Opening the West1858 - 1896
Mining Booms● California gold rush ends in mid 1850s - miners still hoping to find gold● 1858 gold was found at Pikes Peak in Colorado Rockies.
○ Miners were making $20 a day (servants earned less than $1)○ By the spring of 1859 about 50,000 prospectors have flocked to the goldfields of Colorado
● Skimmed gold dust from the streams - most was deep in the underground lodes - rich streaks of ore running between rock layer-
● 1859 - Nevada’s Carson River - Called Comstock Lode (Henry Comstock owned a share of the land)
○ Only few were profitable
● Boomtowns - towns that developed almost over night○ Lively and often lawless○ Spending and gambling ○ Violence - no real police or prisons - vigilantes○ Men mostly lived there - women would work as laundresses, cooks, or entertainers.
Pg. 553
Railroads Connect East and West ● Colorado becomes a state in 1876, North and
South Dakota, Washington and Montana in 1889, Wyoming and Idaho in 1890.
● Survival of mining communities lies on transportation
○ Gold and silver have little value unless they reach factories, ports, and markets
○ Stagecoaches and wagons could not move fast enough - railroads.
● Railroad network expanded rapidly between 1865 and 1890
○ 35,000 miles to 150,000 miles. ○ Pacific Railway Acts were passed in 1862, allowing
the first transcontinental railroad to be completed in 1869, making possible a six-day trip from New York to San Francisco.
Government and the Railroads● Railroads were constructed with subsidies -
financial aid and land grants from the government. ○ Railroad executives made the argument that their
companies should receive free public land where they would lay their tracks
■ Since it would bring benefits from East to West. ■ Bring business and benefits to the whole nation
○ Govt. grants more than 130 million acres to the RR companies
○ Purchased or obtained by treaties from Native Americans■ Included land for tracks and strips of land along the
railway 20 to 80 miles■ Example: LA gave Southern Pacific Railroad money
and paid for a passenger terminal to ensure that the RR would be built near their town.
Transcontinental Railroad ● Span the continent and connect Atlantic to Pacific - began in 1850s
○ Southern vs. Northern (both want the tracks to go through them)○ During the Civil War the Northern Govt. chose the Northerly route. ○ Govt offers land grants for companies who would build.
● Union Pacific Company - westward from Omaha, Nebraska○ Irish and AA - Low wages○ Laid 1,038 miles of track
● Central Pacific - Eastward from Sacramento, CA○ 10,000 Chinese workers - 1865 - $28 per month○ 742 miles of track (harsher conditions)
● Harsh conditions ○ Heat, icy winter, cleared forests, blasted tunnels through mountains, etc.
● May 10, 1869 - construction was completed ○ Leland Stanford - Gov. of CA - drove a golden spike through the last tie. ○ Telegraph lines flashed across country
■ “The last rail is laid...The last spike driven… The Pacific Railroad complete.”
Pg. 556 Primary Source
Effects of the Railroads ● 1883, 2 more transcontinental railroads & dozens
shorter lines were built● Thousands of workers westward
○ Trains carried more metal & produce.○ More tracks laid = more steel needed - steal industry boom ○ Coal production○ Air Brakes - pull longer & heavier goods.
