1. The Last American West

2. American Expansion to the West
Atlantic Coast Settlements (Colonies to 1820)
The Great American Desert (1820’s)
Between the MO River & the Rockies (by 1860)
Wild West No More ( by 1890)

3. Boundaries of the Contiguous US

4. Atlantic Coast Settlements
Accustomed to conditions similar to those that were found in many European nations
Most citizens became farmers and lived off of the land much as their families before them had

5. The Great American Desert (1820’s)
Western Plains extended well into Mexico & Canada
Barren Land
Few trees for fuel, houses, fences, or shade
Weather bad: Little rain, violent storms (i.e., hail, snow, wind, tornadoes, extreme heat & cold)

6. The Great American Desert, 1820
The "Great American Desert" was the term applied to the land west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains. The landscape had no trees, little rainfall and tough prairie sod. This land seemed like a desert to the many who past through this unexplored area on their way to the Pacific Coast and that is how it came to be known.  

7. Between the MO. River & Rockies (1860’s)
Except for Texas, not a single state set up between Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains
About 175,000 whites & a few blacks
Most settlers on the move: miners, cattlemen, farmers, businessmen

8. Wild West Ended by 1890
All of West divided up into states, except Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, & Oklahoma
Railroads complete across continent
Indian Wars over
Army withdrawn from western forts
Indian nations reduced & scattered
Frontier officially closed
             

9. The Great American Frontier
The Mining Frontier
The Cattle Frontier
The Agricultural Frontier

10. The Mining Frontier - California
                                                            
California Gold, 1849
Mining first done by individual miners
Gold still prevalent but buried deep in the hillsides (needed special & costly equipment)

11. Colorado – Silver & Gold!!
Gold found
Silver strikes
Cripple Creek & Leadville
Denver became a commercial center
Colorado became a state
Remains of old mine - Leadville

12. More on the Mining Frontier
Nevada
Comstock Lode found in 1859
By 1877, Comstock miners took $306 million worth of silver
Virginia City, Nevada formed overnight & became legendary
saloons, gambling, lawlessness
Crime & gangs became common

13. Gangs formed like the James - Younger Gang
Jesse James seated on left, Frank James seated on right, Cole Younger standing on left, and Bob Younger on the right
Youngers captured in 1876 & sentenced to life in prison. Six years later, Jesse shot in the head by former gang member for $10,000 reward.

14. The Mining Frontier The Black Hills, 1874
Army sent to keep Sioux on their reservations
Deadwood, South Dakota became a city of 25,000 almost overnight
Quickly, Deadwood became a ghost town

15. Mining Towns Last Chance Gulch Main Street, Helena, Montana, 1872
Originally
known as
Last Chance Gulch

16. The Cattle Frontier
Cattlemen moved on to Great Plains and turned unclaimed lands into grazing lands for valuable herds of cattle.
Cattlemen learned to rope & ride from Mexican Vaqueros.
Railroads now reached Abilene, Kansas
Joseph McCoy decided to build a hotel, barns, stables, and chutes for loading cattle
In 3 years, Abilene became end of the “long drive”

17. Cattle Drives
Late 1800’s: nearly 10 million longhorn cattle by 30,000 cowboys.
Drives through: Oklahoma Indian Territory& New Mexico on way to market Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Wyoming; other trail drives went east into Louisiana.
Trail names: Goodnight-Loving, Chisholm, Shawnee, Ellsworth, Dodge, Sedalia

18. End Came to the Cattle Frontier
Farmers settled in land formerly open to cattle drives
Used barbed wire to keep cattle off their land
Harsh winters helped bring an end to the cattle drives
                                                                 
              
                                                                                             

19. The Agricultural Frontier
Homestead Act of brought many farmers to the West
Farmers given 160 acres
Had to improve the land & it was theirs
Land was difficult to settle
Between 1862 & million acres registered under the Homestead Act

20. Life on the Frontier difficult
Sod Houses
Women had to do many things:
helped with crops
fed families
handmade soap
gathered buffalo chips for fuel
childbirth without medical care

21. Sod Houses on the Plains
Soddies built with several thickness' of walls.
It was cheap and strong.
Walls provided housing for prairie rattlers, mice, & other critters as well as the pioneers.

22. Pioneer Homesteaders
Joseph Burkholder family in North Dakota. Last day in homestead sod house. Moving to larger home ½ mile away in 1901.
Homesteaders rest by wagons in Colorado - (1870’s)

23. Harsh life of the Plains
Grasshopper Invasion problems
Problems with cattle ranchers
Use of barbed wire

24. Rural Life in the 1880’s
1908 Steamlift Plow
N. Dakota family showing off all of their possessions.
Some children have no shoes.
Stopping for lunch in the field. Early 1900’s.