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

3. How many western states had gold strikes?

4. 160 acres of free land—hard 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

5. Why build a house out of chunks of grass? Advantages/Disadvantages?

6. 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. CUT IT OUT or I will TURN THIS WAGON AROUND! so help me...
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. Wait, wait, wait-- tell me gain-- how much longer?
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?

13. 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 don’t 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.