1860 - 1900

• Following the Civil War, many Americans and

Europeans continued to move into the WEST

• “as far as the eye can see… millions of

acres of treeless grassland.”

• Between the Mississippi River and

the Rocky Mountains

• Flatlands that rise gradually from east to west

• Land eroded by wind and water

• Low rainfall

•Frequent dust storms

• Only 20 inches of rain per year • Home to the buffalo – can

survive in dry climate (sacred to the Native Americans)

• High winds stir up dust and create dust storms

1. New beginning for freedmen

2. Opportunities to own land

3. Treasure – discovery of gold

and silver

4. Desire for adventure

5. New Technology –people could

live in challenging

environments

Opportunities for Land

1. 21 years old, or head of family

2. US citizens or filing for

3. Build a certain size home and live for 6 months

4. Farm the land for five consecutive years

Homestead Act (1862) – government incentive that

gave 160 acres (1/4 sq. mi.) if met certain

requirements:

• Towns called

BOOMTOWNS grew

over night

• Miners came from all

over

• Town life was expensive

• Violence was part of

BOOMTOWN life

BOOM!!

• No more gold!!

• A lot of people moved to new sites or back

home

• Now called ghost towns

BUST!!

• Who likes adventure??? The West was exciting

and new - People flocked to the West for

adventure

• Because of new inventions, people saw the

Great Plains not as a “treeless wasteland” but

as a vast area to be settled.

1.Dry Farming

2. Wheat Farming

3. Steel Plow

4. Windmills

5. Mechanical Reaper

6. Beef Cattle Raising

7. Barbed Wire

8. Railroads

9. Sod Houses

• Type of farming that allows farmers to farm

without much water.

• Plant the seeds deeper to get more water

• Popular crops = wheat, corn, and watermelon

• Wheat doesn’t need

much water

• Wheat can be made into

flour which is non-

perishable and can be

used to make bread and

cereal

• Great Plain soil was

rocky

• Wooden plows weren’t

strong enough

• Harder steel made the

plow work

Water-pumping Windmills:

Provided water for people and

animals due to little rainfall

1. Wind turns the blades of the

windmill

2. A long rod that runs down

the tower moves the handle

of a pump up and down

3. The water flows into an

open wooden box called a

trough

• Mechanical Reaper

(mower) reduced farm

labor needs and

increased production

• Some areas good for

cow (cattle)

• Texas became the

center of cattle

ranching

• People in the East

wanted to eat beef

http://patentpending.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/bwcollage1.gif

• Barbed wire was used

for fencing large

ranches and farms

• Built quickly and was

cheap

• Wood fences were

expensive and hard to

get (few trees for

wood)

• Sod = the top layer of soil and grass

• Houses made out of sod (dirt)

• Sod was used on the walls and roof (placed over wood

beams)

• Made it easier to go west • Farmers could ship their crop to

the east Transcontinental Railroad – linked the East to the West (from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean) • Transported people and goods • Made trade easier • Started building factories in the

West

• Two Railroads: Union Pacific and Central

Pacific

-Union Pacific: began in Omaha, Nebraska (blue) - Central Pacific: began in Sacramento, California (red)

-“Meet me in the Middle”

• May 10, 1869: UP and CP met at Promontory Point, Utah…Leland Stanford, gov. of California, drove the last spike.

WHO BUILT THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD?

Union Pacific – 8,000 Irish and African Americans Central Pacific – 10,000 Chinese

Invented by Samuel Morse

THINK MORSE CODE

1. Allowed people to

communicate across long

distances.

2. Messages could travel

across the country in a

matter of minutes.