Westward Expansion

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Westward ExpansionWith

Mr. Luzadder

5th GradePlain Elementary

Simpsonville, South Carolina

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Westward ExpansionLast updated: April 13, 2023

11:20 PM

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Standard 5-2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the continued westward expansion of the United States.

Indicators

5-2.1 Explain how aspects of the natural environment—including the principal mountain ranges and rivers, terrain, vegetation, and climate of the region—affected travel to the West and thus the settlement of that region. (G, H)

5-2.2 Illustrate the effects of settlement on the environment of the West, including changes in the physical and human systems. (G)

5-2.3 Summarize how railroads affected development of the West, including their ease and inexpensiveness for travelers and their impact on trade and the natural environment. (G, E, H)

5-2.4 Provide examples of conflict and cooperation between occupational and ethnic groups in the West, including miners, ranchers, and cowboys; Native Americans and Mexican Americans; and European and Asian immigrants. (E, H)

5-2.5 Explain the social and economic effects of the westward expansion on Native Americans, including changes in federal policies, armed conflicts, opposing views concerning land ownership, and Native American displacement. (P, G, E, H)

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Westward Expansion

E.Q. What was the transcontinental railroad and why was it needed?

E.Q. What role did immigrants play in the building of the transcontinental railroad?

E.Q. How was the transcontinental railroad completed?

E.Q. What are time zones and why are they needed?

E.Q. What was the purpose of the Homestead Act and what were settlers who acquired land required to do?

E.Q. What was a sodbuster and what problems did they face?

E.Q. Why did African Americans move west and what was their life like once they got there?

E.Q. Why were some of the problems faced by settlers on the Great Plains and what technology helped make their lives easier?

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Westward Expansion

E.Q. What were cowboys really like?

E.Q. What were cattle drives and why did ranchers want to transport cattle so far?

E.Q. What dangers did cowboys face?

E.Q. Why did ranchers stop taking their cattle on cattle drives?

E.Q. How did the discovery of gold affect California?

E.Q. How did settlers change the Indian’s way of life?

E.Q. What caused the Battle of the Little Big Horn?

E.Q. Should Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé have fled to Canada or should they have surrendered?

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Westward Expansion

► The Transcontinental Railroad

► Homesteading on the Plains

► Cowboys & Miners

► The Plains Wars

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Westward ExpansionThe Transcontinental Railroad

E.Q. What was the transcontinental railroad and why was it needed?

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The Pony Express was a service begun in 1860 that used a relay of riders on horses to deliver mail from Missouri to California in ten days.

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Pony Express riders were usually teenagers who would carry mail about 75 miles in a day. They would change horses every ten to fifteen miles which allowed them to move at a rate of about ten miles per hour.

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The telegraph, an invention of Samuel Morse, is a device that sends messages through wires using electricity. In 1861 a telegraph wire was strung across the United States. Messages could now be sent from coast to coast in a matter of minutes. This caused the Pony Express to become unnecessary.

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A transcontinental railroad is a railroad that crosses a continent. The first transcontinental railroad in the United States was completed in 1869.

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The desire for a transcontinental railroad grew after the California gold rush.

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In 1862 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act which offered government loans and free land if two companies would build the railroad.

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The Union Pacific would be built under the leadership of Grenville Dodge.

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The Union Pacific would begin in Omaha, Nebraska and workers would lay the tracks as they headed west.

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The Central Pacific would be built under the leadership of Charles Crocker.

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The Central Pacific would begin in Sacramento, California and workers would lay the tracks as they headed east.

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All Central Pacific supplies came from the East. Until 1868 their materials and machinery were shipped around the southern tip of South America.

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Work was often delayed because materials were not shipped on time or they were lost due to accident en route.

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Charles Crocker often cut corners. Among other things, he is reported to have had his crews drive spikes in only seven of every ten rails along the line.

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One group that did not want to see the railroad built were the Native Americans who attempted to disrupt the building of the transcontinental railroad. Red Cloud, a Lakota chief, said, “We do not want you here, you are scaring away the buffalo.”

