Transcript Mining and Railroads - pams

Mining and Railroads
GUIDED READING ACTIVITY
Texas: The Open Range and Cattle Kingdom
Cattle Drives
Ended at the
Railroads
Cattle were transported
east by rail, to the
slaughterhouses and
butchers who satisfied
the demand of beefhungry Americans in
Eastern cities.
Crops on the Great Plains
Corn, or maize
Wheat – Amber Waves of
Grain
Transcontinental Railroads
Due to the extraordinary
efforts of railroad
workers – including
Chinese, Irish, and
Eastern European
immigrants; AfricanAmerican freedmen; exConfederates, and
journeymen - a number
of transcontinental
railroads connected the
nation by the end of the
1880s. The Northern
Pacific, from
Minneapolis/St. Paul to
Tacoma, Washington;
the southern route from
New Orleans to Los
Angeles; and the famous
original
Transcontinental Route,
from Omaha to
Sacramento.
Transcontinental Railroads
The Sand
Creek
Massacre
Colonel John
Chivington, attempting
to carry out a vengeful
mission against a group
of Arapaho warriors,
instead attacked a
group of peaceful
Cheyenne Indians
camped on the banks of
Sand Creek in
Southwestern Colorado.
Although he and his
men realized that the
Cheyenne were
peaceful, they
nevertheless carried out
a gruesome, brutal
massacre.
The Long Walk
of the Navajo
The Navajo, after
suffering military defeat
at the hands of the
United States Army
during the 1860s, were
forced to occupy the
land on a barren strip of
desert land near the
Pecos River. There,
they would suffer years
of disease and hardship.
The Battle of
Little Bighorn
General George
Armstrong Custer and
the Seventh Cavalry
met their doom when
they decided to attack a
heavily armed camp of
Sioux and Cheyenne
warriors led by Chiefs
Sitting Bull and Crazy
Horse. Although in the
short term it was a
dramatic victory for the
Native Americans, the
US Army soon
redoubled its resolve to
force tribes onto
reservations.
Wounded
Knee
In 1890, US Army
troops and police
officers spooked by the
Prophet Wovoka’s
wildly popular Ghost
Dance ritual, opened
fire upon the unarmed
and defenseless
members of the Sioux
Tribe on their
reservation at Wounded
Knee, South Dakota.
Over 200 Sioux men,
women, and children
died in the massacre,
including Chief Sitting
Bull.
The Western Frontier – Population in the 1860s
Native Americans
Mexican-Americans
The Rush for Gold and Silver
The California Gold Rush
of 1848 - 1849
The Comstock Lode, 1859
Discovered by Henry
Comstock in 1859 and
sold to large mining
corporations for just
$11,000, the Comstock
Lode was the largest
vein of ore discovered in
the West and eventually
produced close to $300
Million in gold and
silver. Virginia City, NV
was established on the
site by miners – who
rarely became rich
themselves – and
businessmen to serve
their needs – who often
did get rich!
The Comstock Lode, 1859
VIRGINIA CITY’S MOST
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESSES:
HARDWARE AND
TOOLS STORES
RESTAURANTS AND
DRY GOODS STORES
CLOTHING
DRINKING WATER
BARS AND SALOONS
HOTELS
BAKERIES!?!?!?
Successful Businesses in Virginia
City, Nevada
Chinese miners were not
allowed to mine plots of
land before American
born miners had had an
opportunity to explore
them first. Nevertheless,
the Chinese were so
successful in
accumulating wealth
that widespread
jealously emerged and
resulted in violence. In
California, Chinese were
eventually forbidden to
purchase real estate, and
by the 1880s,
immigration from China
was formal outlawed by
the United States
Congress by the racist
Exclusion Act.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE
CHINESE IN THE WEST WAS
WIDESPREAD AND VIOLENT.
Before regular
governments were
established in the west,
men relied upon
vigilante justice to
resolve the many
disputes which emerged
in boomtowns. A
community composed of
90% men, always
working and tired - and
frequently drunken and
rowdy – was no place for
the meek. Vigilantes
took the law into their
own hands and meted
out justice as they saw fit
– sometimes justly,
sometimes just quickly.
Vigilante government in the West was soon
replaced by more legitimate sheriffs,
marshals, and justices.
AID PROVIDED TO
RAILROAD CO.s BY
THE UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT:
TEN (10) SQUARE
MILES OF LAND ON
EITHER SIDE OF
THEIR RAILROAD
TRACKS – TO SELL TO
BUSINESSES, HOTELS,
TRADERS & FARMERS.
SUBSIDIES – IN THE
FORM OF MONEY,
WITH WHICH TO
INVEST IN
MATERIALS.
Railroads were given land, or right of ways on
either side of their railroad tracks, along with
money to build!
The Transcontinental Railroad ~ 1869
The Central Pacific
Railroad
The Union Pacific
Railroad
The Golden
Spike Driven –
May 10, 1869
The Union Pacific
Railroad, moving from
Omaha to the west, and
the Central Pacific
Railroad, moving from
Sacramento to the east,
finally met at Promontory
Point, Utah on May 10,
1869. There, Leland
Stanford completed the
railroad by driving in the
ceremonial final spike.
Despite the reliance of
these companies on
Chinese labor to finish
the project, not one was
allowed in the famous
photograph to the right,
taken on the day of the
ceremony.
Eight (8) new
states joined the
Union by 1890
1.
Nevada (1864)
2.
Colorado (1876)
3.
North Dakota
(1889)
4.
South Dakota
(1889)
5.
Washington (1889)
6.
Montana (1889)
7.
Idaho (1890)
8.
Wyoming (1890)
Population
Expansion in the
West
As transportation
systems improved in the
vast region west of the
Mississippi River,
farmers, ranchers,
miners, and businessmen
found that it was possible
to live more comfortably
and prosper economically
in the West, without fear
of hostile Native
Americans, isolation, and
the elements. Railroads
encouraged settlement to
improve their own sales –
every settler relied on
trains for transportation
and the movement of
crops or livestock to
market.