1. The American West
US History

2. Standards
QC-C1F -Compare and contrast the experiences of African Americans in various U.S. regions in the late nineteenth century.
QC-C1G - Identify and evaluate the influences on the development of the American West.
QC-C1H - Analyze significant events for Native American Indian tribes, and their responses to those events, in the late nineteenth century
QC-C2A - Identify and explain significant issues and components of the Populist movement and their impacts

3. I. Settling the West Geography The Great Plains
Averages less than 20 inches of rain per year
Home to vast herds of buffalo that grazed the prairie grasses.
Scarcity of wood and water

4. The Great Plains

5. I. Settling the West Gold
January 1848 – traces of gold found in sutters mill in Sacramento, CA led to thousands of “forty niners” flocking to CA in hopes of striking it rich.
Mining towns sprang up over night.

6. I. Settling the West Railroads
Government contracted two major railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroad.
Union Pacific – Irish laborers
Central Pacific – Chinese immigrants
Golden Spike – last spike in the transcontinental railroad
1. Promontory Summit, Utah – May, 1869

7. I. Settling the West D. Beginnings of Settlements
Construction of railroad provided easy access to the Great Plains.
Low prices of land and availability of credit made the Plains seem prosperous.

8. I. Settling the West D. Beginnings of Settlements
Government also began to support settlement in the Great Plains region by passing the Homestead Act.
A. Homestead Act (1862) – for a $10 registration fee an individual could file for a homestead. After living there for five years, that individual could purchase that land from the government.

9. Settling the West

10. I. Settling the West E. Closing the Frontier
Oklahoma Land Rush – Last territory open for settlement, within hours 10,000 people raced to stake claims.
A. Sooner
The brisk pace of settlement led many to report that the “American frontier” was closing.

11. I. Settling the West E. Closing the Frontier
The frontier had provided a “safety valve of social discontent”
Many settlers faced hostile, harsh conditions while settling the West.