1. Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, Cowboys, Workers
Looking to the West ( )
Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, Cowboys, Workers

2. The Spread of Western Mining

3. Mining Young, single men Desire to strike it rich Cherry Creek, CO
Other CO places in the mountains
Helena, MT
Virginia City, NV
Black Hills (South Dakota)

4. The Mining Frontier Some small prospectors made fortunes
Most money made by large mining corporations.
Mining towns had high populations of foreigners.
Environmental destruction due to blasting, chemicals, and water pollution.

5. Mining’s Economic Impacts
The added gold (and silver)
Boosted U.S. economy
Increased foreign investment
Stimulated U.S. involvement in global economy

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Judge Roy Bean's Courthouse and Saloon

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Panning for gold in Montana Territory

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Mining camp in Colorado Territory

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Street scene in Utah, 1869

10. Ranching Fences Large tracts of land Huge herds of cattle
Rise of the Cattle Barons

11. The Cattle Trails
Chisholm Trail- led cattle from ranches to railroad

12. Texas Longhorn Cattle Tough Ornery
Good sense of smell - could locate sources of groundwater

13. Longhorn Cattle

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Roundup on Sherman Ranch

15. The American Cowboy Romanticized Mythologized Lonely, rugged existence
Necessary for Cattle business

16. The Cattle Drives Romanticized, difficult Spurred growth of RRs
Food “on the hoof” fed growing demand in Eastern Markets and for Miners
Depended on the Open Range

17. Farming as Business Improved farming technologies:
Mechanical Reaper (Early Combine)
Barbed wire
Dry farming
Steel Plow
Windmills
Hybridization
Seed drills
Led to Bonanza farms:
Specialized in a single cash crop
The rise of ‘agribusiness’.

18. New Technology Eases Farm Labor
Reduced labor force needed for harvest. Allows farmers to maintain larger farms.
Mechanized Reaper
Keeps cattle from trampling crops and uses a minimal amount of lumber, which was scarce on the plains.
Barbed Wire
Allows cultivation of arid land by using drought-resistant crops and various techniques to minimize evaporation.
Dry Farming
Allows farmers to cut through dense, root-choked sod.
Steel Plow
Smoothes and levels ground for planting.
Harrow
Powers irrigation systems and pumps up ground water.
Steel Windmill
Cross-breeding of crop plants, which allows greater yields and uniformity.
Hybridization
Array of multiple drills used to carve small trenches in the ground and feed seed into the soil.
Grain Drill
Farms controlled by large businesses, managed by professionals, raised massive quantities of a single cash crop.
Bonanza Farm

19. Farming Technologies and Innovations

20. Bonanza Farms 10,000 acre farms Wheat boom of the 1880s
Population in Dakotas tripled
Overproduction, high investment costs, droughts, and reliance on one-crop agriculture brought an end to the boom
1890 prices fell, some lost everything

21. The Wild West Gunfights Outlaws (Billy the Kid)
Marshals and Sheriffs (Wyatt Earp)
Mythical
Dodge City, KS
Tombstone, AZ

22. Myth vs. Reality Myth Reality
Cowboys were romantic, self-sufficient, and virtuous
All were white
Ideal, garden of Eden
Could make a fortune in the west
Western towns were lawless
Reality
Cowboys were young, poorly paid, and did hard labor
20% were black or Mexican
Harmonious race relations on the trail
Harsh conditions
Most made little, if any money
There were police forces and order in the West

23. The Western Myth Some (Roosevelt) saw social Darwinism in the west.
Perceived as the last chance to build a truly good society
Novels and accounts glossed over hard labor and ethnic strife.
Reality, western settlement depended more upon companies and railroads than individuals.

24. The Frontier Myth Still lives in the American imagination
Depicted in movies
TV shows (Frontier House, Little House on the Prairie, Gunsmoke, etc.)

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Dodge City Peace Commissioners (Wyatt Earp third from left)

26. Railroad Workers Mostly immigrants Also veterans and African Americans
Chinese from the west
Irish from the east
Also veterans and African Americans
Worked on Transcontinental Railroad
Dangerous job; use dynamite to blast mountains

27. Homestead Act Passed in 1862
Government gave 160 acre farm plots to anyone willing to live on the land for 5 years, dig a well, and build a road

28. Exodusters Former slaves that fled the South after Reconstruction
Took advantage of Homestead Act opportunities

29. Problems on the Great Plains
Windstorms
Droughts
Plagues of locusts
Loneliness
No lumber

30. “Soddies”
Sod houses
Pioneers cut sections of sod and stacked them like bricks

31. The Best West Photo Ever

32. Morrill Act- 1862
Inventions created to make farming easier in the west
Still needed education
Morrill Act granted land to states to establish agricultural colleges

34. 1890
Frontier closes
Census concluded no square miles were left out west with no white inhabitants