AMERICAN HISTORY

 Gold Rush of 1849 in CA  Miners went from one discovery to another in search of gold and silver  Idaho, Montana, the Black Hills, Arizona, Colorado  DISCOVERING GOLD AND SILVER  1858—gold found near Pikes Peak, CO  1859—gold found in Carson River Valley, NV

 Thousands of miners rushed to this mine called the COMSTOCK LODE  $500 million worth of silver found in this mine  THE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH  July 17, “Gold!, Gold!, Gold!”— Seattle Post Intelligencer  Klondike River in Canada’s remote Yukon Territory

 Over the next year 100,000 Americans streamed up to the Yukon Territory in search of riches  Canadian officials required prospectors to bring provisions for a year—a ton  Groceries, clothing, hardware, tents, packsaddles, camp stoves, bedding, and sleds  Most prospectors came away disappointed

 The best gold-bearing creeks had been taken and the reports of “gold for the taking” were greatly exaggerated  MINING CAMPS  Most prospectors were men  Several countries—USA, England, Mexico, Ireland, China, and others  Most camps were little more than groups of tents or shacks

 Most camps had no law enforcement  Competition for gold led to intense rivalries and violence  Vigilante committees formed to combat theft and violence.  Violators could be hanged after a speedy and unofficial “trial”.

 CAMPS BECOME TOWNS  Some sprawling mining camps turned into towns  Early towns had dirt streets, wooden sidewalks, hastily constructed buildings  The arrival of families turned rough-and- tumble towns into prosperous, respectable communities  People established churches, schools, newspapers—even opera houses

 Early days of the gold rush—prospectors used hand tools  PLACER MINING—minerals are found in loose sand or gravel  Simplest form of placer mining was panning for gold  When surface mining ran out, more sophisticated equipment was needed  Large companies were formed to invest in this equipment

 1880s—mining was dominated by these big companies  Two methods for extracting ore:  1) Hydraulic mining—used water under high pressure to blast away dirt.  This method sent sediment into rivers causing flooding  2) Hard-rock mining—cutting deep shafts in solid rock to extract the ore

 Miners became employees of mining companies, not lone prospectors.  Miners dug mine shafts, built tunnels, drilled for and processed ore  Working for a company more secure than relying on your own luck  Very risky—cave-ins, underground fires, explosions, flooded mines  Miners began to organize into unions to negotiate for higher pay and better working conditions

 Mining companies opposed unions  Cripple Creek, CO—violent conflict between the labor union and management  30 men killed and union crushed

 Buffalos near extinction, Indians on reservation  Cattle ranching became a new way of life  ORIGINS OF WESTERN RANCHING  First ranchers were Spanish in the 1500s  Ranchers interbred Spanish and English cattle to create a new breed that thrived on the plains—Texas Longhorn

 Longhorns could travel long distances without much water and could live on just grass and were immune to Texas Fever  Spanish also introduced sheep ranching  New England mills increased their demand for raw wool  Cowboys complained that sheep ruined the grass by eating the roots  Conflicts between cattle and sheep ranchers sometimes became violent

 DEMAND FOR BEEF  Cities in the East demanded more beef to feed to their growing populations  1866—a steer sold in Texas for $4 but up north could sell for $40  Cattle drives got steers to railroad stations to take the cattle to market in places like Chicago

 CATTLE TRAILS  Several different trails were used to get cattle from Texas to major rail centers  CHISOLM TRAIL—San Antonio, TX to Abilene/Ellsworth, KS  1871—600,000 cattle traveled this trail annually  Cattle drive lasted three months—10-12 miles per day

 About 2/3 of the cowboys on cattle drives were white teenage boys years old  Also African Americans and Hispanic young men as well  Even a few women—disguised as men— rode the trail  RANCHING AS BIG BUSINESS  Cattle owners had trouble keeping track of their herds on the open range

 1870s—Invention by Joseph Glidden (DeKalb, IL)  Patent issued for barbed wire  Privately owned cattle ranches spread quickly across the plains  —400+ cattle corporations started in WY, MT, CO, NM  Most were backed by eastern and European investors

 Enclosing the open range led to conflict  Some ranchers included public land with their private land  Public roads were blocked also  1883—fence cutting became commonplace (made a felony in1884)  Severe winters ( & ) caused severe losses to the cattle industry

CCattles migrated south to escape the blizzards but were trapped by drift fences that stretched from NM to OK DDrift fences prevented the spread of cattle with Texas Fever TThousands of cattle perished in a disaster known as the “Big Die-up” TTHE END