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Essential Question: What factors led to the settlement of the West during the Gilded Age (1870-1900)? Warm-Up Question: Let s review the Unit 7 Organizer – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Essential Question:


1
  • Essential Question
  • What factors led to the settlement of the West
    during the Gilded Age (1870-1900)?
  • Warm-Up Question
  • Lets review the Unit 7 Organizer

2
The Gilded Age 1870-1900
  • After the Civil War, the U.S. entered an era
    known as the Gilded Age when America experienced
    rapid changes

3
Overview of the West
  • After the Civil War, the area west of the
    Mississippi River was settled
  • Miners, ranchers, farmers flooded into the
    frontier looking for economic opportunities
  • Transcontinental railroads connected the country
  • Plains Indians were forced to assimilate move
    to reservations
  • By 1890, the frontier was closed

4
(No Transcript)
5
The Mining Bonanza
  • Mining was the 1st magnet to attract settlers to
    the West
  • Before the Civil War, miners discovered gold in
    California, Colorado, Nevada
  • After the Civil War, miners resumed their
    migration into the West to find more gold silver

6
Mining Regions of the West
John Mackay became the richest man in the world
earned 25 a minute from his Big Bonanza in
Sierra Mountains
Silver miners in Leadville, CO
306 million in gold silver was discovered at
the Comstock Lode
Mining towns were formed in the West Needed
govt, law enforcement, businesses
7
Corporations had the expensive machinery
(hydraulic mining techniques) to extract most
of the gold in the West
8
  • Chinese Latin American immigrants came to find
    gold
  • Nativism led Congress to pass the Chinese
    Exclusion Act in 1882 which ended Chinese
    immigration

9
Ranchers The Cattle Boom
  • After the Civil War, the demand for beef
    skyrocketed
  • To meet this demand, ranchers drove Texas
    longhorns across the open range to railroad
    towns
  • Cattle bought in Texas for 4 could be sold for
    40 in Kansas
  • Cattle drives created new towns

10
Ranchers The Cattle Boom
Ranchers used the open range to graze longhorns
during the 3 month long drive
By 1867, ranchers started using trains to ship
cattle to meatpacking cities like Chicago
11
Ranchers The Cattle Boom
  • By the 1880s, cattle ranching was difficult
    because
  • The open range was closed as farmers used new
    barbed wire fencing to close off their farms
  • Overgrazing drought left little grasslands for
    grazing cattle
  • Competition from sheep herding

12
Homesteads Farmers
  • The U.S. govt offered incentives for farmers to
    settle the West
  • Homestead Act (1862) gave 160 acres to citizens
    who pledged to improve the land for at least 5
    years
  • Other govt acts helped develop western lands by
    planting trees building irrigation systems

13
By 1900, 600,000 Americans claimed homesteads
14
Homesteads Farmers
  • Life in the Plains was difficult
  • There were few trees so homesteaders built sod
    houses
  • 60 of homesteaders failed
  • But many homesteaders adapted
  • Used dry farming techniques
  • Planted tough varieties of wheat
  • Used harvesting machinery

15
By 1890, the U.S. became a major crop exporter
16
Exodusters
  • Exodusters were black farmers who moved West to
    escape crop liens Jim Crow laws in the South

17
Exodusters
18
Homestead Sales, 1870-1940
In 1890, the western frontier closed There
were no more unorganized territories in the West
19
Rails Across the Continent
  • In 1862, Congress authorized the first
    transcontinental railroad
  • Union Pacific worked westward from Nebraska
    (Irish laborers)
  • Central Pacific worked eastward from CA (Chinese
    immigrants)
  • On May 10, 1869 the 2 tracks met at Promontory
    Point in Utah

20
Irish workers made up a large percentage of
laborers on the eastern section
Chinese workers made up a large percentage of
laborers on the western leg
The 1st transcontinental railroad connected the
west coast to eastern cities in 1869
21
Federal Land Grants to Railroads by 1871
The national govt gave out 65 million
millions of acres to railroad companies to
connect the East West coasts with railroads
22
The Transcontinental Railroad
23
Railroad Construction, 1830-1920
24
The Plains Indians
In 1865, 2/3 of all Indians lived on the Great
Plains
Their culture was dependent upon the buffalo
the horse
25
The Importance of the Buffalo in Indian Culture
26
Americas Indian Policy
  • Americas Indian policy changed
  • In the 1830s, Indians were moved across the
    Mississippi River into one big reservation
  • In the 1850s, (due to Manifest Destiny), Indians
    were moved into concentrated reservations
  • In the 1860s, reservations were violated by
    farmers miners

27
Indians Wars
In 1876, Americans flooded into Sioux territory
in South Dakota when gold was discovered
The Sioux, led by Sitting Bull, retaliated by
ambushing Colonel Custer all 197 soldiers in
the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big Horn
28
Indians Wars
When the U.S. army tried to stop Sioux ghost
dances, 200 men, women, children were
slaughtered during the Battle of Wounded Knee
The Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 was the last
Indian war in American history
29
The End of Tribal Life
  • The final blow to Indian culture came with
    annihilation of buffalo
  • Began with the construction of the
    transcontinental RR in 1860s
  • From 1872
    to 1874,
    3 million
    buffalo
    were killed each year

30
Lands Lost by Native Americans (1894)
The Cession of Indian Territory
31
Conclusions
  • By 1890, the frontier was closed
  • Miners, ranchers, farmers flooded West at the
    expense of Indians
  • But, Westerners began to grow frustrated due to
    their dependency on Eastern railroads, banks,
    politicians

32
Closure Activity
  • What was the American West in 1750? 1800?
    1850? 1900?
  • Now that the United States has acquired
    occupied all lands between the Atlantic
    Pacific, whats next?
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