1. Westward Expansion
5-2.2 Summarize how technologies (such as railroads, the steel plow and barbed wire), federal Policies (such as subsidies for the railroads and the Homestead Act), and access to natural resources affected the development of the West.

2. Westward Land
The environment of the West was influenced by the men and women who settled the region.
Land was plowed and irrigation created to make the plains the breadbasket of the country.

3. Railroads & Bison
When the railroads crossed the plains, they affected herds of bison that had freely wandered there.
The iron rails of the railroad track were trampled and mangled by the great herds of bison. In order to keep the railroads from being harmed, railroad owners hired riflemen to shoot the animals.
Before white settlers began to push into the vast west in any great numbers, an estimated million bison freely roamed upon the Great Plains.

4. Native Americans
Due to the hunting of these large animals, the bison began to die out.
The Native Americans depended on these animals for food and resources; with so many of these animals being killed, the life of the Native Americans were severely impacted.
As more and more settlers moved west, they once again started taking land from the Native Americans.
By 1884 the great era of the buffalo ended and nothing remained of the massive buffalo herds but piles of bones. At that time there were only some 1,200-2,000 surviving buffalo left in the United States.

5. Comanche Chief Ten Bears
Points of View
General Philip Sheridan
Comanche Chief Ten Bears
"Let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance."
”Two years ago, I came upon this road following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm, and we have not known which way to go.”

6. Destruction of the Buffalo Herds

7. Native Americans
The Native Americans tried to resist unwillingly giving up their land once again. This lead to a series of Indian wars after the Civil War.
At the end of the wars, most of the Native Americans were forced onto reservations.

8. Life on the Reservation
By the end of the 19th century, the US government tried to make the Native Americans into farmers.
The reservations were divided into lots for individual Native American families.
However, Native Americans did not want to give up their traditional way of life!
Also- in most cases, their land on the reservations was not well suited for farming.

9. Transcontinental Railroad
The transcontinental railroad impacted the development of the West by providing a way to travel.
This attracted new settlers
This also provided a way to transport agricultural products grown in the West to the markets back home.
Many settlers traveled by railroad in order to settle in the West.
The railroad was not expensive if you wanted to ride it. However, poor farmers and immigrants could not afford it and therefore, they continued to travel by wagon.

10. Transcontinental Railroad
The government supported the building of the railroads.
This caused the railroad companies to own thousands of acres of land. This land was nearby the railroad routes.
In order to get money to lay down the track, the railroad companies sold a lot of this land to settlers. They even advertised this land in Europe- which helped attract even more immigrants!

11. Transcontinental Railroad
The settlers who bought land in the West from the railroad or who received free land from the government hoped to make a profit from farming.
The railroad helped trading and economic growth by helping farmers get their crops to the market.
Cash crops (like corn and wheat) became profitable as well as raising cattle and hogs!
The railroad transported these agricultural products to processing centers and helped major industries such as flour mills and meat processing develop in cities like Chicago.

12. Transcontinential Railroad

13. How did the Railroad impact the environment?
As tracks crossed the plains and tunnels were dug through the mountains, railroads had an impact on the natural environment.
The coal burning engines required more and more fuel, which led to an increase in mining. Both of these things had a huge impact on the environment.
Because railroads helped bring goods to the markets, they helped the development of the industry, which also had an impact on the environment.
Smoke from the factories and wastes from the processing plants polluted the air and the water.

14. Barbed Wire

15. The Homestead Act