1. What is prospecting? Searching for minerals in the ground
Gold, copper, silver, and other metals
Placer mining
Using simple tools (like shovels, pans, and sluices) for shallow minerals
Quartz reef mining
Using explosives and mine shafts deep beneath the surface
Quartz contained gold
What is prospecting?

2. How did mining affect the Western US?
Bonanzas
Sudden abundance of wealth and/or materials
Rapid expansion of towns
Boomtowns
Vigilante justice
Leadville
Thousands of incomers per week
$20 billion of silver and gold in today’s money
Comstock Lode
Mud in small Nevada town turns out to be silver
30,000 flock to the town
How did mining affect the Western US?

3. What is ranching? Raising livestock for meat and hides
Wasn’t practical until…
Longhorns could survive on the Plains
Civil War caused price of meat to rise
Railroads could transport cattle
Open range
Huge body of grassland on plains owned by the gov’t
Open for herds to graze for free
What is ranching?

4. How did ranching affect the Western US?
Cowboys and the long drive
Cowboys escorted cattle herds
Texas  Midwest towns  Eastern US
Eastern US would pay 10x more than Texas
Major trails like Chisholm Trail
Death of the open range & long drive
Government sold land, which was fenced off with barbed wire
More competition  more cattle  drop in prices
How did ranching affect the Western US?

5. Why did Americans start settling on the plains?
Railroads made the plains accessible
Railroads sold land cheaply
Homestead Act, 1862
Up to 160 acres for a $10 fee
Improve land and receive title after five years
New technology made dry farming possible
Steel plows, seed drills, reapers could plant seeds below surface where there was more moisture
Why did Americans start settling on the plains?

6. What kind of hardships did settlers face?
Extreme climate
Above 100°F in summer & sub-zero temps in winter
Tough on livestock & humans alike
Extremely dry
Had to drill up to 300 feet for water
Wind erosion destroyed topsoil
Swarms of bugs
Grasshoppers destroyed crops
Very few trees
Very windy
No wood; houses made of sod (mud)
30-60 million buffalo
What kind of hardships did settlers face?

7. How did farming affect the Western US?
Wheat Belt
US became largest exporter of what by 1880s
Competition from other countries hurt farmers
Many families lost their land due to tough conditions
Birth of commercial farming
Bonanza farms = 50,000 acres or larger
Hired poor, desperate family farmers and purchased their land
How did farming affect the Western US?

8. Who were the Plains Indians?
Nomadic lifestyles
Followed main source of food—buffalo
Gender roles
Women raised children, prepared food and clothes
Men were hunters, traders, and warriors
Spiritual religion
Based on nature
Government
Small councils of elders, but most tribal members had input
Who were the Plains Indians?

9. Reservations on undesirable land
Relocation to Reservations
Indian Removal Act, 1830
Trail of Tears
Reservations on undesirable land
Violent, impoverished, and corrupt
Indian Peace Commission
US Army sent to deal with any resistance
Annuities
Annual payments made to reservation dwellers
Cheap, and usually stolen by American traders
What policies did the US gov’t enact towards the Plains Indians?

10. Assimilation
Absorbing Native Americans into American society
Very difficult after years of mistrust
Allotments
Reservation territory divided and given to Native American families
Rest sold to American settlers
What policies did the US gov’t enact towards the Plains Indians?