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William Tecumseh Sherman warned Native Americans saying, “We will build iron roads, and you cannot stop the locomotive.” Federal troops began patrolling the Union Pacific in an effort to protect the workers and the railroad tracks.

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The train pictured is the Jupiter which carried Leland Stanford, one of the "big four” owners of the Central Pacific, and other railway officials to the Golden Spike Ceremony. Notice the Indians on the hill overlooking the train.

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E.Q. What role did immigrants play in the building of the transcontinental railroad?

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While the Central Pacific had enough work to employ 4,000 workers, they were barely able to maintain a workforce of 800 men.

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Prejudice caused many to believe that Irish workers simply used their wages to purchase alcohol and Chinese workers were unreliable.

Definition of prejudice:1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge,

thought, or reason.2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable. 3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature,

regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

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At one point, Irish workers became upset over their wages. Crocker recruited some Chinese to take their place. The Irishmen quickly went back to work.

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At first, the Central Pacific Railroad hired just 50 Chinese workers. Their work ethic was so impressive, however, that many more were hired.

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Crocker not only sent word all over California that he was hiring Chinese workers, but he also hired companies to advertise for workers in China.

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By 1868 there were 12,000 Chinese workers employed by Central Pacific. This was at least 80% of their workforce.

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"Wherever we put them, we found them good and they worked themselves into our favor to such an extent that if we found we were in a hurry for a job of work, it was better to put Chinese on at once.”

-- Charles Crocker

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E.Q. How was the transcontinental railroad completed?

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On May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific met at Promontory Point, in the Utah Territory.

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Over a period of six years, over 1,700 miles of track had been laid.

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To commemorate the momentous occasion of the transcontinental railroad being completed, a spike made of gold from the mines of California was made. Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific, was given the honor of driving the spike into the track.

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The message “Done” was telegraphed throughout the country.

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Before the completion of the railroad, it would cost about $1000 and require months of traveling to cross the United States. Once the railroad was completed, a person could cross the continent in a week for less than $100.

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Completion of the world’s first transcontinental railroad was celebrated here where the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific met on May 10, 1869.

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E.Q. What are time zones and why are they needed?

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A time zone is a region in which one standard of time is used. There are 24 time zones around the world.

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Westward ExpansionHomesteading on the Plains

E.Q. What was the purpose of the Homestead Act and what were settlers who acquired land required to do?

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Many cities and farms could be found on both the east coast and the west coast of the United States following the Civil War. The land between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains was sparsely populated, however. This land was known as the Great Plains.

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The Great Plains was a vast grassland and was nicknamed the “Great American Desert.”

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In an effort to encourage people to move to the Great Plains, Congress passed the Homestead Act. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed this act which gave 160 acres (1/4 square mile) of land to individuals who were citizens of the United States, the head of a household, at least 21 years old, and who paid a small fee -- often about $10.

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Homesteaders were settlers who claimed land on the Great Plains under the Homestead Act.

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These homesteaders were required to build a house, dig a well, plow 10 acres, fence in a specified amount of the land, and live on the property for five years.

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Many pioneers took advantage of the amazing opportunity made possible by the Homestead Act. A pioneer is an early settler of a region.

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Some of these settlers were African Americans who had recently been freed from slavery and immigrants from France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

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E.Q. What was a sodbuster and what problems did they face?

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Sodbusters were Great Plains farmers of the late 1800s who had to cut through sod, or thick grass, before planting crops.

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Plowing was extremely difficult because they had to “bust” through the soil that was entangled with grass roots. Once the land had been plowed, however, settlers found that the land was very fertile.

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In 1877 John Deere invented a steel plow that was able to slice through the grass and soil of the Plains.

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Sodbusters learned that they could use this sod to build their homes in the absence of trees. These houses proved to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Unfortunately, insects, rodents, and snakes liked to make their homes in the sod walls.

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Sod House

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Sod House

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E.Q. Why did African Americans move west and what was their life like once they got there?

