Mining, Ranching and Farming

Key Terms

• Placer mining• Long drive• Homesteader• Soddie• Dry farming• Bonanza farm• Turner thesis• Stereotype

The Spread of Western Mining

• Places such as Pikes peak, CO and Nevada’s Comstock Lode struck huge amounts of gold– NV found almost $400 million in gold and silver

• The Homestake mine, located in the Black Hills, was possibly the richest single mine ever uncovered in the world, producing a billion dollars’ worth of ore

The Cattle Boom

• Mexicans taught Americans cattle ranching in the early 1800’s.

• Shipping live cows to the East by rail was expensive– Invention of the refrigerated railcar led to the

slaughtering of animals before hand• Widespread cattle ranching became possible with

the removal of Native Americans and extinction of buffalo

• J.G. McCoy established the town of Abilene, Kansas– Cow towns were a truly wild part of the West

Cowboy’s Life: Cattle Drive on the Chisholm Trail

• The Chisholm Trail was one of several trails that linked the good grazing lands of Texas to the cattle town.

• Men of the Chisholm Trail were a tough lot– Cowboys• Survived on their physical endurance, little need for

sleep• Cowboys became a unifying national hero

Cowboy’s Life: Cattle Drive on the Chisholm Trail

• Cowboy’s greatest fear was a stampede• As the cattle business grew, a new breed of

wealthy ranchers created huge cattle operations– Cattle Barons• These entrepreneurs were cowboys who had struck out

on their own

– The cattle bonanza ended in the mid-1880’s• Over expansion, price declines, cold winters and dry

summers

Farming the Plains

• Homesteader life was relentlessly rugged– Building a home was expensive

• Soddies were popular

– Bugs were an issue on the crops• Grasshoppers and locusts ravaged fields of wheat

– Falling crop prices created rising farm debt– Men did the sod busting, planted and harvested

crops– Women raised and schooled children, cooked,

cleaned, made and washed clothes

Farming the Plains

• Children labor was very important to support families

• New farm machines and techniques increased farm output enormously.– The result was bonanza farms– When the supply of a crow rose faster than the

demand, prices fell• Great Plains remained a region of small family

farms well into the 1900’s

Frontier Myths

• In 1870, most of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains had a population of less than two people per square mile.

• Writers created characters such as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Deadwood Dick.

• In 1883, William F. Cody created his fantastically popular Wild West shows.

Questions to Consider

• What were some challenges of farming on the plains?

• What led to the emergence of the Cowboy?• What was being developed because of the

cattle drive?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MczAqe_s

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