The early settlers, railways and cattle trails Flashcards
(199 cards)
1
Q
How did the west coast of America first have contact with Europeans?
A
Russian traders arrived by sea in the late 1700s and traded with the Tlingit Indians.
2
Q
When did the mountain men become familiar with routes west through the mountains?
A
1840s
3
Q
How did mountain men survive?
A
The used Native American survival skills.
4
Q
How did mountain men marry?
A
Many took Native American wives, eg Jim Bridger had three in succession during 40 years.
5
Q
Who first reported the Great Salt Lakes?
A
Jim Bridger
6
Q
What were the plains known as?
A
The Great American Desert
7
Q
Why were the Great Plains thought to be unsuitable for agriculture?
A
The extreme climate, sparse rainfall, and hard ground made farming difficult or impossible.
8
Q
How risky was the journey west?
A
As many as 10% died.
9
Q
What reasons pushed people west?
A
Poverty; disease; religious persecution; social persecution; taxation ; eastern overpopulation
10
Q
What reasons pulled people west?
A
A new start; tall tales; newspaper reports; fertile, cheap land; government encouragement; gold and silver
11
Q
How long were the Oregon and California trails?
A
2000 miles
12
Q
How long would a covered wagon take to cover the Oregon or California trail
A
5 months
13
Q
What was the deadline for getting west?
A
The journey had to beat the winter deadline.
14
Q
What year was the Donner party?
A
1846
15
Q
Which shortcut did the Donner party try?
A
the Hastings cut-off, it was meant to shorten the journey by hundreds of miles.
16
Q
Where did the Donner party get stuck?
A
In deep snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains
17
Q
Where were the Donner party aiming for?
A
California
18
Q
How did members of the Donner party survive?
A
By eating those who died.
19
Q
How many members of the Donner party survived?
A
Less than 50 out of 87.
20
Q
How could young men without money go west?
A
By hiring themselves out as helpers on wagon trains
21
Q
Who had the money to outfit a wagon?
A
Farmers who had sold their farms, teachers, clergy, craftsmen.
22
Q
What did white Americans believe about North America?
A
The believed that is was their God-given right to occupy all the land, and govern it.
23
Q
What was the phrase used to justify the whites taking the west?
A
Manifest destiny
24
Q
How did the whites see their interactions with the natives?
A
They saw themselves as civilising the continent.
25
Who coined the term manifest destiny, and when?
John L O'Sullivan in 1846, talking about American relations with Mexico.
26
Why were the Great Plains settled?
People were hungry for land
27
Which were the first parts of the Great Plains to be settled?
The Low plains (eastern Kansas and Nebraska)
28
When were the first parts of the Great Plains settled?
1850s.
29
Where were the first settlements?
Along the rivers, only later advancing into the drier parts
30
What act gave land to settlers?
The Homestead Act of 1862
31
When was the Homestead Act passed?
1862
32
How long did the land have to be occupied under the Homestead Act?
Five years
33
How much land could each settler have free under the Homestead Act?
160 acres
34
How were houses built on the Great Plains?
They were made of clods of earth (sod houses)
35
How was the hard ground broken up when the Great Plains were first farmed?
Farmers paid to hire steel ploughs, known as "sod busters" for the first ploughing.
36
What was used as fuel on the Great plains?
Buffalo dung and cow pats
37
Why did the patchwork quilt become such an American symbol?
The settlers recycled every last scrap of material.
38
What did the Great Plains lack that made building houses so difficult?
Trees, so no wood.
39
Why was the land difficult to plough on the Great Plains?
It was very hard, so a light plough could not do the first plough.
40
What made the crops fail on the High Plains?
Lack of water, extremes of temperature
41
How did the farmers on the High Plains get around the lack of water?
They dug very deep wells, a hundred feet deep
42
What insect pest made farming on the Great Plains hard?
Grasshopper plagues.
43
What was the role of women on the Plains?
They worked with their men, did the housework, educated the children, maintained gardens, looked after the animals, and made items such as clothes, soap, candles.
44
Why were the women in the west allowed more autonomy than European women, or women in the east?
It was necessary for their survival that the women were strong and capable, and made decisions about their work.
45
How did the women combat the loneliness of the prairie?
They helped each other in childbirth, nursed the sick, set up church groups and other social networks.
46
When was gold found in California?
1848, 10 days before California changed from Mexico to the US
47
Who found the first gold in California?
James Marshall
48
Who was the president who boasted of riches to be found?
President Polk
49
What were the fortune seekers coming to California known as?
The 49ers
50
How did the 49ers get to California?