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In 1877, fliers were printed that encouraged southern blacks to leave their homes and come to Nicodemus, Kansas, the most famous town settled by African Americans. These fliers typically exaggerated the abundance of resources and the low cost of land.

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The people of this town faced many difficulties including shortages of supplies and having their crops trampled by the cattle of ranchers. The first settlers of the town lived in dugouts much "like prairie dogs" among the grasses of the plains.

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While Nicodemus did become more prosperous, it eventually began to decline due to the fact that a railroad was never built near the town.

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Aerial view of Nicodemus, Kansas.

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First Baptist Church of Nicodemus, Kansas.

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In 1879, around twenty thousand African Americans sailed north on the Mississippi River to Kansas in what came to be known as the Kansas Fever Exodus. These individuals became known as exodusters.

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Exodus means “a journey to freedom.” These African Americans saw themselves escaping slavery in search of the Promised Land much like the Israelites who had been led by Moses as described in the Bible.

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E.Q. Why were some of the problems faced by settlers on the Great Plains and what technology helped make their lives easier?

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By 1895 more than 430,000 people had established homesteads on the Great Plains. Most homesteaders settled in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota Territory. Nearly 300 million acres were given to new settlers on the Plains.

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Technology is the use of new ideas to make tools that improve people’s lives.

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Some technology that aided settlers were the windmill which made it possible to get water from deep underground and barbed wire, invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874, which made it possible to fence in large areas of land in the absence of many trees.

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Life on the plains was very difficult. Some of the hardships faced by homesteaders included prairie fires, unpredictable weather (blizzards, droughts, violent thunderstorms, etc.), and swarms of grasshoppers and locusts.

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Westward ExpansionCowboys & Miners

E.Q. What were cowboys really like?

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Westward Expansion Cowboys & Miners

Around 1/3 to 1/2 of all cowboys were African American or Mexican American. Many of the African American Cowboys were former slaves while many of the white cowboys were former Civil War soldiers. It was not uncommon for cowboys to be very young.

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A cowboy’s life could be adventurous, but it was also exhausting and dangerous.

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Cowboys

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Cowboys

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Cowboy

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Cowboy

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Cowboy

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Cowboy

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E.Q. What were cattle drives and why did ranchers want to transport cattle so far?

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By 1865 there were more than 5 million head of longhorn cattle in Texas. Each could be sold for as little as $4 in Texas, but would be worth $40 in the North where cattle were less plentiful.

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Ranchers realized they could make more money by taking their cattle East by railroad.

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Cowboys would herd cattle from their ranches in Texas to rail stations. This was known as a cattle drive. Cattle drives would often begin in the spring when the weather was cooler.

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During a cattle drive, cowboys might work sixteen-hour days seven days a week.

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In the 1860s cattle drives would be led by a trail boss and a chuck wagon, which carried food and supplies. The trail boss would be assisted by 8 to 20 cowboys. They would often be responsible for getting 2,000 to 3,000 cattle to the rail station. These herds could sometimes stretch for two miles.

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Cowboys

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E.Q. What dangers did cowboys face?

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One of the greatest dangers cowboys faced were stampedes. A stampede occurred when cattle became frightened and ran out of control. In a stampede, cowboys and their horses could be trampled or the cattle could charge into a river and drown. Cowboys would often sing to help keep the cattle calm.

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The routes cowboys took their cattle were known as trails. One of the most famous was the Chisholm Trail, which connected San Antonio, Texas with Abilene, Kansas. Another well-known trail was the Goodnight-Loving Trail which ran from Texas to Colorado.

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Towns where cowboys drove their cattle to meet the railroad were known as railheads. Railheads would have stockyards where the cattle could be kept while waiting for a train and hotels where weary cowboys could rest. Abilene and Dodge City were two well-known railheads in Kansas.

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The cattle were transported from railheads on the Great Plains to meatpacking plants in Chicago, Illinois. By 1870 Chicago was the world’s largest supplier of beef.

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Chicago

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Chicago

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Chicago

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E.Q. Why did ranchers stop taking their cattle on cattle drives?