● Towns sprang up along the railroads = Denver, Colorado
○ Agricultural goods to market
● Time Zones - 4 - exactly one hour later than the zone to its west
○ American Railway Association created this in 1883■ Safety issues - eg. Boston was ahead of NY -
collisions ■ Congress recognizes this in 1918
It “made the people more homogenous (alike), breaking the peculiarities and proclaims (local ways) which marked separate and unmingiling regions.” -Omaha Daily Republican
Ranchers and Farmers
Railroads and Cow Towns ● The Spanish settled Mexico and Texas
the brough a tough breed of cattle - Longhorns
○ Spread throughout Texas - Open range○ Ranchers added to the heards by capturing
them and branding them showing ownership
● Markets for beef were in the North and East
○ Cattle could now be hearded miles/loaded on trains for shipment
○ Longhorns that were worth $3 were going for $40
○ Long Drives - herding of cattle 1,000 miles ■ Traveled to Cow Towns - located on the
route near RR.■ Led from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, on
the Chisholm Trail - pg. 562
Life on the Great Plains ● Cowhands - Dangerous conditions:
weather, stampede, saddle for 15 hours
○ Veterans of the Civil War, African Americans (searching for better life; Nat Love), & Hispanics
■ Cattle herding began in the Spanish Southwest
● Vaqueros - Hispanic ranch hands
● Cattle Kingdom Ends ○ Ranching eventually replaces cattle drives
■ Produce hardier cattle - too much cattle = price drop
■ Farming = Economic activity in the palins
○ Pg. 561 / Netflix
Native American Struggles
Following the Buffalo● Govt.intervening on NA land
○ Red Cloud wants to ensure safety of whites moving into NA territory
■ “The white children (settlers) have surrounded me and left me nothing but an island.”
● Omaha & Osage lived in communities w/ farmers and hunters
● Plains Indians - Sioux, Comanche and Blackfeet- nomadic life
○ Following the buffalo - source of food/living ○ American hunters/ RR workers use them to feed
the crews.○ 1872 Americans target Buffalo for hide to sell.
Native American Conflict ● 1867 - Indian Peace Commission to
develop a policy towards NA.○ Moving NA to reservations - plots of land. ○ Army would deal with any group that did not want
to move.
● Reservations - Indian Territory - ○ Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
■ Mange the reservations■ Poor land, failed to deliver food and
supplies, poor quality food. ○ Many nations did move - but later abandoned
Conflict ● 1860s many armed clashes
○ Minnesota Territory - Sioux warriors led by Red Cloud burned and looted white settlers homes in summer 1825 - hundreds died.
● Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho 1865 - 1867○ Army stationed at Bozeman Trail - used to reach gold
mines○ Crazy Horse acted as a decoy leads troop to an ambush
where warriors wiped out the lot.■ Fetterman Massacre.
● Colorado - Raiding wagons, trains, stealing cattle and horses from ranchers.
○ Gov. orders NA to surrender - prommise food and protection,
■ Some do not - Chief Black Kettle to negotiate peace - attacked by. Col. John Chivington
■ Agree to stop fighting oct. 1865○ Pg. 569
Red Cloud
Little Bighorn● Black Hills of the Dakotas - rumored to be gold
○ “No white person or persons shall be permitted.” to settle on that land.”■ People flocked - the Sioux protested - govt. Tried to buy the land
○ Sitting Bull - important leader of the Lakota Sioux refuses■ “I do not want to sell an land. Not even this much,” he said
holding a pinch of dust■ Gathers Sioux & cheyenne warriors & meets with Crazy Horse■ Lieutenant col. George Custer and 210 soldiers collide - less
than 30 minutes all are dead at Little Bighorn.● Shocked the nation ● Army soon crushed the uprising sending Sitting Bull and
followed to Canada● 1881 - the Lakota and cheyenne agree to live on
reservations.
Apache People ● Apache people - Would break the US people
up into groups - could be at war w/ one and not the other
○ Blue Coats - lived in forts○ Ranchers groups - raised cattle○ Mining groups - dug holes in the ground
● Women were highly regarded - US only talked to the men
○ Saw land had sacraded - US gold/value
● Two types of raids○ You would get in and out with no one knowing you
were there○ Revenge raid - Kill and scare
● US Govt. tries to lump them together○ Several diff. Groups ○ Not allowed to raid/ starvation/ wouldn't give them food
Apache Wars 1861 - 1886 ● $100 for a scalp for and Apache leader ● Gen. James Carlton - “there is to be no council heald
with the indians, the men will be slayed and woman and children held prisoners.”
