8Y 1-12-2015 Objectives: Describe opportunities for Americans as the country expanded West. Agenda: Turn in your Chapter 17 Take Home Test into the 8Y bin. Do Now: Copy down the Main Ideas and Big Idea from Chapter 18.1 into your notebooks. Then read the section with your group and answer page 592 #4 on a separate sheet of paper. Due before the end of class. Discuss page 592 #4 Homework: Chapter 18.2 Reader – Answer the questions in the margin AND do the Challenge Activity (1 paragraph – you can write it on the very last page of the packet) Chapter 18.2 Vocabulary Builder – Use complete sentences!

Page 592 #4 – Opportunities in the West and their effects Opportunity Effect Mining – found gold in California in 1849 Comstock Lode – gold and silver in Nevada in 1859 Boomtowns, $500 million in gold and silver were found, big companies bought land, minders and unsafe conditions, brought families, settlements – schools, ghost towns, sudden arrival and departure, more immigrants Cattle – large amounts of cattle in the West, esp. Texas. At end of Civil War, population grew and created a bigger demand for beef - $80 per cattle vs $3-6 in the West. Longhorn was most popular breed survivors of harsh climate. Cattle business expanded – from Texas to Canada, took over land of Plains Indians – violence “Battle at Wounded Knee” and “Little Big Horn”, Rapid decrease in cattle because of high demand, job opportunities from skilled horsemen – the rise of cowboys – got techniques from vaqueros; rowdy cowboys created the need for peace keepers (ex: Wyatt Earp), rise of barbed wire because farmers would get mad that cattle would eat their crops during cattle drive – end of open range Railroad – Transcontinental RRs connected East and West; easier to transport goods to existing miners and ranchers in the West   Pacific Railway Acts – Government gave companies large land so that they can construct the RR for cheap or free. 1862 and 1864 Great Race – race between Central Pacific and Union Pacific to finish Thousands of RR workers (mostly Chinese and Irish immigrants) Pony Express (mail through horseback) was replaced. Railroads became one of the biggest industries in America, many people invested in railroad companies Western miners, ranchers, and farmers shipped wood, metals, meat, and grain to the East Time zones * US economy became more interdependent Increased both population and economic growth in the West.

Homework: Chapter 18 Reader – Answer the questions in the margin AND do the Challenge Activity (1 paragraph) Chapter 18.2 Vocabulary Builder – Use complete sentences!