13-3/13-4: Cattle Kingdoms & Farming

in the WestAmericans worked to find ways to

deal with the cattle industry’s decline and challenging farming

conditions.

Anticipatory Set

California StandardsStandard 8.12.1: Trace patterns of

agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map.

Standard 8.12.3: Explain how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies.

Standard 8.12.8: Identify the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism.

Inputopen range: unfenced lands.cattle drive: the herding and moving of cattle over long distances.

vaquero: cowhand, or cowboy (Spanish).

cow town: settlement at the end of a cattle trail.

cattle kingdom: the region dominated by the cattle industry and its ranches, trails, and cow towns.

Inputhomesteader: settlers who acquired free land from the government.

sod: a surface layer of earth in which the roots of grasses tangle with soil.

sodbuster: plains farmers.sooner: a person who sneaked onto the land before the start of the Oklahoma land rush.

Inputgrange: groups of farmers who met for lectures, sewing bees, and other events.

farm cooperative: groups of farmers who pool their money to make large purchases of tools, seeds, and other supplies.

inflation: general rise in prices.William Jennings Bryan

ResearchMain Idea & Details

1.Fold 2 papers into 4 sections each for notes.

2.Write down the section heading and the main idea. You will fill in the details at the end of the lesson.

InputThe Rise of the Cattle Industry

The coming of railroads gave western ranchers a way to get cattle to distant markets.

In spring, cowhands would go on a cattle drive, the herding and moving of cattle over long distances, that would last two to three months.

Cattle drives followed well-worn trails such as, the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas

InputThe Rise of the Cattle Industry

Cowhands, working long hours for low pay, learned skills developed earlier by Spanish and Mexican vaqueros.

Safari MontageTexas, Chapter 3

Cities and Culture of Texas; Chisholm Trail (1 min 53 sec)

InputThe Wild West

The West gained an exaggerated reputation for lawlessness and violence.

In 1867, Joseph McCoy, an Illinois businessman, founded Abilene, Kansas, where the Chisholm Trail met the Kansas Pacific Railroad. It was the first cow town, or settlement at the end of a cattle trail.

Rival cow towns such as Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, soon sprang up along rail lines.

Dance halls, saloons, hotels, and restaurants served the cowboys.

Soon, the myth of the West as a place of violence, adventure, and endless opportunity spread to the East.

Easterners called it the Wild West.

InputBoom and Bust in the Cattle Kingdom

Overstocking and a spell of bad weather eventually put an end to the cattle boom.

The cattle boom lasted from the 1860s to the 1880s.

In 1886 and 1887, a cycle of scorching summers and frigid winters killed millions of cattle.

An economic depression caused a drop in demand for beef.Giant cattle ranches slowly gave way to smaller ranches that grew their own feed.Large roundups and long cattle drives vanished.

InputHomesteading

Would-be settlers could get a homestead from the government or land from railroad companies.

During the Civil War, Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862.

It offered a 160-acre plot to anyone who resided on the land for five years.

Of the thousands that became homesteaders on the Great Plains only one in three homesteaders lasted the required five years.

Railroads recruited thousands of people from the eastern U.S., Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia to settle on the Great Plains.

InputA Hard Life on the Plains

New techniques and inventions helped settlers adapt to the difficult life on the Plains.

InputA Hard Life on the Plains

New techniques and inventions helped settlers adapt to the difficult life on the Plains.

Whole families worked on the farms.Men labored from dawn to dusk.Children tended animals and helped with

other chores.Women helped plant and harvest; they

educated children, nursed the sick, sewed clothing, preserved food, and made basic items like soap and candles.

InputA Last Rush for Land

A rush for land in Oklahoma in 1889 signaled the closing of the western frontier.

In April 1889, nearly 100,000 people gathered at a line near present-day Oklahoma City.

These people called “boomers” had come to claim some of the 2 million acres of free homesteads in former Indian Territory.

A few people, known a sooners, had already snuck onto the land; they jumped from hiding and grabbed the best land.

In 1890, the U.S. no longer had land available for homesteading.

InputFarmers Organize

Facing an economic crisis, farmers formed groups like the National Grange and the Populist Party.

As farmers became more efficient, prices fell due to surpluses. Small farmers lost their land. Some communities began to form granges.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Grangers elected state officials who passed laws to limit the rates of railroads and warehouses.

A group called the Farmers’ Alliance organized in the 1870s to help farmers.

In 1892, unhappy farmers joined with labor unions to form the Populist Party.

The party demanded public ownership of railroads and warehouses to control rates, a tax on income to replace property taxes, an eight-hour workday, and other reforms.

InputFarmers Organize

Facing an economic crisis, farmers formed groups like the National Grange and the Populist Party.

The Populists supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896.

Bryan, known as the “Great Commoner” won the votes of farmers in the South and West for supporting the use of silver to raise prices.

Bankers and business owners claimed rising prices would ruin the economy.

They backed Republican William McKinley and his gold-alone policy.

McKinley won.

ResearchINDEPENDENT WORK

1.Read pages 464-473 in the History textbook.

2.Take more detailed notes based on the “big idea” concepts just introduced.

HOMEWORK CONNECTION

Complete 13-3/13-4 Section Quiz

Write a detailed SUMMARY of the section and complete the UNANSWERED QUESTIONS section of your notes.

Choose two of the remaining Depth & Complexity ICONS in your notes and explain how they relate to this section.