Transforming the West

Miners Hope to Strike it Rich

During the mid-1800s, the idea of Manifest Destiny pushed many people to move westward. The economic opportunities found along the way encouraged greater settlement. One of these opportunities focused on the mining industry.

What happened at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848? Gold was discovered

After the gold and silver disappeared, many of these ‘boomtowns’ became ghost towns.

Miners Hope to Strike it Rich

There was a growing concern over the lack of water in the West. Big companies would use water to blast minerals from silt, and it would runoff downstream, contaminating water used by farmers and their livestock.

Railroads in the West

The idea of a transcontinental railroad that connected East to West was proposed as the need to transport goods became more necessary.

Instead of being owned by the government, the U.S. gov expected private companies to build them.

Railroads in the West The Central Pacific and Union Pacific rail

lines started in opposite directions and built towards one another. It was not easy: there was a shortage in labor, so Chinese immigrants were brought over and treated harshly. In 1869 in, Promontory Summit, Utah, the two rail

lines met. The West experienced a population boom

with simply the prospect of a railroad being built. White settlers invaded both Native American and Mexican lands.

The Cattle Industry Before the railroad, cattle had been allowed to

roam free on the Plains, not fenced by their owners. This was known as the open range system. Owners would keep track of cattle by branding

them. The railroads made this system impossible,

and ranchers were forced to fence in their cattle using barbed wire.

Farmers Move Westo Many farmers moved westward with the passage of

the Homestead Act in 1862. o This act granted 160 acres to individuals who were

willing to move West and establish a farm. o During Reconstruction, African Americans who

moved West (known as exodusters) left the South to find profit in the ‘promised land’ of the West.

o The government encouraged farming as a career by passing the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862 which established agricultural colleges.

Prejudice and Discrimination in the West The West was home to 80% of the

country’s minority populations. These differences in language, food,

religion and cultural practices created fear and distrust between the groups.

The last major land rush happened in Oklahoma in 1889. As of 1890, the ‘frontier’ was considered

‘closed’, as every square mile of the US (w/o AK and HI) was considered inhabited.

Prejudice and Discrimination in the West This was highlighted in

Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis.

Turner hypothesized that on the frontier was where democracy was most evident. As territories became

populated, the people established states in a manner representative of themselves democracy!