West

Section 1


 * //frontier//** - unsettled or sparsely settle area of the country occupied largely by Native Americans

Great Plains - the area from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains

boomtown - a town that has a sudden burst of economic or population growth
 * //1859 - gold and silver strikes drew people to CO & NV//**

Cattle Industry Extension of //railroad lines// from Chicago and St. Louis into Kansas by the 1860's brought changes. Joseph McCoy realized that all he had to do was drive his cattle from TX N to Kansas (stockyard). From there the cattle could be shipped east. Cattle could be sold for 10X their original price - costing the rancher nothing to feed them.


 * //long drive//** - cattle drive to cow towns along the railways

//**vaquero**// - the first cowhands who came from Mexico with the Spaniards in the 1500s.


 * //vigilante//** - people who took the law into their own hands

Miners, ranchers and farmers all sought to make their fortune in the West. - **//100,000 miners came to the Rocky Mtns. in CO//** after **//gold// was discovered near Pikes Peak** In W NV from 1859-1880 the Comstock mine produced some $300 million in silver and gold. Mining was hard and dangerous //The railroad opened new areas to white settlement and also carried the natural resources of the West, minerals, timber, crops and cattle to eastern markets.//
 * In //1859 gold and silver// strikes drew fortune seekers to** //**Colorado and Nevada**.//
 * //By the 1890's the mining boom was over//.**
 * Once-thriving communities became ghost towns.**
 * //NV, CO and SD// all grew so rapidly** because of mining, that they soon **//gained statehood.//**

Section 2

Sand Creek Massacre - In SE CO, bands of Cheyenne warriors attacked miner and soldiers. They did not want the reservation life. In response, about 1,200 Colorado militia opened fire on a peaceful Cheyenne village along Sand Creek in 1864 killing more than 150 Cheyenne men, women, and children. Sitting Bull - A Sioux chief Wounded Knee Massacre- ended armed resistance in the West By the end of the 1800's the Native American's land had been taken away and their culture treated with contempt. Not until decades later would the federal government recognize the importance of their way of life.
 * //reservation//** - land set aside for Native American tribes
 * George A. Custer - Lieutenant Colonel in the US Calvary. Fought the Sioux and Cheyennes near the Little Bighorn River in Montana. In less than 2 hours, Custer and his men, 211 in all, were wiped out. This is known as: Battle of the Little Bighorn**
 * From 1872-1882 more than one million buffalo were killed each year by white men.**
 * the Indians were dependent on buffalo for their way of life.**
 * Dawes Act - passed in 1887 - intended to encourage Native Americans to give up their traditional ways and become farmers.**
 * //Treaties that the U.S. made with Native Americas were often broken//**.

Section 3

Mexicano - Spanish-speaking southwesterners William "Buffalo Bill" Cody - a buffalo hunter turned showman. Brought the West to the rest of the world through his Wild West show. //buffalo soldier - African Americans serving in the US Army in the West. Nicknamed by the Native Americans//
 * //homestead - a piece of land and the house on it//**

Section 4

sodbuster -Pioneer farmers. Many were forced to build their first homes from blocks of sod because of the treeless plains they were trying to settle on. For fuel many burned corn cobs or "cow chips" cooperative - organizations owned and run by their members. **//The cooperatives bought grain elevators//** and sold crops directly to merchants. This allowed farmers to keep more of their profits. Populist Party - People's Party. The Populists wanted the government to adopt a free silver policy, that is, the unlimited coining of silver. They believed that increasing the money supply would cause inflation. Inflation, in turn, would result i rising prices. Higher prices for crops would help framers pay back the money that they had borrowed to improve their farms. William Jennings Bryan- the Populists Democratic favorite for president in 1896 - he supported free silver. He opposed William McKinley who favored the gold standard.
 * Homestead Act - offered 160 acres of land free to anyone who agreed to live on and improve the land for five years.**
 * Exoduster - African Americans who went to live in the West beginning in 1879. In all some 50,000 African Americans settled in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois.**
 * Grange - A group of farmers who's main purpose at first was to meet the social needs of farm families.** Eventually they took action to form cooperatives as economic conditions worsened and railroads charged farmers high fees to store and carry their crops to market.
 * gold standard - when the government backs every dollar with a certain amount of gold**//.// Since the gold supply is limited, fewer dollars are in circulation. Inflation is less likely. This protects the value of money by keeping prices down.


 * //By 1890 the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the frontier no longer existed//**.