Looking Into the West

Moving West Harsh weather Vast area Settled by Native Americans

Westward Migration Push Factors Civil War displaced Thousands Exodusters Farmland became costly Failed enterprises Religious repression Sheltered outlaws on the run Pull Factors Pacific Railway Acts Morrill Land-Grant Act Homestead Act Property rights

Pull-Pacific Railway Acts Passed in 1862 and 1864 Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads received land grants 1 mile or track=10 square miles of public land on both sides Railroad received more than 175 million acres of public land

Pull-Morrill Land-Grant Act Gave state governments millions of acres of western land Sell the land to raise money for land- grant colleges specializing in agriculture and mechanical arts Sold land to bankers and land speculators

Pull-Homestead Act Settlers could receive 160 acres for a fee of $10 Settlers must meet Special Conditions By 1900 there were 600,000 claims covering more than 80 million acres

Special Conditions Had to be 21years old or head of family American citizen or immigrants filing for citizenship Built a house at least 12X14 Lived on the land for six months out of a year Farmed the land five yrs in a row before claiming ownership

Settlers from far and wide Cheap land and new jobs attracted people German immigrants built tight knit farming communities Irish, Italians, European Jews, Chinese were drawn to the west Mexican and Mexican Americans contributed to ranching African Americans rode or walked westward to flee violence and exploitation

Frederick Jackson Turner American intellect owes its striking characteristics to the frontier Emphasizes the individual effort of settling the west (Manifest Destiny)

CausesEffects Homestead Act of 1862 allowed citizens to claim 160 acres for $10.00 filing fee and a pledge to live on and farm the land for five years. Between 1862 and 1900 nearly 600,000 families claimed homesteads Timber Culture Act of 1873 allowed people to claim additional acres of land if they planted trees on one quarter of it within four years. Farmers were able to increase their farms to a workable size. Desert Land Act of 1877 allowed people to buy 640 acres of land in very dry areas (or $1.25 per acre if they promised to irrigate part of it. Many false claims made by people who dumped a bucket of water, claiming they had irrigated the land. The government encouraged completion of the transcontinental railroads by providing land and money. The building of the transcontinental rail­ roads became a race between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads. The more track each company built, the more land and loans it would get. The transcontinental railroads helped speed the settling of the West. They gave hopeful settlers quicker routes to homesteads in the West. The transcontinental railroads helped tie the East and West together. Raw materials from mines, ranches, and (arms could be shipped to the East, while finished goods from the Eastern factories could be more easily shipped to settlers in the West.