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Cattle drives came to an end in the late 1880s as railroads stretched down into Texas making cattle drives unnecessary.

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E.Q. How did the discovery of gold affect California?

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On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered a few nuggets of gold at a saw mill owned by John Sutter. Over half a million people traveled to California in hopes of striking it rich. Gold mining was hard work that required long days and a lot of patience. Few people actually became rich mining for gold.

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By 1850, enough people had moved to California that it was able to become a state.

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An entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business, hoping to make a profit.

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Luzena Stanley Wilson was an entrepreneur who moved her family Nevada City, California, and opened a restaurant in her home. Soon hungry miners were paying a dollar to eat at her table.

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Levi Strauss was an entrepreneur from Germany who learned to make sturdy pants for miners out of denim and rivets. These were the world’s first blue jeans.

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Boomtowns were communities that sprung up when silver or gold was discovered nearby.

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Ghost towns are towns that were left empty when the miners moved away.

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Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California, were two towns that began as supply stations for miners and continued to grow into major metropolitan cities.

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Westward ExpansionThe Plains Wars

E.Q. How did settlers change the Indian’s way of life?

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In the 1860s, Native Americans saw homesteaders’ farms, railroads, and longhorn cattle on the land that had once been their hunting grounds.

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In 1850 there were fewer than 200,000 white settlers in the West. In 1870 there were nearly 1,400,000 settlers.

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Hunters shot hundreds of buffalo, and longhorn cattle ate the grass the buffalo needed. By 1890 the number of buffalo had shrunk from more than 15 million to less than 1,000. With the loss of buffalo, Native Americans lost their main source of food, clothing, and shelter.

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The Homestead Act gave settlers the right to own their own land. Native Americans believed that the land belonged to all of their people and that it could not be bought or sold.

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Since the 1800s the government made treaties with Native Americans promising not to take over their lands. Yet there were times the government broke these promises and sold land to settlers.

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The government established reservations, or lands set aside for Native American, in an effort to get Native Americans to give up hunting buffalo and begin farming. Most Native Americans did not want to live on reservations.

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Native Americans fought with settlers and soldiers many times during the mid 1800s. These conflicts are often called the Plains Wars. Native Americans were skilled warriors but usually lost in these clashes.

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E.Q. What caused the Battle of the Little Big Horn?

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In the Treaty of 1868, the government had agreed that the territory around the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming belonged to the Lakota.

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In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Nearly 15,000 miners came to South Dakota in hopes of getting rich. The government offered to buy the Black Hills from the Lakota for $6 million.

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When the Lakota refused the government’s offer, they were ordered to leave their land and to settle on reservations.

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In 1874 the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians united in an effort to protect their territory.

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Two Lakota chiefs, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, led more than 2,000 Native American warriors against Colonel George Custer and 600 soldiers of the Seventh Calvary at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which has also become known as “Custer’s last stand.”

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The Battle of the Little Bighorn was the last major victory of the Plains Wars for Native Americans.

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Sitting Bull

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George Armstrong Custer

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George Armstrong Custer

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Battle of the Little Bighorn

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E.Q. Should Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé have fled to Canada or should they have surrendered?

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In 1876 the government ordered the Nez Percé Indians living along the Wallowa River in Oregon to move to a reservation in the Idaho Territory.

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In June of 1877, U.S. soldiers were sent to relocate the Nez Percé to a reservation. The Nez Percé, however, did not want to leave their land. “It has always belonged to our people,” said the Nez Percé leader Chief Joseph.

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Chief Joseph and 700 Nez Percé Indians tried to flee from the soldiers. When they were running low on food and supplies they attempted to escape to Canada. When the tribe was within forty miles, however, they found themselves surrounded by American soldiers.

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I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed…. The little children are freezing to death…. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. -- Chief Joseph

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Chief Joseph surrendered when he was promised that the Nez Percé would be allowed to return to Oregon. This promise was not kept and the tribe was eventually moved to a reservation in Oklahoma.

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I believed General Miles, or I never would have surrendered. -- Chief Joseph

Education

Westward Expansion