1. Topic 10.2 The West is Transformed 1865-1900
Mining, Ranching, and Farming
2.9, 3.1, 3.5

2. “Comstock Lode” Placer Mining – Using picks, shovels, and pans.
Quartz Mining – Dug deep beneath the surface. -Dynamite
Henry Comstock –Right
Staked a claim in Six Mile Canyon, Nevada.
Vigilance Committees – self appointed volunteers punishing wrongdoers.
Boom Town: Virginia City

3. The Transcontinental Railroad Impacts the Frontier
Transcontinental Railroad: Linked the east and west
Land Grants: Government land given to RR companies to sell
Central Pacific: Sacramento, California (Chinese Immigrants)
Union Pacific: Omaha, Nebraska (Irish, German, African American)
1869: Promontory Point, Utah: Place that country was officially “connected” with GOLDEN SPIKE

5. “ The Long Drive”
Open Range – A vast area of grassland owned by the government.
Long Drive – From either Abilene or Dodge City in Kansas to Sedalia, Missouri.
Chisholm Trail – A town that rivaled the mining towns in terms of rowdiness.
Mavericks – stray calves with no identifying symbols
“Range Wars”-open fighting between cattle ranchers (Cowboys)
William H. Bonney:
“Billy the Kid”
Lincoln County
War: N.Mex.

6. Major Cattle Trails on the LONG DRIVE

7. “End of Long Drive”
Barbed Wire – enabled hundreds of square miles to be fenced off cheaply and easily. –Joseph Glidden (Right Pic.)
Refrigerated Rail Car
-Gustavus Swift (Left Pic.)

8. “Great American Desert”
Great Plains – Extended westward to the Rocky Mountains from around the 100th meridian.
Stephen Long – Explored the region with an army expedition in 1819.
Homestead Act – For a $10 registration fee, an individual could file for a homestead.
Homestead – A tract of public land available for settlement.

9. Exodusters

10. Farming the Plains
Dry Farming – Plant seeds deep in the ground where there was enough moisture for them to grow.
Sodbusters – those who plowed the soil on the Plains.
Bonanza Farms – Large Corporate Farms that often yielded big profits. Drove Small Family Farms out of Business.

11. Mexicans Americans Defend Property Rights
Abuse and Discrimination Undermine Rights
Courts backed white Americans land claims most of the time
Las Gorras Blancas: Extremist group who targeted large ranch owners with terror tactics
Alianza Hispano-Americana: Organization formed to protect Mexican-American Culture