Chapter 2

 What do I need to be able to do by the end of this chapter? Trace the growth of the mining industry in the west Describe ways in which technology changed open-range ranching Explain why/how people began settling the Plains Trace the growth of commercial farming on the Plains Discuss conflicts between settlers and Plains Indians Summarize problems caused by attempts to assimilate native-Americans

The 1849 Gold Rush  Gold found at Sutter’s Mill in California  Attracted people from all over the world including China  Caused increase in population in West as search for precious metals expanded

Gold, silver, and copper strikes in West attracted people and fed the industries of the East Placer Mining – prospectors extracted metals using picks, shovels and pans Quartz Mining – corporations bought out small miners; dug deep into earth to extract metal

Hydraulic Mining –  Miners used high-pressure water cannons to wash away surface material to get to minerals  Uncovered gold and silver but caused ecological devastation as silt and gravel clogged riverbeds and caused flooding  Courts eventually halted the process

The Comstock Lode  Henry Comstock  Virginia City, Nevada  Boom Town  Ghost Town  Law enforcement – vigilance committees

Leadville, Colorado  1879  1,000 newcomers per week  Spurred railroad construction through Rocky Mountains  Denver, supply point for miners, became 2 nd largest city in West

Learning Target - Trace the growth of the mining industry in the west  How did mining begin in the West?  What was the progression of the mining industry?  How did mining impact settlement of the West?

No future for cattle on Plains due to water, prairie grasses Texas Longhorn Open Range – land owned by government; used by ranchers Many cowboy skills came from Mexican cowboys Spanish words: lariat, lasso, stampede, rodeo

Little financial incentive for ranching before Civil War War caused demand for beef to skyrocket Railroads allowed for transport of beef east Cattle Drives - money made by rounding up wild longhorns and driving them North to railheads Chisholm Trail

Cattle drives herded 2, ,000 head Many cowboys ex- Confederates, blacks, and Hispanics Some cattle bought by ranchers and moved north into Wyoming and Montana Nat Love

Range Wars - conflict broke out between ranchers (over water and grasslands), farmers, sheep herders Range fenced off cheaply with new invention – barbed wire

End of the cattle drives  Fencing closed off routes  Investors poured money into ranching causing oversupply  Blizzards of 1886 & 1887 killed hundreds of thousands of head  Open range ranching ended – European breeds introduced  Cowboys became ranch hands

Learning Target - Describe ways in which technology changed open-range ranching  Railroads brought about cattle drives  Barbed wire ended open-range ranching

Great Plains opened to settlement by railroads – land sold at low prices or on credit Railroads advertised in Europe Great Plains – “heaven” due to above-average rainfall US government supported settlement with Homestead Act of acres of land free if lived on >5 years

Life on the Great Plains  Lack of water (deep wells)  Lack of building materials – sod houses (Sodbusters)  Lack of trees = sod houses  Harsh climate – summer & winter  Prairie fires  Grasshopper swarms  Wind

Learning Target - Explain why/how people began settling the Plains  Cheap land sold by government and railroads  Recruitment of immigrants by railroads  Wet years on the Great Plains – good harvests  Free land given by Homestead Act 1862

New Innovations in Farming  Dry farming  Steel plows  Seed drills  Mechanical reapers and threshers  Inventions suited to wheat – became most important crop  The Wheat Belt – Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas

Bonanza Farms – investors formed corporations which could buy up land, purchase machines, and reap huge profits Agricultural Decline  Global competition caused glut and drop in prices  Drought of late 1880’s

Learning Target - Trace the growth of commercial farming on the Plains  New innovations in farming – new technology  Corporate farming – Bonanza Farms

Native-Americans on the Great Plains  Nomadic hunter-gatherers; some agriculture  Usually lived in bands up to 500 people but could gather into larger groups  Religion based on spirits from the natural world

Migration of people into Indian lands caused conflict Broken treaties Dakota Sioux Uprising  Annuities  “Let the eat grass”  Uprising put down – Indians exiled

The Fetterman “Massacre” 1864 Sand Creek Massacre 1867 Indian Peace Commission – plans for movement of Indians onto reservations failed due to Indian resistance and US corruption

Indians lived on buffalo – way of life threatened by near- extermination of the species Settler intrusion into sacred Indian lands of Black Hills caused war Custer’s “Last Stand”

Wounded Knee Assimilation  1887 Dawes Act – broke up reservations into individual plots for Indians to farm  Policy a failure – Indians not farmers  End of the buffalo doomed Indian culture

Learning Targets Discuss conflicts between settlers and Plains Indians Summarize problems caused by attempts to assimilate native- Americans  Migration of whites into Indian lands  Broken treaties  Eradication of buffalo  Dawes Severalty Act  Indian culture

Assignment Information Poster Students choose any topic covered in Chapter 2 and create a poster that looks at that topic in detail

Assignment Mining in the American West The Placer Miner Deep-Earth Mines Cattle Drives The Cowboy Living on the Great Plains Agriculture on the Great Plains Impact the Railroad had on Western Settlement Indian Tribes of the Great Plains Sand Creek Massacre Fetterman Massacre Custer’s Last Stand Wounded Knee Massacre

The British Soldier The standard weapon used by the British soldier was the “Brown Bess” musket. It was named after Elizabeth I, one of the greatest queens of England. It was not very accurate and had a range of about only yards, That is why the soldiers fired in volleys facing each other. The British soldier usually wore a red-colored wool jacket. Headgear often differed according to what regiment the soldier was in. Soldiers were enlisted for “life” and their pay was so low they often had other jobs on the side. That’s one reason why the Boston Massacre occurred – patriots were angry British soldiers were taking their jobs! One of the British weapons most feared by American colonial troops was the bayonet. A bayonet charge by the British would often cause American units to scatter in fear. The dye used to make the coats red was not very good and would turn a pinkish-brown under the sun. Imagine the yell “The Pinky- Brownies are coming!” The Hessian Soldier- when the American Revolution began, the British Army needed more soldiers. King George III hired soldiers from the German state of Hesse – hence the name Hessians. These soldiers were hated by the American colonials as they were ruthless on the battlefield and brutal to the American colonial civilians.