1. Chapter 2
Settling the west
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2. Objectives Lessons 1 & 2: Mining and Ranching & Farming the Plains
1) Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of key challenges faced when settling the West.

3. Settling the West
Manifest Destiny – 19th century doctrine that westward expansion of the U.S. was not only inevitable but a God given right
Manifest Destiny encouraged westward expansion
Manifest Destiny justified the mistreatment of Native Americans because they were considered uncivilized. It was the right and “duty” of Americans to civilize & Christianize the Native Americans.

4. “American Progress” – John Gast

5. “American Progress”
Analyze the “American Progress” painting by John Gast and briefly respond to the these questions in your notes:
1) Describe what is happening in the picture?
2) What does the woman represent?
3) What does the artist want you to think, know, and feel?
4) What is the artist’s opinion about westward expansion?

6. Lessons 1 & 2– Transforming the West
Western Settlement
FARMING
RANCHING
MINING
RAILROADS
Lessons 1 & 2– Transforming the West
Manifest Destiny realized

7. RAILROADS Railroads open the West Private Companies Built
Transcontinental Railroad built connecting East & West – authorized by Congress during the Civil War
Private Companies Built
Central Pacific – Mostly Chinese immigrants
Union Pacific – Mostly Irish immigrants
Supported By Government
Land Grants
for every mile of track laid in a state, RR companies received 10 square miles
For every mile of track laid in a territory, RR companies received 20 square miles
170 million acres (1/2 billion $ worth of land)
Loans & Subsidies
Transcontinental RR finished 1869 at PROMONTORY POINT, UTAH
Settlement of Western Territories follows
Ten territories become states (1864 – 1896)
RAILROADS
While MANIFEST DESTINY encouraged Western settlement, RAILROADS allowed for people to move WEST
*It took 250 years to settle first 400 million acres
**It took 30 years to settle next 400 million acres ( )

8. Transcontinental Railroad

9. Promontory Point, UTAH (May 10, 1869)

10. Discovery of Gold or Silver
Major discoveries in Nevada (Comstock Lode), Colorado (Pikes Peak), Black Hills (Dakotas)
People move to area
Miners want to strike it rich – “Prospectors”
Boomtowns created
Communities developed around mining – Leadville, CO; Helena, MT; Denver, CO
Saloon keepers, boarding houses, casinos, hotels
Justice and order needed to limit violence & lawlessness
Marshalls & Sheriffs
Vigilantes – Self-appointed enforcer of the law
Vigilance Committees - group of citizens organized to find criminals and bring justice.
Mining Towns
Boomtowns to ghost towns
Mining helped to:
1)Finance the Civil War
2)Facilitate building of RR
3) Intensified bitter conflict between white settlers & Native Am.

11. Mining and Western settlement
Mining Leads to Statehood
Nevada – Comstock Lode in 1864 led prospectors to flood the area
“Pikes Peak or Bust” – Gold and Silver in Colorado; Denver becomes 2nd largest western city
North and South Dakota– Black Hills gold rush
Montana – Copper Mining/Ranching
Big Business Took over
Once loose surface gold was gone, big machinery was needed to mine & extract minerals
Hydraulic Mining – method of mining by which water was sprayed at a very high pressure to expose large deposits of minerals beneath the surface
Corporations came to dominate mining & advanced techniques along the way (quartz mining)
Mining and Western settlement

12. Mining

13. Boom Towns
Creede, Colorado (Silver Mining)
Now

14. Mining Regions

15. “Ghost Towns” (Calico, CA)

16. Railroads allowed ranchers to make profit off cattle
Cattle business on the Great Plains expanded after the Civil War due to the demand for beef in growing cities
Railroads allowed ranchers to make profit off cattle
Started to round up the longhorn cattle and ship them east to market
COWBOYS – drove herds of cattle across the open range
Language, skills , and identity influenced by Mexican vaqueros
Real-life of cowboy differed greatly from romanticized myths of the “old west”
35,000 worked b/w 1864 & 1884 (drove over 5,000,000 head of cattle during this time)
Cattle drives lasted about 3 months – dangerous overland transport of cattle herds
Legends of the West: “Wild Bill” & “Calamity Jane”
Cattle Ranching
Open Range System – cattle grazed on un-fenced property
END OF THE OPEN RANGE
1)Overgrazing
2)Barbed Wire
3) Bad weather – harsh winters and dry summers

19. Barbed Wire Ends the Open Range

20. Settling the Hispanic Southwest
With the U.S. victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American War in 1848, the U.S. acquired the vast region of the American Southwest.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – granted the region’s residents property rights and citizenship
As Americans moved to the West, cultures clashed.
Hispanic Americans struggled to hold on to economic, political, and cultural dominance
Increasingly, the original Hispanic population found its status diminished and often relegated to lower paying and less desirable jobs
Settling the Hispanic Southwest

21. US Land Acquisition

22. Mexican Land Given to the USA
TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO – 1848