Some came along the settlers trails, others by boat (around Cape Horn, or crossing America at Panama)
51
Were all the 49ers looking for gold?
Some came to be store keepers, saloon owners, prostitutes
52
How was the first gold found?
By panning a river
53
What happened to the gold in the rivers?
It was soon exhausted
54
How was gold extracted after the rivers were exhausted?
By mining
55
What happened to prices when the 49ers arrived?
The prices were huge.
56
What happened to the 49ers who could not find gold?
If they could not afford to pay their passage home they were stuck working for mining companies in terrible conditions.
57
Before 1866 what was the law in the US about mining claims?
There was none.
58
What was the name for a man who stole another person's mine?
A claim jumper
59
How did the miners respond to the lawlessness of the gold rush?
They formed their own miners courts
60
What sentence did the miners courts pass?
Death there were no prisons.
61
What was the appeals system against the sentence of the miners court?
There was none.
62
How long was the death sentence passed by a miners court delayed?
It wasn't, often done immediately
63
What happened to the Native Americans during the gold rush?
Their numbers fell from around 150,000 to less than 30,000 from 1845-1870
64
Why did the population of Native Americans fall during the gold rush?
violent attacks, epidemics, and being driven off the land.
65
Why was the gold rush bad for the environment?
Timber for mine supports used up forests. Chemicals used for mining, eg mercury, polluted the environment
66
Why did the Mormons move west?
To escape persecution
67
What are the Mormons really called?
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
68
Who started the Mormon church?
Joseph Smith
69
When was the book of Mormon published?
1830
70
What did the book of Mormon say?
Jesus Christ visited America after the resurrection; three of the lost tribes of Israel had come to America
71
What did Joseph Smith claim about the book of Mormon?
It was translated from gold tablets that he found after the angel Moroni told him where they were.
72
What were the Mormon beliefs?
Polygamy; Proselytisation; Politics; Property; People of God
73
What does polygamy mean?
A man could have more than one wife
74
What is proselytisation, as applied to the Mormons?
Mormons should try to convert others to their faith.
75
What is politics, as applied to the Mormons?
Church leaders should seek and be given political power
76
What was property, as applied to the Mormons?
Only the church could hold property, not the individual
77
What was people of God, as applied to the Mormons?
Obedience would make the Mormons Gods chosen people on earth and in heaven
78
Why were the Mormons persecuted?
Polygamy - not acceptable to Christians; Proselytisation - unacceptable when people did not want to lose people from the Christian faith; Politics meant that non-believers were threatened with religiously inspired legislation; claims to be the chosen people annoyed other people who felt this was arrogant; Mormons worked together for the church and this made them wealthy, which annoyed others.
79
How did the Mormons cope with dissent?
There was a violent militia formed, the Danites
80
Where did the Mormons first settle?
Kirkland, Ohio, 1831-7
81
What happened to Joseph Smith in 1832?
He was tarred and feathered
82
What happened in 1837? (Mormons)
The Mormon bank collapsed
83
Where did the Mormons go in 1837?
The Missouri
84
What went wrong with the Mormons in Missouri?
They were anti slave, and the Danites were suspected of plotting with the Indians. The leaders were arrested.
85
Who led the Mormons to Illinois?
Brigham Young
86
What did the charter in Nauvoo, Illinois allow Mormons?
An army and laws
87
What was Joseph Smith arrested for, in 1844?
Destruction of a printing press
88
Why did Joseph Smith destroy a printing press?
He did not agree with what was being printed.
89
What happened to Joseph Smith in jail?
He was killed by an angry mob
90
Who took over leadership of the Mormons after Joseph Smith died?
Brigham Young.
91
When did the Mormons start to move from Nauvoo?
1846
92
Which Mormons first left Nauvoo?
An advance party left to plant crops for the main party.
93
When did the main party leave Nauvoo?
1847
94
What route did the Mormons follow over the Great Plains?
They followed the Platte River
95
How did Brigham Young organise the Mormons to reduce deaths?
He organised them like an army, but deaths still occurred.
96
Why did the Mormons pick Salt Lake Valley?
They believed that it was similar to Israel
97
What did Brigham Young call the area?
Deseret
98
What did Brigham Young want the area around the Great Lakes to become?
A Mormon state
99
What happened to the first crops?
They were eaten by grasshoppers
100
When was Salt Lake Valley handed over by Mexico?
1848
101
What was the area around the Salt Lakes called after being handed over by Mexico?
Utah
102
Who became the governor of Utah?
Brigham Young
103
How did the Mormons get away with ignoring US laws?
The Danites attacked US officials.
