Miners, Ranchers, and RailroadsBy: Crystal Chan & Sophia

Chin[c] sophia’s graphics & rightful owners of the following pictures

Mining Boom Brings Growth• With the admission of the state of California Union in

1850 the western boundary of American Frontier; an undeveloped area which reached the Pacific Ocean

• After the war the increase of settlements grew quickly and the U.S. population spread throughout the West

• The miners, ranchers, and farmers remade landscape to adapt to the new environment

• The new landscape led to a large and successful railroad industry

• Gold & silver were the most valuable natural resource

Big Business• Located in Western Nevada• In 1859 a miner Henry Comstock discovered a huge deposit

of gold & silver in Nevada which is now known as Comstock Lode

• Expensive equipment is needed to remove the gold & silver so the poor people who owed mining land couldn’t afford machinery so the rich people bought the land

• Miners often breathed dusty air and it was hot and stuffy which lead to lung disease

• Other risks are the walls caving in and badly planned explosions

Settlers• People from all over

the world came to the West

- Eastern U.S, Europe, Central and South America, Asia, and people from Mexico

New Town• Mining booms = Boomtown • Towns grows when mine opens (disappear as

fast) which includes general stores, saloons, and boarding houses

• Almost no family or women in boomtowns

Women did what?• Washed, cooked, raised families, made

clothes, chopped would established schools, & work newspapers

• Help turn mining camp site successful so it became permanent towns

Importance of Cowboys• Cowboys were workers who took care of rancher’s cattle• They borrowed techniques and tools form vaqueros,

Mexican hands who cared for cattle and horses - i.e. western saddle, the lariat- rope used for lassoing

cattle, and the felt hat which they changed into the high-peaked cowboy hat

• The most important and dangerous duty for a cowboy is the cattle drive, a long journey in which cowboys herded cattle to the market or northern plains for grazing

- i.e. lasted several months and covered hundred of miles

Importance of Cowboys Continued……

• One of the trails the cowboy used was the Chisholm trail which was one of the earliest and most popular trail to use

- The trail runs from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas

• Some cowboys made life rough and violent in cattle towns