Section 19.1: Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands

Today’s Essential Question: How did the geography and natural resources of the West determine how its people earned their living?

Vocabulary • frontier – the boundary between civiliza-

tion and wilderness• boomtown – town that grows dramatic-

ally in a short time• vaquero – a Mexican cowboy• prospector – person looking for valuable

minerals, like gold or silver• vigilante – unofficial crime fighter

Check for Understanding• What are we going to do today?• How does a vaquero get to work?• What does a prospector hope to find?• Why is living on the frontier dangerous?• Is Batman a vigilante? (Explain)

What We Already KnowAmericans had begun moving

west across the Great Plains in large numbers

since the 1830s.

What We Already Know

The California gold rush attracted millions of people to the West Coast in 1849.

What We Already Know

Americans had settled in Texas and had helped

make it part of the United States in 1845.

One American’s Story• Nat Love – born a slave in

Tennessee in 1854; left the South and went west

• As a cowhand, he became well known for his expert horsemanship and rodeo skills.

• In his 1907 autobiography, Love offered a lively but exaggerated account of his life.

• Few cowhands led lives as exciting as thatdescribed by Nat Love, but they all helped to open a new chapter in the history of the American West.

Geography and Population of the West

Places such as St. Joseph and Independence, Missouri, were the last cities and towns before the frontier.

Geography and Population of the West

• Most white people considered the Great Plains an empty desert.

• Few had been attracted to its rolling plains, dry plateaus, and harsh deserts.

However, settlers had followed miners streaming into California after the 1849 gold

rush.

By 1850, California had gained statehood. Oregon followed in 1859.

The Great Plains had few trees, but its grasslands were home to about 300,000

Native Americans in the mid-1800s.

Most Plains Indian bands followed the buffalo herds that rumbled

across the open plains.

Despite the presence of these peoples, the United States claimed ownership of the area.

Trains carried minerals, timber, crops, and cattle to eastern

markets, and brought miners, ranchers, and farmers to the West.

Railroads played a key role in settling the western United States.

As the railroads opened new areas to white settlement, they also helped end the way of life of the West’s first settlers – the Native

Americans.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Why were few people been interested in settling on the Great Plains before

the Civil War?A. It was already the home of several

powerful American Indian groups.B. The presence of so many buffalo

made farming impossible.C. It was so dry and treeless that most

people considered it a desert.D. The government had banned settle-

ment west of the Mississippi River.

What is the frontier? Where the end of civilization meets

the beginning of wilderness

76. How did the transcontinental railroad spur Western settlement?

A. Carrying natural resources of the West to the East

B. Providing jobs for settlers in railroad construction

C. Bringing new settlers from the East to the West

D. transporting soldiers west to fight the Indians

Choose all that are true!

Mining in the West

In 1859, gold and silver strikes drew as many as 100,000 miners to the Rocky Mountains in

Colorado.

Mining in the West

The same year, Comstock Lode in western Nevada produced some $300 million in silver and gold.

Any settlement near an ore strike became a boomtown, a town that has a sudden burst of economic

or population growth.

Mining in the West

• Gold fever also attracted miners from other parts of the world, including Europe, South America, Mexico, and China.

• Few prospectors became rich, and most left disappointed and broke.

Small-scale miners could not afford water cannons to blast away hillsides to expose gold

deposits, or the equipment needed to sink shafts thousands

of feet into the ground.

Over time, large mining companies replaced

individual prospectors.

Results of Western Mining• Hillsides were

stripped of vegetation and rivers were left polluted.

• Once-thriving communities became ghost towns.

• Nevada, Colorado, and South Dakota all grew so rapidly that they soon gained statehood.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Why did large mining companies eventually replace individual

prospectors?A. Individual miners could not afford the

equipment needed to make mining profitable.B. The mining companies bought up the smaller

individual claims.C. The government would only send troops to

protect the larger mining sites for Indian attacks, leaving prospectors defenseless.

D. Prospectors couldn’t afford to pay the high taxes placed on mining income by the government.

77. Why did the mining boom end?A. The costs of operating them had

become too high.B. Too many miners left to work in the

oil fields.C. The Indian threat frightened too

many mine workers away.D. Ranching was easier and much

more profitable.

Rise of the Cattle IndustryThe cattle trade had

existed in the Southwest since the

1500s, but cattle herds remained small until the

Civil War.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

With no efficient way to get the beef to markets in the more heavily populated cities of the East, ranchers mostly sold

their cattle locally.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

An Illinois livestock dealer named Joseph McCoy realized that railroads could bring cattle from Texas ranches to meat-hungry Eastern cities.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

By the 1860s, railroad lines were extended

from Chicago and St. Louis into Kansas.

