1. The Gilded Age The Trans-Mississippi West

2. The Closing of the Frontier “Up to and including 1890 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports.” – U.S. Census Bureau report (1890)

3. Manifest Destiny Other people “must give way to our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which providence has given us for the development the great experiment in liberty.” – John L. O’Sullivan (1845)

4. The Trans-Mississippi

5. Buried Treasures 1849 – gold - Ca 1859 - gold - Pikes Peak 1859 - silver - Nevada (Comstock Lode) 1862 - gold, silver, copper - Prescott, AZ 1870 - gold - Caribou Mtn, ID; Lordsburg, AZ 1872 - gold, copper, lead - Eureka, NV 1873 - gold, silver - Silverton & Leadville, CO; Globe, AZ 1874 - gold - Black Hills, SD 1875 - silver & copper - Butte, MT 1875 - gold & silver – Ouray, CO; Bonanza, ID 1878 - gold & silver - Cripple Creak, CO 1879 - gold, silver, - Tombstone, AZ 1882 - gold - Couer d’Alene, ID 1896 – gold – Yukon Territory, Alaska

6. Hard-Rock Miners

7. Cattle Driving

8. Homestead Act of 1862  Could settle 160 acres  Pay small fee  Granted full title after 5 years continuous farming  Could also buy land outright for reasonable price ($1.25/acre)

9. Plowing the Prairie Caterpillar - 1904 John Deere Plow – 1890 Tractor pulling plow - 1910

10. Growth in Agriculture  Wheat production  1867 = 211,000,000 bushels  1900 = 599,000,000 bushels  Productivity improvements  1840: 35 hrs labor to produce 15 bushels wheat  1900: 15 hrs to produce the same amount  Wheat exports  1867 = 6,000,000 bushels  1900 = 102,000,000 bushels

11. Life on the Prairie

12. It was hell on women and horses.

13. Railroads: Agents of Expansion  In the East, railroads had followed existing patterns of population  In the West, railroads preceded settlement  Needed to bring in settlers (customers)  Conducted massive advertising campaigns aimed at easterners & Europeans  >2,000,000 Europeans settled in Great Plains (1870-1900)  Most of native-born settlers came from states bordering Mississippi River  Gave railroads great economic and political power

14. Attracting Population “The poor should come to Colorado, because here they can by industry and frugality better their condition. The rich should come here because they can more advantageously invest their means than in any other region. The young should come here to get an early start on the road to wealth.” - Colorado immigration ad

15. Attracting Population

16. Exodusters heading West