Frontier Settlements: 1870-Frontier Settlements: 1870-18901890

Frontier Settlements: 1870-Frontier Settlements: 1870-18901890

Population of the United States Population of the United States After the Civil WarAfter the Civil War

Population of the United States Population of the United States After the Civil WarAfter the Civil War

The Great Plains

States Entering the Union from 1867-189637-Nebraska (1867)38-Colorado (1876)39 and 40-North and South Dakota (1889)41-Montana (1889)42-Washington (1889)43-Idaho (1890)44-Wyoming (1890)45-Utah (1896)

Blue skies and open prairies.

The location of the Great Plains.

Buffalo roamed the Plains.

What is the Message of this What is the Message of this Picture?Picture?

What is the Message of this What is the Message of this Picture?Picture?

The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SDSD

The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SDSD

The Homestead Act of 1862

• The Homestead Act gave public lands (lands owned by the national government) to American citizens.

Facts:• Any person who was the head of a family or was at least 21 years old could become the owner of a homestead.

- homestead = 160 acres

• Married couples were entitled to two shares, or 320 acres.

- an acre = 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet

Requirements:

• The settler must live on the land and work it for five years.

Hardships• Lived in soddies– Homes made of sod: grass, root and dirt.

• Livable homestead cost

• Difficulty farming for five years to claim land• Bugs:

– grasshoppers, locusts• ate wheat, rye barley fields

– mosquitoes• Carried disease

• Drought– Reduced land productivity

African Americans Moved West. Why?

I hope there’s no Jim Crow Laws

in the West.

Exodusters Moving West.I hope there’s

no KKK.

Maybe we can vote in the West.

Blacks Moving WestBlacks Moving West

New New AgriculturalAgriculturalTechnologyTechnology

New New AgriculturalAgriculturalTechnologyTechnology

““Prairie Fan”Prairie Fan”Water PumpWater Pump

Steel Plow [“Sod Steel Plow [“Sod Buster”]Buster”]

McCormick ReaperMcCormick Reaper

Teach your neighbor about the hardships the Homesteaders had?

Land Use: 1880Land Use: 1880Land Use: 1880Land Use: 1880

Gold and silver mines were discovered throughout the West.

Thousands of miners from the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and China flocked to the West.

White and Chinese miners hoping to strike it rich.

Chinese miners

Boom Towns grew overnight. Boom Towns mean that many people came to the town and businesses began

growing.

Boomtowns - towns that grew up near major mining sites

· Some boom towns developed into cities, such as Denver, CO, and Reno, NV.

Boomtown - The General Store, Corinne, Boxelder Co., Utah

· Many of these new towns became abandoned ghost towns when the ore disappeared.

Silver City, Idaho

Discovered Gold

People MoveIn

Businesses Open

Gold is All FoundPeople Move Away to Find

JobsBusinesses

Close