1. The growing west
Following the Civil War, more settlers moved West - between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.
With new technologies and mineral discoveries, new lands in the West opened for settlement
Blacks too joined to get land out west
Called “Exodusters”
Many whites tried to stop them

2. Mining California Gold Rush (1849) Comstock Lode (1859)
Miners called 49ers
Comstock Lode (1859)
The first major silver ore deposit discovered in Nevada
Miner’s Union: miner workers formed unions to lobby for better wages, hours, and working conditions

3. Boom towns/ghost towns
Virginia City – mining town near Comstock Lode that became a boom-town with opera houses, six-story hotel, and the West’s first “rising room” (elevator)
By 1898, the silver mines empty leaving it a ghost town
Cycle of boom and bust repeated through towns in the west
Colorado (1858) – gold was discovered in Denver
Small town quickly turned into thriving city as thousands of prospectors came to get rich

4. Cattle Ranching
Open Range –unfenced land where cattle roam free for hundreds of miles under the guidance of cowboys
Cowboys – led cattle in the open range and protected them from thieves, animals, and stampedes
Mexicans and African-Americans made up 40% of cowboys
Hard work, little pay, long hours

5. Methods that help cattle ranching
Cattle Drives – the rounding up and travel of thousands of cattle to a destination hundreds of miles away
Refrigerated Railroad Cars –shipped cattle from the Midwest to eastern markets
Barbed Wire – new form of cheap fencing that cut off and divided land in the Open Range
Prevented animals from destroying crops and/or wandering off
Ended the open range and the cowboy way of life

6. Acts Homestead Act of 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862
Gave 160 acres of land to settlers that paid a registration fee, lived on and farmed the land for 5 years to receive ownership
Mostly in the Great Plains
Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862
Gave states federal land to establish colleges whose focus was on agriculture and engineering (farming and mining)
NC State, Clemson, Auburn, Penn State

7. The great plains
No wood, few trees, little rain, extremely hard soil and low crop yield
Solutions
Sod Homes - made of mud
Steel Plow - dig through tough soil
Barbed Wire Fence - kept predators and animals out
By the late 1880s, the Wheat Belt (Great Plains) produced more wheat than anywhere in the world.

8. Transcontinental railroad (1869)
The first railroad to run through the country that Connected the Omaha, NE to San Francisco, CA
Construction of the railroad was carried out by Irish and Chinese Immigrants
Irish – led construction west from the Missouri River
Chinese – led construction east from California

9. Western migration Push Factors Force people to leave an area
Civil War, Immigration, Land Shortage, Religion
Pull Factors  Attract a person to an area
Cheap Land, Railroad Jobs, Own Property