Opening+the+West

 __ **Section 1** __ // __The Mining Booms __ // Miners were making $20 a day on average. Boomtowns were towns located near mines that were lively and lawless. Boomtowns were formed almost overnight. Few police or prisons to control violence. Vigilantes-ordinary people that occasionally punished criminals. __// Railroads //__ Transcontinental- a rail line that would span the continent and connect both coasts. Subsidies- financial aid and land grants from the government which helped to fund the railroads. Government granted more than 130 million acres of land to railroad companies. Land was usually purchased by Native Americans. Two companies accepted the challenge to build a transcontinental railroad. They include the Union Pacific Company and Central Pacific. Chinese workers= Central (Did better than Union).Irish and African Americans= Union Pacific. // __Time Zones __ // Railroads changed how people measured time. In 1883 the country was divided into four time zones. Congress made the time zones official 1918.
 * __Chapter 4- Opening the West 1858-1896__**

__** Section 2 ** //Cattle on the Plains // __ When the Spanish settled Mexico and Texas, they brought longhorns, a tough breed of cattle that had long horns. By 1865 the Missouri Pacific Railroad reached Kansas City, Missouri and the value of Texas cattle suddenly increased. Some Texans drove their combined herds- sometimes 260,00 head of cattle. Longhorns that were worth 3 dollars each quick rose in value to 40 dollars. `increase in the Longhorns value set off what became known as the Long Drive- the hearding of cattle 1,000 miles or more to meet the railroads.

//__Life on the Great Plains __// Cattle driving was hard work. Cowhands rode in the saddle up to 15 hours every day, in driving rain, dust storms, and blazing sun. Life on the trail was lonely; cowhands faced many dangers: violent storms, “rustlers” people who tried to steal cattle, and stampedes (when thousands of cattle ran in panic). Cattle herding traditions began in Spanish southwest when Hispanic ranch hands, known as vaqueros, developed the riding, roping, and branding skills used by cowhands. The word ranch comes from the Spanish word ranchos. The ranchers became rich when cattle prices boomed. As a result of too many cattle for sale on the beef market, cattle prices fell, bringing an end to the cattle kingdom. Another type of economic activity would rise in the plains- farming.

//__Farmers Settle the Plains __// In the late 1860s, farmers began settling on the Great Plains. Several factors, or contributing circumstances, brought settlers to the Plains. News laws offered free land. In 1862, the governments encouraged settlement on the Plains by passing the Homestead Act. This law gave up to 160 free acres of land to a settler who paid a 10 dollar filling fee and lived on the land for 5 years. The federal land policy brought farmers to the Plains to homestead- earned ownership of land by settling on it. Homesteaders settled on the Plains to own land and be independent. Railroad companies sold the strips of land alongside the rail lines to raise cash. Thousands of African Americans migrated from the southern states to Kansas in the late 1870s. The end of reconstruction in 1877 had meant the end of federal production for African Americans. By 1881, more than 40,000 African Americans had migrated to Kansas. Some of the greatest challenges for farmers on the Great Plains included flooding and in some years drought, and drought brought brushfires which destroyed crops and livestock. Summer season might bring plagues of grasshoppers. Men labored hard in the fields, but women also did the same work along with caring for the children, they sewed clothing, made candles, and cooked/preserved food. When the men were away women bore all responsibilities for keeping the farm running. Plains farmers, known as sod busters, needed new methods and tools; One approach, called dry farming, was to plant seeds deep in moist ground. Sod busters used windmills to pump water from deep in the ground, they also used barbed wire- they used the barbed wire to protect their land.