Rise of the Cattle IndustryCowhands had only to drive cattle herds

north from Texas to his stockyards in Abilene, Kansas.

From there, the beef could be shipped to Chicago and

points east by rail car.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

Cattle fed on the open range for a year or two and ranchers then hired cowhands to round up the cattle and take them to Abilene, where they were sold for

as much as ten times their original price.

The success of the Abilene stockyards spurred the growth of other Kansas cow towns, including

Wichita and Dodge City.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

Rise of the Cattle Industry• Cowhands followed specific

trails across the plains, such as the Chisholm Trail, which stretched from San Antonio to Abilene.

• From 1867 to 1884, about four million cattle were driven to market on this trail.

• As cattle raising became more profitable, ranching spread north across the plains from Texas to Montana.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

• The first cowhands were vaqueros, who had developed in Spanish Mexico in the 1500s.

• From the vaquero, the American cowhand learned to rope and ride.

• Cowhands also adapted the saddle, spurs, lariat, and chaps of the vaqueros.

Rise of the Cattle Industry

About one in three

cowhands in the West was

either Mexican or African American.

Also among the cow-hands were a large number of former Civil War soldiers.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Before the mid-1800s, why were beef cattle only sold locally in Texas?

A. Consumers in the East didn’t trust the quality of Texas beef.

B. There was no way to ship the beef cattle from Texas to other markets.

C. Before the mid-1800s, beef was not a popular meat on most tables.

D. Government regulations didn’t permit meat and poultry to be sold across state lines.

How did Joseph McCoy change the history of the West?

A. He invented the repeating rifle, which helped bring about the defeat of the Indians.

B. He invented barbed wire, which ended the open range and made farming possible on the plains.

C. He came up with the idea of driving cattle from Texas ranches up to Kansas railroad towns for shipment to Eastern cities.

D. He developed the idea of vigilante justice, which brought law and order to towns without official sheriffs or marshals.

78. What helped the cattle industry to grow?

A. The Plains Indians were all defeated and forced to move onto reservations.

B. Railroad lines were built linking Kansas with Chicago and St. Louis.

C. The mining boom ended in 1882.D. Barbed wire was invented in 1882.

Who were the first American cowhands?

A. Civil war veteransB. Former slavesC. European immigrantsD. Mexican vaqueros

At first, cow towns had no local governments.

The “Wild West”

There were no law officers to handle the fights that broke out as cowhands drank

and gambled after a long drive.

The “Wild West”

A more serious threat to law and order came from

con men, who saw the new towns as places to

get rich quick by cheating others.

The “Wild West”

J.R. “Soapy” Smith

The “Wild West”

• Outlaws like “Billy the Kid” and Jesse and Frank James made crime a way of life.

• Some women, such as Belle Starr, became outlaws, too.

The “Wild West”

For protection, citizens formed

vigilante groups, taking the law into their own hands.

The “Wild West”

Vigilante justice often consisted

of hanging suspects from

the nearest tree or shooting them on the spot, so it was common for innocent people

to be unjustly executed.

The “Wild West”

As towns became more settled, vigilantes were replaced by elected sheriffs and federal marshals, who would arrest lawbreakers and hold them in jail

until the time of trial.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Why did Westerners form vigilante groups?

A. They didn’t want to become dependent on the government for protection.

B. There were no authorized government officials in their vicinity for them to call on.

C. Taking the law into their own hands made them feel self-reliant.

D. The towns were to poor to be able to pay for real law enforcement officials.

What did vigilante justice look like?

A. Posse made up of private citizensB. Active participation by sheriffs or marshalsC. Accused people locked up until trialD. Swift execution by hanging or shootingE. Great care exercised to protect the rights of

the accusedF. Innocent people unjustly punished

Choose all that are true!

End of the Long Drives

In 1886, the price of beef dropped sharply as the

supply increased.

End of the Long Drives

More farmers moved in to farm or raise sheep, fencing in their lands

with barbed wire, and the open range disappeared.

End of the Long Drives

In the harsh winter of 1886–1887, thousands of cattle froze to death and

many ranchers were put out of business.

Meanwhile, as the mining and cattle industries were developing, the Native Americans of the Great Plains were being pushed off their land.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

75. What economic activities drew large numbers of people to the West

beginning in the 1860s?

A. oil drillingB. miningC. ranchingD. farmingE. manufacturing

Choose all that are true!

79. What factors led to the end of the cattle boom?

A. The price of beef dropped as the supply grew.

B. Buffalo were competing with the cattle for food on the prairie.

C. The use of barbed wire by farmers closed the open range.

D. The severe winter of 1886-87 destroyed a large percentage of the cattle herds.

E. Raids by vaqueros and vigilantes made ranching too dangerous.

Choose all that are true!