1. What is prospecting? Extracting minerals from the ground
Gold, copper, silver, and other metals (later—oil)
Placer mining
Simple tools (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?
Discovery of materials created bonanzas
Sudden abundance of wealth/materials
Rapid expansion of towns
Boomtowns
Vigilante justice—outside the law
Leadville
Thousands of incomers per week
$20 billion of silver and gold in today’s money
Comstock Lode
Mud outside a Nevada town turns out to be silver/gold ore
30,000 flock to the town
How did mining affect the Western US?

3. What is ranching? Ranching is raising livestock for meat & hides
Ranching wasn’t practical until…
Longhorns survived on the Plains
Civil War raised price of meat
Supply↓, demand↑= cost↑
Supply↑, demand↓= cost↓
Railroads could transport cattle
Open range
Huge body of grassland on plains owned by the gov’t (no fences)
Open for herds to graze for free
What is ranching?

4. How did ranching affect the Western US?
Cowboys and the Long Drive
8-12 cowboys could escort herds with as many as 3,000 cattle
Texas  Midwest  Railroads  East Coast
High demand: Eastern US paid 10x more than TX
Major trails like Chisholm Trail
Death of the open range & long drive
Increase in competition (supply) decreased price
Government sold land to settlers
Fenced off with barbed wire
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 could plant seeds below surface where there was more moisture
McCormick reaper made harvesting easier
Why did Americans start settling on the plains?

6. Tough on livestock & humans alike
Extreme temperatures: Above 100°F in summer & sub-zero temps in winter
Tough on livestock & humans alike
Extremely arid
Had to drill up to 300 feet for water
Swarms of bugs
Plagues of locusts destroyed crops
Very few trees
No protection from wind = big storms
Wind erosion destroyed dry topsoil
No wood; houses made of sod (mud)
30-60 million buffalo
Dangers of stampedes, trampling of crops
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 Indian Peace Commission
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, 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?