Chapter 13 Changes on the Western Frontier

1
Chapter 13Changes on the Western Frontier
2

• Following the Civil War, the US continued to
  expand and become more and more industrialized.
• Railroads played a major role in this industrial
  growth and expansion.
• RR made life out west possible by allowing
  farmers, ranchers, and other settlers access to
  eastern markets and resources.
• They also made it easier for people to move west
  and populate territories at a rapid rate.

3

• In 1862, Congress decided to build a
  transcontinental railroad.
• The Union Pacific (an eastern rail company) and
  the Central Pacific (a western rail company)
  joined tracks in Promontory, Utah in 1869.
• The completion of the transcontinental RR could
  not have been possible without the contribution
  of thousands of Irish and Chinese immigrants.

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6

• These immigrants often worked in very dangerous
  conditions with very little pay.
• In addition, Chinese workers were often the
  victim of racism and abuse because of their Asian
  features, cultural differences, distinct dress,
  and language.

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9

• RR helped to unify the country, create the 4 time
  zones, and influence which industries succeeded.
• Growth of RRs also led to new towns and markets,
  and more opportunities for many Americans.

10
(No Transcript)
11

• As settlers moved further west, Native Americans
  continued to feel the impact.
• One of the worst effects of white settlement was
  the destruction of the buffalo. Tourists and fur
  traders killed them for sport and their habitat
  was destroyed by the growing RR.
• In 1800 there were 15m buffalo and by 1886 there
  were fewer than 600 remaining!

12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14

• The last notable armed conflict b/t US troops and
  Native Americans occurred in 1890 at Wounded
  Knee, South Dakota, after a Sioux holy man named
  Wovoka developed a religious ritual called the
  Ghost Dance.
• The Sioux believed that this dance would bring
  back the buffalo, return the tribes to their
  land, and banish the white man from the Earth.

15

• Believing that the Sioux leader, Sitting Bull,
  was using the Ghost Dance to start a Native
  American uprising, the govt sent in the US Army.
• When soldiers tried to arrest Sitting Bull, a
  gunfight killed 14 people, including Sitting
  Bull.
• Soldiers then pursued the Sioux to Wounded Knee
  Creek, where over 150 men, women, and children
  (mostly unarmed) were killed.
• All of these events brought the Indian wars, and
  the era, to an end.

16
(No Transcript)
17

• As the buffalo disappeared and the Native
  Americans were forced to live on reservations,
  cattle ranching was becoming a big business from
  Texas to Kansas.
• American settlers learned about ranching from
  their Mexican neighbors and used many of the same
  techniques.
• The idea of the cowboy came from the Spanish
  vaquero.

18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21

• After the Civil War the demand for workers and
  the desire for beef led many Americans to move
  westward to ranch.
• Cowboys and ranchers would take their herds from
  Texas, along the Chisholm Trail, to Kansas. From
  there the cattle would be shipped via RR to the
  East.
• Overgrazing, periods of bad weather, and the
  invention of barbed wire caused the downfall of
  the wide-open cattle industry of the West.

22
(No Transcript)