1. Farming, Mining, and Ranching
Angela Brown
John-Deere-Tractor-Posters_i145594_.htm

2. Bellringer:
Learning Targets:
Discuss the gold rush and how the discovery of precious metals would change the West.
List the changes that transformed farming on the great plains.
Explain the changing mining industry in the west.
Describe the growth and decline of the cattle industry.

3.
Farming
Dry Farming- planting crops that do not require a great deal of water and keeping fields free of weeds

4. Improvements in farm implements multiplied
Plow that made several furrows
Harrows with spring teeth
Automatic drills to spread grain
Steam-powered threshers 1875
Cornhuskers/cornbinders 1890
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5. Federal Department of Agriculture 1862
s gathered statistics
Then spread information on new techniques
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6. Bonanza Farms
farms controlled by large businesses and managed by professionals
applied same organizational ideas as in industry
sometimes oversupplies equaled dip in market
Debt was a constant worry for farmers due to machinery and land speculation.
BaggFarm/HistoryBonanza.jpg

7. Mining
Place mining – (panning) – shoveled loose dirt into boxes, ran water over it, causing heavy minerals to sink to the bottom
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8. All loose minerals were gone by the early 1860s
The rest lay locked in quartz deeply buried
Rough mining towns soon became ghost towns leaving only the shop keepers better off
Mining then became the realm of big business
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9. Ranching Learned cattle ranching ways of Mexicans
End of Civil War, cattle $3 to $5 a head in Texas brought $30 to $50 a head in the meat markets of Chicago and St. Louis
First drove Northward through open range
storm_on_the_open_range_web.JPG

10. “Cow Towns” Abilene, Kansas 1867 by J.G. McCoy
(towns built specially for shipping cattle)
Also Cheyenne, Wyoming; Dodge City and Ellsworth, Kansas
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11. Long Drive – transporting cattle from ranges to cow towns – 18 hours a day in the saddle, thieves, stampedes
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12. End of the Open Range The cattle boom ended in 1880s
Joseph Glidden’s 1874 invention of barbed wire
Overstocked the markets
Overgrazed, damaged prairie grass
barbed_wire_fence-750x600.jpg

13. Cattle continued on a smaller scale
Winters of (85% cattle froze/starve) individuals and large companies went out of business
Cattle continued on a smaller scale
New breeds replaced Texas Longhorns
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14. Textbook Resources:
1. Read Mining Wealth on page 170 in your text and answer the Thinking Critically questions.
Why do you think towns developed in mining regions?
How did the discovery of natural resources contribute to the settlement of the West?
Study the map of Economic Development of the West on page 173 in your text and answer the map skills questions.
Locate Promontory, Helena, Montana & Chisholm Trail
Explain how the location of these cities enabled them to become centers of economic activity: Denver, Virginia City, Abilene & Omaha
How did the railroads contribute to the growth and prosperity of the West?

15. Exit Slip:
Create a summary pyramid for the information regarding farming, mining, and ranching.