4. Mining Centers Virginia City Comstock Lode

8. ProspectingProspecting

10. May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah “The Wedding of the Rails” Central Pacific and Union Pacific May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah “The Wedding of the Rails” Central Pacific and Union Pacific

11. Promontory, Utah

12. “The Big Four” Railroad Magnates Charles Crocker Mark Hopkins Leland Stanford Collis Huntington Financed the Central Pacific Hired Chinese men to do the labor They had to cut through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Financed the Central Pacific Hired Chinese men to do the labor They had to cut through the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

20. Long Drives Railheads Long Drives to Railheads Cattle shipped to slaughter houses. Rise of the beef and meatpacking industry. “Cowboy Culture”Development of the “Cowboy Culture” Cowboys and Cattle Drives

25.  Homestead Act was a law developed in 1862 by Congress to promote settlement of the Great Plains.  Age 21 and the head of the family could have 160 acres of land if they improved it in five years  Could buy it for a small amount of $$$  The US Government encouraged westward expansion and the Homestead Act allowed thousands of settlers to move west and start new lives.

26. Black Cowboys “ Exodusters” 100,000 Exodusters leave the South and get involved with the ranching industry in Texas and Oklahoma.

28. Allowed farmers to cut through dense, root-choked sod. Steel Plow

30. Reduced labor force needed for harvest. Allows farmers to maintain larger farms. Mechanized Reaper

31. Powers irrigation systems and pumps up ground water. Steel Windmill

32. Dry farmingDry farming Allows cultivation of arid (dry) land by using drought- resistant crops and various techniques to minimize evaporation. dry farmingJohn Griffin, a three-year homesteader says, "Yalls idea of dry farming has led me and me family through these three years that we been homesteading."

33. Barbed Wire Joseph Glidden

34. Barbed wire fenceBarbed wire fence was a lifesaver because of the lack of wood in the dry plains of America. Barbed wireBarbed wire also solved the problems between farmers and ranchers.