Post on 04-Jan-2016
transcript
The Western Frontier
Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long call what they seeon their explorations the “Great American Desert”
VISIONS OF THE WEST( HOW PEOPLE SAW THE WEST DURING THE 19TH CENTURY)
*This initially discouraged settlement…
Native Americans saw the west as a bountifulnatural world - and their home
White settlers - saw the west as a landof opportunities (OR & CA first, then theRockies, and lastly the plains)
(*Painting of, and actual settlers on, the Oregon Trail)
Horace Greeley• Eastern newspaper editor credited
with saying “Go west young man”, encouraging western settlement
Manifest Destiny – the mindset of many Americans as the 19th century progresses to expand westward and control
North America from “sea to shining sea” * Regardless of any other claims to the land (Indians, Spanish, Brits, etc.)
Sutter’s Mill
• 1849- Sutter’s Mill on the American River in CA• 1850’s & 1860’s:• NEV- Comstock Lode (Gold as well, but a huge Silver find)
• COL- Pike’s Peak, Denver• MT- Bannock (Grasshopper Creek), Virginia City (Alder Gulch),
Helena (Last Chance Gulch)
MINING
*And so many, many more…
Placer Mining
• Mining on or near the surface – above the bedrock.
• Exs. Panning, sluice box, rocker box or cradle, hydraulic.
*Often boom towns to ghost towns.
Hard Rock Mining• Underground,
requiring heavy equipment & investment.
*lent itself to more permanent cities.
Life in a Mining Camp• Bars, gambling,
prostitution, etc.• General store, assay
office.• Later: schools,
churches, “society”, etc.
General Store
Assay Office
“Road Agents” -Highwaymen or robbers
Miners courts – dealt primarily with claim disputes
Vigilantes – men who took the law into theirown hands to end robberies, murders, etc.
Territorial courts – eventually bringing a legal justice system andreplacing vigilantism
Mining’s legacy:Pro – settlement & economic development
Mining’s legacy: Con – environmental controversies & loss of land for Native Americans
TRANSPORTATIONWAGONS Conestoga - too big & heavy for cross-continental travel
vs Prairie Schooner – this style was used much more often
CHIMNEY ROCK
REGISTER ROCK
STAGECOACHCompanies or stage coach lines included Wells Fargo, Butterfield, etc.
Missouri to California in approximately 20 days
Pony Express (1860-62)•St Louis to San Fran in 10 days (2,000 miles!)
•Cost of mail – as high as $10 an ounce
SteamboatsRivers were the nationsearly highways
Eastern rivers – ran deep & wide vsWestern rivers - shallower
Hazards -
Negatives or limitations -
RailroadsLand grant RR’s where thegov’t offered financing incentives to encouragebuilding in the vast west
1860’s Transcontinental race: > Central Pacific from Sacramento CA eastward
>Union Pacific fromOmaha NE westward