Miners and Ranchers

Q: What were those who traveled west looking for? A: - Rich farmland in the Oregon Territory - Gold in California

Q: What did the settlers have to pass through to get there? A: - Great Plains - Rocky Mountains

Q: What were the Great Plains known as during this time? A: The Great American Desert

Q: What were people’s thoughts about the Plains? A: -Crops would not grow - Region was too dry for farming

Q: What is a lode? A: - A source, or deposit of ore

Q: Explain a boom town. A: -Miners and shopkeepers who hurried to sites of gold and silver often lived in tents. -A few people, sometimes women, set up cook tents and sold hot meals. -Soon whole tent cities grew up near a gold or silver strike. - If the strike turned out to be rich, wood buildings gradually replaced the tents. -The tent city became a boom town.

Q: What impact did the discovery of gold and silver have on the west? A: -Quickened the settlement of the west -Population in the territories grew -People began asking for statehood

Q: What was the open range? A: -Millions of longhorn cattle roamed across the Southern Plains. -No fences on the Plains.

Q: Why did cattle herding begin on the Great Plains? A: -Some Texans decided that they could make money by selling the cattle on the open range. -They hired cowhands to round up the herds and take them to New Orleans for sale.

Q: How did cattle herding change over time on the Plains? A: -Railroads solved the problem of getting to the cattle market. -Cowhands drove the herds to railheads (where ranchers sold their cattle to buyers) -Cattle was then shipped in cattle cars to meatpacking plants.

Q: What was the cattle drive? A: -A long, dusty, dangerous job -12 or more cowhands on horseback guided 2,000 or more head of restless cattle north.

Q: What caused the end of the cattle boom on the open range? A: -There were so many cattle for sale that the price dropped. -At the same time, farmers were moving onto the Plains and putting up fences.