1. Mexicano Contributions to the Southwest
Chapter 17
Mexicano Contributions to the Southwest

2. Terms batea riffle box arrastra Tejanos vaqueros rodeo irrigation
adobe
community property

3. batea
A gold pan in which miners scooped up mud from streambeds to find gold.

4. riffle box
A long box crossed with pieces of wood called riffles that trapped gold as mud washed through the box.

5. arrastra
A grinding mill used by miners to crush rock so they could easily remove gold.

6. Tejanos
Mexicanos who lived and cattle ranched in Texas.

7. vaqueros
Cowboys who cared for cattle in the Southwest.

8. rodeo
One of the vaqueros’ most important job, is the rodeo, or roundup of cattle.

9. irrigation
A system for bringing water to farmland by artificial means, such as using a dam to trap water and ditches to channel it to fields.

10. adobe
Mexicano’s main building material is a mixture of earth, grass, and water that is shaped into bricks and baked in the sun.

11. community property
Mexican law said that all property acquired during a marriage was “community property.” If a couple separated, half of that property belonged to the wife, half to the husband.

12. Contributions Mining Cattle Ranching The Cowboy Sheep Raising
Irrigated Farming
Mexican Food
Spanish Architecture
Mexican Laws
Mexicano Entertainment

13. Mining
Americans knew nothing about the mining techniques, of quartz, silver, and copper.
Mexicanos introduced the batea, riffle box, and arrastra, to make quartz, silver and copper mining easier.

14. Cattle Ranching The Spanish brought cattle ranching to the West.
Spanish cattle adapted well to dry conditions.
They brought the tradition of the roundup and branding.
Branding cattle avoided conflict over ownership.

15. The Cowboy
The Spanish language provided useful new terms- stampede, corral, and lasso.
Ten gallon hats, or sombrero, shaded eyes and were used as a water pail or pillow.
Chaps protected the legs.
Boots slipped easily into stirrups.
Ponchos provided protection from the rain.
The lariat was used to rope cattle, and saddle horns anchored lariats.

16. Sheep Raising
The Spanish raised new varieties of sheep- merinos & churros.
These sheep adapted well to the dry environment in the West.
They used the Spanish system or large scale production of sheep raising.
Wool production was profitable- business production soared from million to 22 million pounds a year from to 1880.

17. Irrigated Farming
Citrus fruits introduced by the Spanish thrived in the sunny Southwest.
The Spanish introduced the “Mexican System” of irrigation.
It allowed the cultivation of deserts.

18. Mexican Food Settlers enjoyed the appealing flavors of Spanish foods.
The Spanish combined New World foods, such as corn, tomatoes, and chocolate, with Spanish foods, such as oranges, grapes, and olives.
Other New World foods included peanuts, vanilla, beans, squash, avocados, coconuts, sunflower seeds and chili peppers.

19. Spanish Architecture
Spanish style homes had thick walls, red tile roofs, rounded arches, patios, and verandas made from adobe brick.
Adobe bricks and design were well suited for the Southwest climate.

20. Mexican Laws Many American laws did not work in the West.
No mining laws existed.
The Spanish created mining laws, water laws, and community property laws.
Community property laws were adopted because many American settlers wanted to share the gains of marriage.

21. Mexicano Entertainment
Settlers enjoyed the music, color, and energy of the dances, and the excitement of the rodeo.
Dances included the corrido, jota, fandango, La bamba, and Mexican hat dance.
Mexicanos also celebrated fiestas like Cinco de Mayo.
The rodeo was an exciting event where cowboys competed in calf roping, bull riding, and bronco busting.