of families who pay a
  small fee, improve the land and live on it for 5
  years
• A lot of the land is taken by private speculators
  and state and railroad agents
• In the 1890s over 2 million acres in Oklahoma are
  given away by the government

http//historyrevision.myfreeforum.org/archive/1.-
homesteaders-and-farming-the-plains-2004-25-mks__o
_t__t_134.html
5
Why build a house out of chunks of grass?
Advantages/Disadvantages?
http//www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/soddies.html
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Cattle Ranching and Cowboys

• After the Civil War, demand for beef grows
• Cattle ranching becomes very profitable in Texas
• Cattle drives take thousands of cows from
  Texas to the railroad lines up north
• Cattle are taken to Chicago to be butchered and
  sold across the East

Which trail crossed through Colorado?
7
Mama, Billy Joe smacked me with a stick! Did too!
CUT IT OUT or I will TURN THIS WAGON AROUND! so
help me...
I did not! Did not!
Until the 1870s, most western settlers used the
trails to make it to the West. The journey to
Oregon took 4-5 months and most people walked the
2,000 miles. In 1869, that changed!
8
Railroads

• In 1860, 30,000 miles of railroad track.
• By 1890, 90,000 miles.
• In 1869, first transcontinental railroad
• Many Irish and Chinese immigrants building the
  railroads.
• Railroads provided
• Safer travel from Indian raids and bandits
• Faster travel times months to days
• Cheaper prices on transporting goods became the
  lifeline of towns out west

Wait, wait, wait-- tell me gain-- how much longer?
9
How did the federal government promote the
building of railroads in the West?
10
How did all of this western movement affect
Native Americans?
11
To what modern day state were most Indians
forced to move in the 1830s?
12
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Major Events in US-Native American Relations

• Reservation Policy (1800s)
• Indian Removal policies moves many Indians west
• Government makes reservation treaties with tribes
  as white settlers need more land

14

• Sand Creek Massacre (1864) Cheyenne people under
  US protections are massacred by the US Army.

15

• Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) Sioux agree to a
  reservation treaty but dont give up their
  hunting grounds
• Battle of Little Big Horn (1876) General Custer
  and his men are killed while attempting to return
  Sioux /Cheyenne Indians to their reservations

16

• Destruction of the Buffalo (1890)
• As many as 65 million in 1800
• Less than 1,000 by 1870
• Destroyed the livelihood of the Plains Indians

17

• The Dawes Act (1887) Indians would be forced to
  assimilate or Americanize.
• Own individual property
• Give up their language, customs and beliefs

18

• Ghost Dance (1890) widespread spiritual
  movement hoping for the return of the days before
  the white man.

19

• Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) An accidental
  shot leads to the killing of almost a whole group
  of Sioux Indians by the US Army.