Daily Speak Daily Speak You are a cowboy in 1875. You love life on the open range and the cattle drives. Times are changing though and now settlers are fencing off land. Some of the older cowboys say its time to settle down and buy a small ranch. What would make you give up a cowboys life?

Section 1: Miners, Ranchers and Railroads

Main idea As more and more people move west, mining, ranching, and railroads are going to soon change the West

Western Growth Move out there? No Way! Many saw the west as a useless piece of land much like the desert The West was the frontier (undeveloped area)‏

Mining Boom 1859-Comstock Lode discovered in Nevada Rich deposit of gold and silver Lured thousands of miners to the West to “strike it rich” In its first 20 years ppl found more than $500 Million worth of gold and silver

New Immigrants Immigrants of all races and colors were racing to the Western part of the U.S. to strike it rich!

New Towns Boomtowns- towns that grow suddenly when a mine was opened

Cattle Kingdom Cattle ranching becomes popular in the Midwest on the open range This is the same land the Indians lived off of... we will revisit this later this chapter!

End of the Open Range Open range used to be public land, used by the Plains Indians Was used for huge cattle drives as well Competition for land ends the open range Barbed wire ends “openness”

Growing Communication More people in the West = needs for communication and transportation to the West Pony Express= messengers on horseback that delivered mail Telegraphs put the Pony express out of business

Transcontinental Railroad Many Americans wanted a railroad to connect the East Coast to the West Coast Pacific Railway Act- the Government gave loans and land to the railroad companies The government land could be sold to help pay for railroad

Transcontinental Railroad It was hard dangerous work building the railroad. Two companies competed against each other Union Pacific vs Central Pacific Golden Spike pounded in at Promontory Utah, the meeting point of the two railroads

Results of the Railroad Helped economy Helped businesses Railroads becomes one of the largest industries in America