1. Chapter 19 Growth in the American West
before and after the Civil War

2. Find the West Coast Find the Rocky Mountains Find the Great Plains

3. The West Coast California, Oregon, and Washington

4. The Rocky Mountains Colorado, Montana, Arizona, and Wyoming

5. The Great Plains

6. The Great Plains
The Great Plains is a large area in the middle of the United States.
It is between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
It includes states such as Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.

7. It is flat and dry, but grassy, not a dessert.
There are no trees, so the wind is strong.
Winters are cold and summers are hot.
Water is scarce.
Dust storms, tornadoes, snowstorms, windstorms, and grass fires are common.

8. Memory check Name three states on the West Coast.
Name three Rocky Mountain states.
Tell where the Great Plains are located.
Name three states in the Great Plains.
Describe the climate of the Great Plains.

9. The American West Before the Civil War

10. The Indians were the original inhabitants of the West.

11. Next came the Spanish

12. Most of the West belonged to Spain.

13. The land was not good for farming, but it was good for raising cattle and horses. So, Spanish settlers raised cattle in the West. They were the first cowboys.

14. The West became part of Mexico when it got independence from Spain
The West became part of Mexico when it got independence from Spain. But, eventually the U.S. took the West from Mexico.

15. Many of the cowboys were Hispanic or African American
Many of the cowboys were Hispanic or African American. They would raise the cattle and then herd them to a city to sell them.

16. They raised longhorn cattle, because they could travel long distances and survive tough climates.

17. They often had to take their cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas to catch a train. The train would take the cattle to Northern cities such as Chicago.

18. The work was difficult, dangerous, and lonely
The work was difficult, dangerous, and lonely. They had to travel a long distance with their cattle.

19. The Great Plains were called “the Open Range” because there were no fences and cattle could move freely.

20. Indians had always lived in the Great Plains, but the Plains were mostly empty. Plains Indians lived by hunting buffalo. They moved around following the buffalo herds.

21. Native Americans from the East were forced to move to the West.
When the United States started expanding, the Indians east of the Mississippi were forced to move west of the Mississippi. They were promised the land west of the Mississippi. They lived in the Plains in places such as Oklahoma, and Kansas.

22. Memory Check Who were the first people to live in the Great Plains?
Who were the second people to come?
What was the life of a cowboy like?
What promise did the U.S. government make to the Native Americans?

23. Before the Civil War, many people started moving west of the Mississippi to start their own farms.

24. Life was difficult for the settlers.
They were isolated. They had no neighbors. There were no cities close by. And, the cities in the West had few stores to buy supplies from.

26. Transportation was slow and difficult
Transportation was slow and difficult. There were no trains or decent roads. They had to walk or ride horses.

27. Farming was difficult. It was too dry and the thick grass made plowing difficult.
There were also many dangers. Bad weather could kill the settlers. It could destroy their crops and leave them without food. It could even destroy their homes and leave them to freeze. Also, Indians or bandits sometimes attacked settlers.

28. Memory Check
What problems did early settlers face as they settled on the Great Plains?

29. Around 1865, new technology was helping farmers to be more successful in the Great Plains.

30. The new steel plows worked better than the iron plows
The new steel plows worked better than the iron plows. Steel was stronger than iron. Iron plows would break on the tough grass roots.

31. Windmills could pump water from deep underground.

32. Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper---a machine that could harvest large fields of wheat or corn.

33. Farmers in the Great Plains began to grow very large crops of wheat and corn. More people wanted to move west to start their own farms and be successful.

34. Memory Check
What made it possible for the settlers to succeed in the Great Plains?

35. While some settlers were starting farms in the Great Plains, other settlers were moving to the West in search of gold and silver.

36. The Gold Rush
1849 was the year of the California Gold Rush. Many people moved to California to search for gold and become rich. They came from all over the world. Other gold and silver rushes followed in places like Nevada.

37. Mining Towns Mining towns developed near the mines.
Miners lived in the towns. They had stores, hotels, saloons, and more.

