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United States History Topic 2: Challenges in the Late 1800s (1865-1900) 2-2 – The West is Transformed Key Terms Mining and the Growth of Railroads mining towns – there was a pattern to the development of mining regions; first came the discovery of gold; then, people began to pour into areas such as Pikes Peak in Colorado and the Yukon river in Alaska; they were followed by more substantial communities vigilantes – the rough-and-tumble environment of mining towns demanded order; in extreme situations, self-appointed law enforcers known as vigilantes punished lawbreakers; e.g. Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson transcontinental railroad – rail link between the eastern and the western United States; started in 1863 and completed in 1869; it was thought of much earlier, but debates over what route the railroad should take delayed implementation land grants – land designated by the federal government for building schools, roads, or railroads; gave railroad builders wide stretches of land railroad workers – the Central Pacific Railroad (building from Sacramento, California) brought recruits to work from China and set them to work under harsh contracts with little regard for their safety; the Union Pacific Railroad (building from Omaha, Nebraska) used many Irish immigrants. Promontory Point, Utah – the two railroads met here in 1869, the same year that the Suez Canal was completed in Egypt The Cattle Industry Boom open-range system – method of ranching in which the rancher allowed his or her livestock to roam and graze over a vast area of grassland; the invention of barbed wire and the oversupply of beef, which caused the price to drop, led to the end of the open-range system Mexican vaqueros – were experts in training horses and working with cattle, the American cowboy adopted many of their techniques; developed the roping skills, saddle, lariat, and chaps needed to do the job; a band of cowboys often included a mix of white, Mexican, and African American men Cow Towns – cattle drives concluded in such railroad towns as Dodge City, Kansas, where cattle were sold and the cowboys were paid; cow towns gave rise to stories about colorful characters like Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Jesse James; the site of rodeos Farmers Settle the Plains Great Plains – last part of the country to be heavily settled by white people; the region was originally set aside for Indians because it was viewed as too dry for agriculture Homestead Act – 1862 law that gave 160 acres to anyone willing to live on the land for five years, dig a well, and build a road; encouraged further settlement and farming in the West, eventually leading to the close of the frontier Exodusters – former slaves who fled the South after the end of Reconstruction; they took their name from the biblical story of Moses leading the exodus of the Jews out of bondage into a new life in the “Promised Land”; the Exodusters’ “promised land” was in Kansas and Oklahoma Morrill Act – 1862 law that made land grants to states for the purpose of establishing agricultural colleges; these colleges were created to encourage the development of better farming methods Minorities Encounter Difficulties diversity in the West – from the 1850s onward, the West had the widest diversity of people in the nation; had fewer than 20% of the nation’s total population, but it was home to more than 80% of the nation’s Asian, Mexican and Mexican American, and Native American residents Land Ownership for Mexican-Americans – the treaty that ended the Mexican-American War (Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848) guaranteed that any Mexican landowner could keep their land, however, the courts put the burden of proof on the Mexican-Americans to prove they owned the land – many of them could not prove it Las Gorras Blancas – (the White Caps) group of Mexican Americans living in New Mexico who attempted to protect their land and way of life from encroachment by white landowners; they targeted the property of large ranch owners by cutting holes in barbed-wire fences and burning houses Struggles and Change Across the West conflict in the West – conflicts between miners, ranchers, sheepherders, and farmers led to violence and acts of sabotage; the most important resource was the limited supply of water; runoff from mining polluted the water that farmers, ranchers, and sheepherders needed the closing of the West – in the 1890 national census concluded that there was no longer a square mile in the US that did not have at least a few white residents; the US no longer had a “frontier”