The West

1860-1900

Three “Frontiers”

• Cattle • Farming• Mining

The Cattle Frontier

Cattle Industry

• Longhorn Cattle– First brought to America

by the Spaniards, alongwith horses

– Those that escaped thrived on thesouthern plains

• Prior to the Civil War, cattle ranching was limited– Ranchers sold hide and meat to local

markets– 1849 – some ranchers drive cattle to

market in California to collect $25-$125/head

– 1854 – cattle driven to Muncie, Indiana and then shipped by rail to NYC. Stampede on 3rd Avenue!

• Post Civil War – demand for beef grows, esp in cities– How to get cattle to market?

• Joseph McCoy– Creates first

stockyards in Abilene, KS

• 1866-1888: 4million steerdriven northby hiredhands (1/4 black; 1/10 Mexican)

• Beef Barons:Swift, Armourindustrializemeat packing.

• Demise of the Cattle Drive’– Population of west grows; farmers and

ranchers don’t want herds trampling over their land.

– Barbed wire – Joseph Glidden.• Invented in 1874 – 10,000 lbs sold. • By 1878 – 27 million lbs sold

– Great Freeze Up of 1887• Temps below -68 F

– Overgrazing and drought– Cattle breeding/ranching

The Farming Frontier

Farming Expands West• Homestead Act 1862

– 160 acres per settler free IF• A settler can live on and improve land for 5 years• Pays $30

– Also authorizes the immediate sale of land a low cost ($1.25/acre)

– Purpose: rapid settlement; not $ is the goal.– 500,000 families move west under the HA

• Railroads – – Railroad boom 1850-1871– Railroads given land grants to pay cost. Land then sold

to settlers, many are immigrants.– Transcontinental RR completed in 1869 – Union Pacific

and Central Pacific.• Oklahoma Land Rush 1889

– 2 million acres given away in 24 hrs.– “boomers” and “sooners”

• Factors encouraging settlement– Cheap, accessible land– Railroads

• New railroads help bring settlers out and send crops to eastern markets

• RRs given land by gov’t as payment; sell land to immigrants– Technologies

• Steel plow• Dry farming techniques

– west of 100th meridian, rainfall drops from 20-30in/yr to 10-20in/yr

– Drought resistant crops (Russian wheat, etc) used– Windmills pump water up from wells

• Barbed wire• McCormick’s Harvester-Thresher

– Can cut and thresh wheat in one pass– 1830: takes 180 minutes to produce a bushel of grain; by 1900:

10 min• Seed drill

– High prices.• Wheat and corn prices up due to crop failures in Europe in the

1860s and Civil War in America

• Life in the West– Hardships

• Lonely existence• Difficult conditions:

heat, wind, dust, insects, rattlesnakes, drought, and harsh winters.

• Locusts• Lack of water and

trees

– Adaptations• Dugouts and Soddies• Locusts used as a food

source• Buffalo chips (dung)

used as fuel

A dugout (above) and a soddy (below)

• The Cycle of Debt – High prices for crops encourage investment.– Farmers get loans to purchase machinery to produce

more.– Drops in the prices in the 1870s make it difficult for

farmers to repay loans.

• Bonanza Farms– High prices encourage massive investment– Huge farms run by corporations and investors– Some had 10,000+ acres in cultivation– Many fold because of droughts in the 1880s/90s.

• Railroads– Farmers grow upset at railroad rates that charge western

farmers more then eastern farmers, and sometimes charge more for hauling items short distances than they do long distances.

The Farmer’s Movement• In response to

hardships, debt, and discontent, and anger at railroad monopolies, farm organizations emerge.

• The Grange (1860s-70s)– Originally a communal organization– Cooperative efforts: grain elevators,

negotiated rates with RRs– Political efforts: Granger Laws

• Farmers Alliance (1880s)– Political organization (a modern day

P.A.C.)– Endorses candidates: Alliance

Yardstick– Southern Alliance; Colored Farmer’s

Alliance.

• Populist Party (1892)– Significant 3rd party that challenges

the Dems and Republicans in 1892 & 1896

A grain elevator.

Schematic of a Grain Elevator

Farmer’s Alliance & the Populist Party

Alliance Yardstick

Populist Party

Platform

Gov’t regulation or ownership of RRs, pipelines, telegraphs

Graduated income tax Free coinage of silver @ 16:1 Lower tariffs Direct election of senators Gov’t sub-treasuries (to hold grain off the market) & loans

8-hr workday Australian ballot Restriction of immigration

Populist Party & the Election of 1896

• Populist successes in 1892 and discontent over the Panic of 1893 pave way for a major campaign in 1896

• Central issue: bi-metallism– Gold bugs vs. silverites

• “Popocrats” – a fusion ticket– Populist Party nominates William Jennings

Bryan (NE) and VP Tom Watson (GA)– Democrats nominate WJB and VP Arthur Sewall

(a Maine banker)

Election of 1896

• GOP nominates William McKinley (OH)– Protectionist– Marcus Hanna (Cleveland) runs the

campaign– Backed by wealthy industrialists

• Bryan campaigns vigorously, speaking in 27 states and traveling over 18K miles

• McKinley’s campaign targets industrial workers, immigrants, and business interests.

The Mining Frontier

Mining

• Gold Rush – Gold discovered in California in 1848– Most surface gold is gone by the 1850s.

• Mining in the West– 1858 – Gold and silver discovered in Pike’s Peak,

Colorado.– 1859 – The Comstock Lode is discovered;

• $340 million dollars of gold and silver mined 1860-1890– Settlers pour into the western states of Colorado,

Nevada, Utah, Montana, and Idaho.– Industry becomes highly mechanized, with large

businesses dominating.– Mining towns “boom” then “bust”

• “Helldorados” – 1 in 3 buildings is a saloon.

Map illustrating the location of mining and supply towns in the western US in the late 19th century