John Deere was born 1804 in Rutland, Vermont on February, 7. At four years old he lost his father at sea. He had an average education he was apprenticed at the age of seventeen to a wealthy blacksmith by the name of Captain Benjamin Lawrence. He was well known for his careful workmanship and creativity. He was also known for his polished needles that were able to go easier through soft and easily breakable leather and hides. He also used the same idea of polishing for hay forks and shovels that could break up tough soil. He settled down in Grand Detour in 1836 and set up a forge the next day. When he got to Illinois he found that the plows they had weren’t made for the sticky, tough, and clumpy soil and broke most plows. The plows they used were made for the New England sandy soil and couldn’t handle the western soil. John thought he could fix that problem using the same method as the polished hay needles and shovels. He started to make designs and soon made a prototype of the first polished steel plow he made out of some wood and a broken saw blade. He moved to a factory in Moline in 1848, Illinois right near the river so he could get his steel faster and easier and the water power. John incorporated as Deere and Company in 1868. John would be constantly changing and improving designs. He soon became involved in politics after he handed over the company to Charles. He became a mayor of Moline in 1873 and worked for public roads, sewers, and lighting. He also bought a farm and raised cattle and pigs there with the help of some workers. Charles John Deere’s son was showing himself as an excellent business man and was rapidly expanding the company while also keeping the customers more than happy. John Deere died on May, 17, 1886 in his home in Redcliff that overlooked Moline the city he made that has now 10,000 residents. He was 82 years old when he died, in the town and all over the world people mourned for him more than 4,000 people three days later paid their respects. Many people put black flags up everywhere and they were set at half mast. Soon news spread across the town and even to Europe and England. Many people in Moline and workers from his factory out up black drapes in their home and put his picture in the window surrounded by black. But even today, Deere and Company is a worldwide manufacturer of farm and agriculture tools and equipment. Even after death John Deere’s legacy continues

Native Americans of the Great plains depended on buffalo to survive, but railroads threatened this lifestyle. The government wanted to ensure the whites moving into the Native American Territory were safe. The Plains Indians lived nomadic lives, meaning they moved all over the place looking for food. The commission recommended moving the Native Americans to a few large reservations. Government agents often used trickery to persuade Native American nations to move to the reservations. During the 1860’s many armed clashes came upon the Native Americans and whites. Crazy Horse, A Sioux military leader, acting as a decoy, lured the troops into a deadly trap. Sitting Bull, an important leader of the Lakota Sioux, refused “I don’t want to sell any land. Not even this much,”Once in Arizona, the Apache leader, Geronimo, fled to Mexico. During the 1880’s, he led raids in Arizona. Dawes Act passed 1887- it aimed to remove what whites regarded as two weaknesses in American life: the lack of private property and nomadic tradition. After Sitting Bull’s death, several hundred Lakota Sioux gathered at a creek called Wounded Knee.
 * __<span style="background-color: #4a3d76; color: #17cfcd; display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">Section 3 __**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Chief Sitting Bull, one of the world’s most memorable Indian war chiefs, lived a very interesting and dangerous life. He was born in 1831, in Grand River, South Dakota. His parents were Jumping Bull and Her-Holy-Door. Sitting Bull’s birth name was Jumping Badger, but in his teenage years he gained the name Sitting Bull. In his life, he had survived in many battles and won because of his smart war strategies he had come up with. Sitting Bull was mostly known of his outstanding war acts. He fought in three pretty major battles, which were the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, Red Cloud’s war, and the great Sioux war of 1868 to 1877. In the battle of Little Bighorn, he had fought against General George Armstrong Custer on June 25th, 1876, and had won. Sitting Bull was a chief of a United Lakota Nation and in 1857 was named a tribal war chief because of his skill and excellence in battle. Sitting Bull was also a part of a resistance against white expansion in the United States, but not until 1863, when the white settlers threatened the Hunkpapa hunting grounds. After the battle of Little Bighorn, in 1877, Sitting Bull led his followers into Canada, but, with the buffalo close to death, starvation eventually made the Sioux surrender. Because they were suffering from starvation and could not take the cold, they returned to the United States and surrender on July 19, 1881. Sitting Bull had his young son Crow Foot surrender his rifle to the commanding officer of Fort Buford, and he told the soldiers he wished to regard them and the white people as friends. Two weeks after the surrender, Sitting Bull and his band were transferred to Fort Yates, the military post right next to the Standing Rock Agency, which is a Lakota and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota. Sitting Bull and his army were kept away from the other Hunkpapa tribal members there, because Army officials were concerned that Sitting Bull would use his influence to cause trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands. The military then decided to transfer Sitting Bull and his army to Fort Randall to be held as prisoners of war. They were loaded onto a steamboat in order to get there. Now totaling 172 people in his band, they were sent downriver to Fort Randall where they spent the next twenty months. He was finally allowed to return to the Standing Rock Agency with his band in May 1883. Sitting Bull had come back to the Standing Rock Agency after participating in the Wild West Show for four months. In 1890, James McLaughlin, the U.S. Indian Agent at Fort Yates on Standing Rock Agency, feared that the Lakota leader was about to flee the reservation with the Ghost Dancers, so he ordered the police to arrest Sitting Bull. On 14 December 1890, McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lieutenant Bullhead that included instructions and a plan to capture Sitting Bull. At around 5:30AM on December 14, 1890, 39 police officers and 4 volunteers moved towards Sitting Bull's house. They surrounded the house, knocked on the door and then entered. Lieutenant Bullhead told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside. During the time that he was being arrested, Sitting Bull’s camp was awake. When Bullhead was forcing Sitting Bull to get on the horse, he explained that the Indian affairs agent needed to see him and then he could come back to his house. Sitting Bull still refused and the police used force on him. The Sioux in the village were angry that they were trying to arrest him. A Sioux man, Catch-the-Bear took his rifle and shot Bullhead who fired his revolver and had shot Sitting Bull in the chest. A close-quarters fight erupted and within minutes the fight was over. Six policemen were killed immediately and two more died not so long after the fight. Sitting Bull and seven of his men lay dead along with two horses. Sitting Bull's body was taken to Fort Yates for a coffin and the burial. It is possible that in 1953 his remains were exhumed and reburied near Mobridge, South Dakota by Lakota family members who wanted his body to be nearer to his birthplace

