Moving West

Mr. Williams10th Grade U.S. History

September 2, 2009

• “We were going to God’s Country. Eighteen hundred and 90….It was pretty hard to part with some of our things. We didn’t have much but we had worked hard for everything we had. You had to work hard in that rocky country in Missouri. I was glad to be leaving it. We were going to God’s Country….We were going to a new land and get rich.”

Pacific Railway Act• Signed in 1862 by Lincoln• Provided for right-of-way

construction of a transcontinental railroad by two companies• Union Pacific began westward from

Omaha, Nebraska• Central Pacific Railroad began

eastward from Sacramento, CA

Cornelius Vanderbilt• By 1869 had purchased and

merged three short New York railroads to form New York Central• Built Grand Central Terminal• At time of his death worth an

estimated $100 million

Effects of Railroad• Created many jobs: building

railroad tracks and cars, engineers, firemen, brakemen, mechanics, loaders, machinists, etc.• Increased demand for coal, steel,

timber, etc.• Linked major markets spurring

industry as well

Why Move West?Homesteaders, Miners, RanchersFrom 1870-1900 more land was settled

than in all the previous history of the country

*Eight new States entered the UnionColorado, Montana, North and South

Dakota, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah

•White Settlers: Came from middle class families and could afford supplies and transportation • African Americans: Left because of

KKK and Black Codes• Rumors spread that Kansas would

be set aside for former slaves

• European Immigrants: Economic Opportunity • Farming, Work on the Railroads• Chinese Immigrants: Gold Rush,

Railroad Work, or Farming • BUT laws outlawed Asians from

owning land

Homestead Act of 1862Promised 160 acres free to any citizen

or prospective citizen, male or female, who settled on the land for five years.

With the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, People could choose from 4 different companies to make the trip in less than a week.

SodbustersPoor farmers who did without even the

basics, living in dugouts carved in the land and using muscle instead of machinery

Most Homesteaders found only poorer lands, far from markets, transportation, and society

Oklahoma Land Rush (1889)

• 50,000 people rushed in staking claims on some 11,000 homesteads.

• “Along the line, as far as the eye could reach, with a shout and a yell the swift riders shot out, then followed by the light buggies or wagons and last the lumbering prairie schooners and freighter’s wagons. Above all a great cloud of dust hovered like smoke over a battlefield.”

Mining•Major mining communities sprung

up in Colorado, California, and along the Canada-Alaska border

• Dug mine shafts, tunnels, and drilled out the ore. Dangerous work, always threat of a cave-in and explosions

Ranching• Demand for beef grew in the East• Ranchers would ship cattle, using

Railroad to cities like Chicago• Between 1882 and 1886 more

than 400 cattle corporations developed in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and NM

• Chisholm Trail

Western Migration • Cause: Americans continue

moving west in large numbers• Effects: Traditional Native

American ways of life destroyed•Mining Communities Established• Ranches and Cattle Industry Boom• Farmers settle on the Plains