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The Settlement of the West

List as many examples as you can think of.

|What are some reasons to move west? |Who has already moved west? |What technology will help them? |

|Farmland |Mormons |Trains |

|Manifest Destiny |49ers |Telegraph |

|Gold |Missionaries |Steel Plow |

|Religious Freedom |Native Americans |Mechanical Reaper |

|Spread Religion |Mountainmen | |

|Business Opportunities | | |

| | | |

| | | |

How/why will the government encourage Manifest Destiny?

Why: So foreign countries can’t claim the land, get natural resources needed for industry, east coast is getting crowded

How: offer free land, advertise

What problems do you think western settlers might face?

Indians, Dry climate, starting from scratch, no law enforcement

Directions: Use the documents to answer the questions.

Additional Information to Know

• The Great Plains: area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It was home to many Indian tribes, including the Sioux, Apache, Cheyenne and the Nez Perce. Plains tribes survived by hunting the buffalo. They used it for food, clothing, shelter and tools.

• As the railroads expanded west, millions of buffalo were killed to feed the crews building the tracks, to keep the buffalo out of the way of the trains or to sell their hides back east.

• Early treaties between the US government and Indian tribes protected Indian lands, while just asking for forts to be placed on lands. (example Fort Laramie Treaty) Later treaties established reservations, areas of federal land set aside for the Indians. These were often on the worst land. Some Indians agreed to move onto reservations, glad that there was specific land set aside for them. Others were forced to move onto reservations. Treaties were often broken when Americans wanted the land that the reservation was on, especially if gold was found on it.

• Cattle became a big business in the Great Plains during the 1870s. Cattle was raised on the Great Plains and then driven to railroad stations in order to be shipped to processing plants in the East. This was known as the cattle drive (journey of hundreds of miles with hundreds of cattle to markets). They grazed their cattle during the journey on the open range, public land that was once owned by the Indians.

• There was a lot of competition between ranchers. Barbed wire was invented that allowed ranchers to fence off their land, so only their cattle could graze on it. This started the Range Wars, in which ranchers stole cattle from each other and cut barb wire fences so their cattle could still graze wherever they wanted.

• In 1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act which gave 160 acres to any settlers who promised live on the land for five years. This encouraged people to settle the West and populate it. Farming was difficult on the Great Plains because of the extreme weather and the plains were much drier. New methods were needed in order to farm and make a living.

• The sod (dirt) on the Great Plains was very tough and could break the plows. John Deere invented the steel plow which was able to break through this sod so farmers could plant their crops. These farmers became known as Sodbusters for their ability break through the tough dirt and plant their crops.

• Dry farming also started to develop. This focused on planting crops like red wheat instead of corn, because red wheat did not need as much water to grow.

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1. What is a transcontinental railroad?

A railroad that crosses the country to the Pacific Ocean

2. How many days did it cut off of a cross country trip?

19

3. Who built most of the railroads?

Chinese and Irish workers

4. What industry grew quickly because it provided much of the railroad track?

Steel

5. Based on the documents, what was one product that was shipped back to the east coast from the Great Plains?

Cattle

6. What is meant by the term “the range”?

The land in the West that the cattle grazed on.

7. What impact did the railroads have on the buffalo population?

The population declined dramatically.

8. How did this impact Native Americans?

The main element of their culture (source of food, clothing and shelter) was gone.

9. What invention will make the “open range” disappear?

Barbed Wire

10. What kinds of minerals were mined in the West?

Copper, Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc

11. What is a boomtown?

A town that springs up quickly after a mineral is discovered there.

12. What happened to the population of a town when the amount or price of a mineral mined there dropped?

It dropped.

13. How did the government encourage Manifest Destiny?

The Homestead Act: Offered 160 acres of free land if the people farmed on it for 5 years.

14. By 1900, how many settlers were farming on the Great Plains?

500,000

15. What were some problems that farmers had?

Indians, had to start from scratch, difficult weather conditions

16. Why were there problems between Americans and Native Americans in the west?

Americans broke treaties and forced Native Americans onto smaller and smaller reservations.

17. What state did the Battle of Little Bighorn take place in?

Montana

18. When was the Wounded Knee Massacre?

1890

19. What did the Dawes Act do?

It divided reservations into 40-60 acre plots for individual Indians to farm.

20. What happened to farm profits as the amount of land that was farmed grew?

It decreased.

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