● Geronimo - raids on US people○ $40 million Us dollars spent to kill 100 Apache and returned
thousands of US army ○ On September 4, 1886, surrendered in Skeleton Canyon,
Arizona, after fighting for his homeland for almost 30 years■ He was the last American Indian warrior to formally
surrender to the United States■ Exiled to Oklahoma and not able to return to his people
after pleading to Pres. Roosevelt■ “Place my people in their native homes so that our name
will not become extinct. I pray to you cut the ropes, make me free, let me die in my own country an old man who has been punished enough.”
A Changing Culture ● Movement of whites into territory,
slaughter of buffalo, US army attacks, reservations, etc.
● Dawes Act - 1887○ Aimed to remove what whites regarded as
weaknesses:■ Lack of private property and nomadic
tradition ○ Breakup reservation land - NA would become
farmers or ranchers and then American Citizens.■ Little training or enthusiasm to succeed■ Land was too small to be profitable - so
they sold it.
Chief Joseph was a leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Tribe, who became famous in 1877 for leading his people on an epic flight across the Rocky Mountains
Wounded Knee● A ceremony called the Ghost Dance -
celebrated the hope for a day when settlers would disappear and the buffalo would return
● Army thought Sitting Bull was leading this = made them nervous
○ Tried to arrest him - shot and killed him in a scuffle
● Several hundred Lakota Sioux gathered at Wounded Knee
○ Dec.1890- Army went to collect their weapons○ Shot rang out army responded with fire
■ 200 Sioux and 25 soldiers are killed■ Marked the end of the armed conflict between
Native Americans and the US govt. \
Pg.570 people in history
Farmers in Protest
A Farmers Organization ● The price for crops declined but the shipping of good remained
high ○ Blamed the railroad companies - charged farmers more to ship crops○ Angry with Eastern manufacturers - charged high prices for their product ○ Resented bankers - charged high interest rate
● Railroad companies “took possessions of the land” and the bankers “took possession of the farmer.” - Sen. William A. Peffer
● National Grange - first farmers organization ○ Offered farmers education, fellowship and support ○ Organized social gatherings○ Cash-only cooperatives - economic self sufficiency
■ Charged lower prices, prevented farmers from buying on credit■ 1878 RR put so much pressure on the states that they repealed acts to
help farmers ○ Farmers are short on cash and still had to borrow = FAIL of the Grange.
Farmers Alliance ● A network of organizations that sprang
up in the west and south in 1880s○ 1890 Southern Alliance had over 3 million ○ Colored Farmers National Alliance - AA
farmers 1 million ○ Sponsored education and co-ops. ○ Federal Govt. would store the crops and
lend money to farmers ■ Farmers would pay back loans when
crops sold ○ Regional differences and personality
clashed kept the alliances a part
Populist Party ● 1890 election the Farmers Alliance became active in
politics. ○ Worked to turn the movement into a political party
■ People’s Party of the USA or Populist Party ● GOAL - appeal to the common people
● Claimed that the Govt., not private companies should own RR and Telegraph networkers
○ Wanted to replace the country's gold based currency with free silver
■ More circulation - can pay of debts○ Supported political labor reforms
■ Limiting the pres and vp. terms , electing senators directly , use of secret ballots, shorter working hours and income tax
● Tax higher earnings more heavily.
Pg. 577 Political cartoon
Free Silver● Division from North & South
○ Many white southerners couldn't join a party with AA
● 1890s Democrat controlled Southern state leg. ○ Placed limits on the rights of AAs○ Many freedmen who might have supported the populist
couldn't vote
● Farmers and debtors would join ○ Supporting free silver ○ Thought it would clear their loans
● West joined ○ If govt. Coined large quantities of silver the mining cos.
Would have a place to sell their metal.
Election of 1896● Dems elect William Jennings Bryan
○ Firey speaker, supported free silver & other populist goals, believed in farmers, traveled across the nation to give speeches, attacked bankers
● Reps elect William McKinley○ Opposed free silver,
● Economic depression that slowed business in the 1890s was over.
○ Bryan’s ideas were not as urgent
● McKinley wins!● Populist ideas make an impact!
○ 1900s US abandons gold○ 8 hour work day○ Income tax○ Secret ballot○ Direct election of senators (pg. 576)