1. Gilded Age Pt 3
Westward Movement

2. Westward Ho! Transcontinental RR finished 1869 in Utah
Connected whole country, created a national market
Easier communication and migration to the West
Started settling in small western towns along RR
Started the “closing of the frontier”
Why would people want to move west?
FREE LAND!

5. Push-Pull Factors Reasons why people moved west
Push factors: things that make you want to leave where you are
Overcrowding, expensive land, persecution, immigration
Pull Factors: things that draw you to a certain area
Government Incentives
Private Property
Gold
Homestead Act- FREE LAND; had to farm land for 5 years
Major pull factor
Pushed Indians further off land
Think about starting a farm- what do you need to be successful?
Do you think most of the Homesteaders were successful or not? Why?

6. Push-Pull Factors: Reasons why people moved west
PUSH-things that make you want to leave where you are
PULL- things that draw you to a certain area
Overcrowding (esp bc of immigrants)
expensive land
persecution (Mormons)
Government Incentives, Private Property, Gold
Homestead Act- FREE LAND; had to farm land for 5 years
Major pull factor
PUSH-things that make you want to leave where you are
PULL- things that draw you to a certain area

8. Homestead Act States
Think about starting a farm- what do you need to be successful?
Do you think most of the Homesteaders were successful or not? Why?

9. Indian Policies
Problem with so many people moving west- who already lives on that land? What is going to happen because of that?
Native Americans- will lead to conflict (fighting)
Gov made bad treaties with Indians to take their land
Most pushed onto reservations
Why were reservations difficult for Native Americans?
Goes against their way of life; ended up depending on government for everything

10. Indian Policies US thinks Native Americans should be “more like us”-
Forced them to become more “civilized”
Assimilation- to become more like the dominant culture
Dawes Act- abolished tribes; divided reservations into individual plots for each family
How would this make the Native Americans more “American”?
No more shared land; everyone has their own; would be farmers- that’s the “American” dream

13. Indian Wars Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 Battle of Little Bighorn
Cheyenne Indians had deal with governor of CO
Colonel John Covington attacked, killed several hundred Indians, including women and children
Battle of Little Bighorn
Sioux Indians in Dakotas
Had deal to stay on reservation, but Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse didn’t
General Custer was sent to round them up, faced more Indians than he expected and was killed
“Custer’s Last Stand”

14. Indian Wars As Americans moved West, lost of fighting ensued
Started during Civil War
Lots of really terrible treatment of Native Americans, massacres
Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890) was the last fight
Tried to arrest Sitting Bull (leader), he hesitated, they shot him
Indians surrendered, someone fired, soldiers killed 200 more Sioux
Indians realized they could not beat the US military, end of the fighting

15. Cattle Boom Cattle Drives promised money
Cows went from $5 to $50 after Civil War- WHY?
Developed cattle drive trails- called a Long Drive
Herding cow to railroads
From TX to KS, MO, or CO- why here?
Cow Towns popped up along trails
Barbed wire- developed during this time. What was it used for and how did it affect the cattle industry?
Prevented long drive by creating barriers/fences
Now how did cattle drives work?
Built railroads in Texas- connected east and west
Railroads
National Demand
Refrigerated Railcars
Big Profits for Meat Industry; need regulations for meat industry

17. Gold Rushes
People found gold out west, so a bunch of people went to find some too
In California in 1849
Population from 14,k to 200,k in a few years
Klondike Gold Rush- 1896
Last major gold rush
Yukon, Canada (close to Alaska)
Over 100,000 people went

20. Advances in Farming Farming on Great Plains was difficult
New techniques and machines made farming more efficient
Mechanization(use of machines) made production increase
Increased production = drop in prices = making less money

21. Farmers’ Problems Increased cost of land Economic “panics” (recession)
Problems for farmers
Why it was a problem?
Falling crop prices
Famers had to produce more to make money; couldn’t make enough money
Increased cost of land
Farmers couldn’t afford to buy land to grow more; went into debt
Economic “panics” (recession)
Farmers lost money when prices dropped
Tariffs:
taxes on imported goods- made stuff cost too much
Farmers had no cash
went further into debt
Railroads
charged outrageous prices to ship crops (no regulation!)
Problems for farmers
Why it was a problem?
Falling crop prices
Increased cost of land
Economic “panics” (recession)
Tariffs:
Farmers had no cash
Railroads

22. STAAR Practice

23. STAAR Practice
What were those grants?
HOMESTEADS

24. Big Idea
What were the causes and effects of westward expansion? (why did people move and what happened because of all those people moving?)
Do you think the US will be satisfied with expanding to California and then stop? Or will they want to keep going? Why?