America Moves WestAmerica Moves West

Mining, Ranching, and FarmingMining, Ranching, and Farming

The Spread of Western MiningThe Spread of Western Mining

• Pikes Peak– The Comstock Load

• Gold was found West Of Denver– Created Colorado out of Kansas Territory

• The Black Hills of Dakota– The Richest single mine in the world

• Joined the Country together as one instead of two separate countries

Early Mining and Mining TownsEarly Mining and Mining Towns

• Placer Mining – loose dirt into boxes, then run water over them to separate the gold from the dirt

• After the easily gathered gold, prospectors left, leaving behind ghost towns.

• Corporations organized workers to dig mine shafts

– Huge Drills and Hydraulic Pumps replaced hand picks

The Cattle BoomThe Cattle Boom

• Demand Spurs Growth– 5 million Cattle roamed wild, leaving ample

supplies– Pork fell out of favor as the meat of choice

• Was said to be “difficult to digest” and “Unwholesome”

– Prices rose from $3 to $6 dollars in Texas to $40 a head in Illinois and $80 a head in New York

Destruction of the BuffaloDestruction of the Buffalo

• 25 million in 1840 to 1,100 in 1889

• Killed for Fur Robes and Leather Belts

• Buffalo hunting became a popular sport

• The Government sought to wipe them out to force the Indians into farming

Cattle DrivesCattle Drives

• The Chisholm Trail

• The Cowboy– 1/5th were Native American or Mexican– Up by 3:30 am and in the saddle by 4:00– 18 hours a day in the Saddle

The Cattle BaronsThe Cattle Barons

• Some owned over 100,000 Cattle grazing on millions of acres

Farming the PlainsFarming the Plains

• Homesteaders– Lived in Soddies or a Sod home made from strips

of grass with thick roots.– Plowing the fields for planting took 1,400 miles of

walking to break the 120 Acres– Disasters could wipe out the crops

• Bugs: Grasshoppers, locust, and Boll weevils ate crops

– Mosquitoes and flies carried disease and constantly harassed people and animals

– Rattle snakes would hang down from the roof

Families pulled togetherFamilies pulled together

• Men: Sod busting, planted, hoed, and harvested.

• Women: raised children, cooked, cleaned, made and washed clothes. Preserved food, made soap and butter, raised chickens, milked cows, spun wool, and managed he money

• Children as young as 4 collected wood, carried water.

• Older children would be hired out to other people to work their farms

New TechnologyNew Technology

• Dry Farming: – planting crops the do not require a lot of

water,– Keeping the fields free of weeds– Digging deep furrows

• The USDA provided information of Crop Rotation, plant diseases, and soil conservation

Big Business FarmsBig Business Farms

• The growth of technology in farms let to more output with less human labor.

• This lead to the creation of Bonanza Farms, or farms controlled by big businesses

• Farmers eventually prevailed over ranching