Chapter 7 Changes on the Plains

Lesson 1 Link East to West Timeline: 1844-1869 Vocabulary: transcontinental, prejudice Main Ideas: Telegraph made it faster to send messages over long distances. Transcontinental railroads made traveling and shipping easier and faster.

Samuel Morse Created Morse Code making messages normally sent by horse or boat easy and fast Telegraph is a machine that sends electric signals over wire lines Morse Code is a series of dots and dashes that represent letters (see page 222) Reporters, bankers, war generals, family and friends used Morse Code and the telegraph

Railroad Settlers were searching for gold on long, dangerous expensive trips Transcontinental railroad linked the east to the west Pacific Railway Act-law allowed government money to be loaned to the Union Pacific and to the Central Pacific 1869 Promontory Point, Utah the two railroads were joined with spikes of gold and silver 1,800 miles of railroad was announced using the telegraph Parades and celebrations were in honor of the finale

Effects of the Railroad First of several railroads across the U.S. Easier and faster to move people and goods Helped settlers earn money by transporting goods Gave immigrants jobs by building the railroad Connected east to west permanently Summary: Improvements in communication and transportation helped unite the country and made the economy grow.

Lesson 2 Great Plains Timeline: 1862-1890 Vocabulary: homestead, exodusters, drought, sodbuster Main Ideas: Large numbers of settlers moved onto the Great Plains and started farming. Settlers had to learn new ways of farming the Great Plains.

Life on the Plains Middle of the country with flat grassy land 1862 Homestead Act-offered 160 acres of land to adults-had to pay small amount and farm the land for 5 years-then they owned the land Europeans also wanted to farm the Plains – Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands African Americans in the south wanted to farm the Plains- exodusters-trying to find a place to be free

Difficulties on the Plains Harsh climate-drought is a long period of time without rain Cold winters Floods Fires Grasshoppers killed crops Water and food were scarce Many homesteaders thought life on the Plains was too difficult and they moved away

How did they adapt? Sod homes since there was little wood-sodbusters cut through the thick roots (see page 236) Finding crops that would grow in the hot dry climate- Europeans brought wheat seeds that grew well Carried or irrigated water from streams New and improved farming machines like plows Summary: Sodbusters turned the Plains into large fields of wheat.

Lesson 3 Cattle Ranchers Timeline: 1865-1890 Vocabulary: demand, supply, railhead, barbed wire Main Ideas: Ranchers in Texas raised and sold longhorn cattle. Cowhands led cattle to railroads where they were shipped everywhere.

Supply and Demand Vaquero-Mexican cowhand skilled at herding cattle 1845 Texas became part of the U.S. instead of Mexico Supply and demand- Many cattle in Texas with few people to buy them made cattle cheap ($4) but when shipped away to places that cattle were in demand made the same cattle more expensive ($40) As supply increases, demand decreases and vice versa (see chart on page 239) When demand is high, prices go up; when supply is high, prices go down.

Cattle Drives Ranchers would transport cattle to areas where they sold for more money-used the railhead-town where railroad begins or ends-railheads were usually far away from each other Cowhands led cattle to railhead on cattle drives Drives took weeks or months to complete and were very dangerous, boring, and dirty Cowhands spent 10-14 hours a day on horseback Stampedes may cause them to loose cattle which meant loosing money Slept on ground and were sometimes robbed

End of the Drive Lasted about 20 years Ended because of barbed wire, growth of the railroads/railheads, baron ranges, freezing temperatures killed cattle Summary: Still today, when people think of the west, they think of wild wild west and cattle drives.

Lesson 4 Conflicts on the Plains Timeline: 1860-1890 Vocabulary: reservation, habitat, extinct, assimilate Main Ideas: American Indians and soldiers fought on the Great Plains. U.S. government tried to force American Indians to change their way of life.

War As settlers travelled west, they built towns and dug mines Government built railroads on this land to help settlers Tried to convince Plains Indians to sell land and move on reservation where they could farm But Indians were nomads that followed buffalo and didn’t want to farm So fighting began……

Battle of Sand Creek 1864- Colorado-U.S. soldiers attacked Indians in their sleep despite the surrender white flag Peace was no where in sight Battle of Little Bighorn-1876-South Dakota and Wyoming- George Custer found gold but Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull killed most of the soldiers (see page 252) But within a few years, most American Indians were forced onto reservations

Wounded Knee Ghost Dance-religious activity by Indians but government feared they were preparing for war Huge battle on creek called wounded knee where soldiers killed men, women and children Life on the reservation was not the same

Reservations Railroads killed buffalo habitat and Indian lives Government tried to assimilate or change the culture of the Indians by making Ghost Dance/religious ritual illegal, by sending kids to schools where they couldn’t dress or speak their native language Dawes Act of 1887-Law to split land and make American Indians farmers on poor land The Indian was forced to depend on the government for food and survival Today, traditions are preserved on Indian reservations.

Test Time Complete the review on page 254, study workbook pages and know vocabulary I EXPECT A’S 