__**Section 4**__ __//The Farmers Organize//__ After the Civil War, farming expanded in the West and South. The supply of crops grew faster than the demand for them, however, prices fell steadily. Within a short time, farmers had created, or formed, a mass political movement. The first farmers organization was a network of local organizations that eventually was called the Nationl Grange. The Grange offered farmers education, fellowship, and support. The Grange set up “cash only” cooperatives- stores where farmers bought products from each other. Cooperatives charged lower prices than regular stores, while also providing an outlet for farmers crops. In the 1870s, the Grange tried to cut farmers costs by getting state legislatures to limit railroad shipping rates. By 1878, however, the railroads put so much pressure on state legislatures that the states repealed the rate regulations. By the late 1870s, the Grange had declined. The Farmer’s Alliances were a network of organizations that sprang up in the West and the South in the 1880s. By 1890, the Southern Alliance had more than 3 million members, and the Colored Farmers National Alliance, a separate organization of African American Farmers, had 1 million members. The Alliances proposed a plan in which the federal government would store farmers’ crops in warehouses and lend money to the farmers. When the crops were sold, the farmers would pay back the loans

__A Party of the People__ In the 1890 election, the Farmers’ alliances became active in political campaigns. Their candidates won six governorships, three seats in the U.S senate, and fifty seats in the House of Representatives. The goals of the People’s Party of the U.S.A were rooted in populism, or appealed to the common people. The Populist Party claimed that the government, not private companies, should own the railroads and telegraph lines. The populists also wanted to replace the countries gold-based currency, or money, system with a flexible currency system. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mark Twain, one of the most respected authors and humorists in the world, lived an interesting and long life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Eventually, he moved out of his home, traveled, found jobs that suited his liking, and lived his long and interesting life from there.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Though we all recognize him as Mark Twain, he was actually born Samuel Clemens Longhorne. He was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Mississippi, the sixth of seven children in his family.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After a few years of warming up to Hannibal, devastation struck Twain when his father died of pneumonia in 1847. He, his mother, and siblings were stranded with very little money to support a family. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mark Twain grew up and ended up working many jobs throughout his life. Twain also was very social and enjoyed being around people.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When his job at //The Virginia City Examiner// in Carson City did not last, he went to San Francisco and became a newspaperman. While working there, he had some free time and eventually started writing his own literature, //The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County.// It was published in 1865, in the Saturday Evening Press in San Francisco.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Twain continued with literature, but moved his focus in life elsewhere. He had a close friend that he knew for a short while that had a sister named Olivia. When Twain saw a picture of her for the first time, he fell in love. He eventually married her in February of 1870, only seeing her in person one time, then. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Twain wrote many more books, like his most famous, //The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn//. He also wrote various works about former presidents and the lives they lived. One of his most famous presidential works was called //General Ulysses S. Grant//. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">He moved to Redding, Connecticut just after his daughter Clara died of an epileptic seizure. Twain, just as mysteriously as the time he was born, died a day after seeing Haley’s Comet pass Earth another time. He died on April 21, 1910 at the age of seventy-four and is buried in Woodland Cemetery, in Elmira, New York.