38. Memory Check
What were the two main reasons why people moved to the West?

39. Settlers in the West created problems for the Indians. By 1850, the U
Settlers in the West created problems for the Indians. By 1850, the U.S. government was letting White settlers move into the Indian Territories and take their land. The White settlers and the Indians started fighting.

40. Memory Check
Why did Indians and settlers fight?

41. Congress wanted people to settle in the Great Plains, so they passed the Homestead Act of This law gave each settler 160 acres of free land if he could stay and farm it for five years. About two million people moved to the Great Plains to get their land.

42. In 1860, the United States started building the Transcontinental Railroad. The transcontinental railroad was a railroad that went all the way across the U.S.A. from East coast to West coast

43. Many people worked building the transcontinental railroad.
The work was very dangerous. Workers had to dig tunnels, build bridges across fast rivers and deep canyons, and work in cold weather.

44. Many people died building the railroad
Many people died building the railroad. Most were immigrants from China, Ireland, and Europe. Some were African Americans.

45. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.
Before the railroad, it took six months to cross America by covered wagon. After the railroad, it took only one week.

46. By 1870, the farmers in the Great Plains were fighting with the cowboys. The farmers didn’t want the cowboys to herd their cattle over their land because it destroyed their crops. The farmers wanted to build fences, but the cowboys wanted to keep the open range.

47. In 1873, the invention of barbed wire changed the Great Plains.
It was a cheap way to make fences that would keep cattle off of farms. People built barbed wire fences everywhere and the open range ended.

48. “The Cattle Kingdom”
Eventually the cowboys were replaced with large scale ranchers. These ranchers owned giant ranches and used the newly built railroads to take their cattle to the cities instead of paying cowboys to herd the cattle for them. These ranchers were so rich and powerful that they were called the “cattle kingdom”.

49. Memory Check
What brought more settlers to the West after the Civil War?
Where did the people who built the Transcontinental Railroad come from?
What invention finally ended the Open Range?

50. In 1868, the U.S. government had given the Sioux Indians a large amount of land in South Dakota. But, when gold was discovered there in 1874, the U.S. Army wanted to move the Sioux Indians out and take that land.
Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused to move and decided to fight back.

51. The U.S. Army sent General Custer, a General famous for fighting against the Indians.

52. In 1874, the Sioux defeated General Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer and all of his soldiers were surrounded and killed.

53. More U.S. Army troops came and eventually Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had to surrender. Crazy Horse was later killed while in jail.

54. Indians were forced to live on reservations.
The reservations were land for the Indians to stay on, but it was land the White people didn’t want. They had no water. Farming, ranching, or hunting were nearly impossible. Many starved to death or froze. The U.S. government encouraged people to kill all the buffalo so the Indians would not have any food and would have to move to the reservations.

55. The Dawes Act
Some people felt sorry for the Native Americans. They wanted to help them, so they made a law called the Dawes Act. The purpose of the Dawes Act was to force Native Americans to become like Europeans. They were taught how to farm, wear European clothes, and speak English.

56. Indian children were taken away from their parents and put in special schools. They were taught English. They were taught that Indian culture was bad. The Dawes Act destroyed Indian culture.

57. The Ghost Dance Movement
In 1890, Sioux Indians at the Wounded Knee Reservation in South Dakota started doing “Ghost Dances.”
They believed that these dances would bring up ghosts to push back the White man.

58. Massacre at Wounded Knee
The U.S. Army wanted to stop the Ghost Dance.
They killed over 300 men, women, and children.
The Wounded Knee Massacre virtually ended the Indian resistance.

59. Memory Check Why did Crazy Horse decide to fight the U.S. Army?
What happened at Little Bighorn?
What is a reservation?
How did the Dawes Act destroy Indian culture?
What is reservation land usually like?
What happened at Wounded Knee?

60. The Great Plains becomes “America’s Breadbasket”
By 1890, the Great Plains were producing large amounts of wheat and corn.
The land was divided into fenced-off farms.
The Indians had been moved onto the reservations or killed.
Railroads connected the American west to the rest of the country.