1. The Mining Booms Ch. 18.1

2. Gold, Silver, Boomtowns  1858  More gold discovered in the west (Pike’s Peak)  1859  50,000 prospectors headed to Colorado  Most of the gold was deep underground  Most individuals made very little  Companies had a better chance of getting rich

3. Boom  Comstock Lode  1859, Nevada’s Carson River  One of the world’s richest deposits of silver  Gold strikes created boomtowns  Virginia City, Nevada  Money that was made was spent quickly  Gambling

5. Bust  Many people came to the boomtowns lured by the promise of prosperity  When the ore was gone, people would leave  Boomtowns became ghost towns

7. The U.S. Expands West  As gold and silver disappeared, people mined:  Copper  Lead  Zinc  These mining areas became states  Colorado: 1876  North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Montana: 1889  Wyoming and Idaho: 1890

8. Ranchers and Farmers Ch. 18.2

9. Cattle Ranchers  Spanish brought tough breed of cattle known as Longhorns  These Longhorns spread across the state of Texas  Texas was mostly an open range  Open Range: Not fenced or divided into lots

11. Railroads and Cow Towns  Most of the markets for beef were in the North and the East  1865: Missouri Pacific Railroad reached Kansas City, Missouri  Texas cattle was herded from Texas to Missouri and loaded onto trains to the cities in the North and the East

12. The Long Drive  Long Drive: Herding of cattle 1,000 miles or more to meet the railroads  Texas to Missouri  Left in the spring  15 hours of riding/day  Cow Towns: Towns located on the route of the Long Drive near railroads  Between the late 1860s-1880s, more than 5 million cattle moved north

17. Cowhands  Dangers:  Violent storms  Rustlers: Cattle-stealers  Stampedes  Cowhands  Civil War Vets  African Americans  Hispanics

18. Farmers Settle the Plains  Why did people settle the Plains?  Railroads made the journey easier  New laws offered free land  Above average rainfall in the 1870s

22. The Homestead Act  1862  Gave 160 free acres to a settler who paid a $10 filing fee and lived on the land for 5 years  Homestead: Earn ownership of land by settling on it  Late 1870s: Thousands of African Americans took the journey from the South to Kansas  “Exodusters”  Left at the end of Reconstruction due to fear for their safety in the South