104
How did the US respond to the Mormons lack of respect for US laws?
In 1857 they sent a Non-Mormon governor with 2500 troops.
105
What happened at Mountain Meadows?
140 non-Mormon settlers were killed
106
Who did the Mormons blame for Mountain Meadows?
The Indians
107
Who is believed to have been responsible for Mountain Meadows?
The Mormons, possibly without Brigham Young's knowledge.
108
When did the Mormons abandon polygamy?
1890
109
When did Brigham Young die?
1877
110
Who made exaggerated claims about the good life out west?
The railway companies and politicians
111
What was the name given to railways built before there were people living there to use them?
"Booster" railways
112
What was the effect of building a booster railway?
The existence of the railway attracted settlers who created communities and therefore customers.
113
Why did politicians in the territories want extra residents?
They needed 60,000 residents to become a state, being a state gave them extra power.
114
What did the government do in 1862 to help the railway companies?
They were granted huge areas of land.
115
What did the railway companies do with the land they were granted in 1862?
They sold it off to settlers, cheaply, to meet the cost of building the railways.
116
What problems had to be overcome to build the transcontinental railroad?
Economic, geographical and engineering,
117
How did the government try to solve the economic problems of the railway companies?
They gave loans, and they granted land in 1862.
118
How were labour shortages in the west solved to be able to construct the transcontinental railroad?
Chinese workers were employed.
119
What engineering problems were faced by the trancontinental railroad?
Steep gradients when crossing the Rockies.
120
Why was the army involved in the building of the transcontinental railroad?
To protect the workers against plains Indians.
121
Where was the transcontinental railway started?
It was started at both ends, in the east and in the west,
122
Where did the two parts of the transcontinental railroad meet?
In Utah (Promontory)
123
When was the transcontinental railroad completed?
May 1869
124
What act helped the Homesteaders?
The Homesteaders Act of 1862
125
What did the Homesteaders act of 1862 do?
It gave a homesteader 160 acres of free land if he farmed it for 5 years.
126
Why did the Homesteaders act require the Homesteader to farm the land for 5 years?
This was meant to discourage speculation, people merely taking the land to sell at a profit.
127
How were farming techniques improved on the plains?
New crops were tried, new tools developed, new techniques.
128
Give an example of a new crop tried on the great plains.
Turkey Red Wheat from Russia
129
Give an example of new tools for farming the great plains.
The Sodbuster plough
130
Give an example of new farming techniques on the great plains.
"Dry farming", for instance, ploughing after rain to retain moisture. (The plough turns the soil over, so the wet bit goes under the surface)
131
What happened to help settle the less fertile areas?
Timber culture act 1873 and desert land act 1877
132
Why was extra legislation needed for less fertile areas?
160 acres was not enough to sustain a family.
133
What did the Timber culture act 1873 and desert land act 1877 do?
It gave settlers more land for free or at very low cost.
134
Were all new farms on the plains successful?
No, the failure rate was high.
135
Why was the failure rate of new farms on the plains so high?
Frequent droughts, over grazing.
136
What were the plains called as the farms became more successful?
"The breadbasket"
137
How was it possible that the plains became the breadbasket of the US?
The railways enabled links between producers and wider markets
138
How many immigrants to the US between 1865-90?
10 million
139
When was the Civil war?
1861-5
140
What did the Civil war do to slavery?
It was ended
141
Where did some ex-slaves choose to go?
Out West
142
What happened in the south after the end of the post-war reconstruction in 1877?
There was renewed oppression of black people.
143
What was the effect of the renewed oppression of African-Americans in the south starting in 1877?
About 20,000 "exodusters" moved to Kansas in 1879
144
The Homestead Act was meant to remove poverty from the east, and to prevent speculation with the land. What were the effects?
It failed, it did not drain poverty or stop speculation. However, it did achieve settlement of the west.
145
How many farms on the plain by 1900?
500,000
146
Where did open cattle ranching start?
Mexico
147
What happened in Texas to make Texas part of the US?
Rebellion in 1835; joined US in 1845
148
What happened to many Mexicans who were living in Texas after 1835?
They were driven out.
149
What happened to the Mexicans cattle when they were driven out of Texas?
They were left behind and American ranchers took them.
150
What cattle breed was brought to Texas by Anglo-American settlers?
The English Longhorn
151
What was the main breed of the Mexican cattle?
The Mexican Criollo
152
What happened when the English Longhorns interbred with the Mexican Criollo?
The Texas Longhorn.
153
What happened to the Texas ranches from 1861-65?
Many ranchers left to fight the war, but their cattle continued breeding. Charles Goodnight left 180 cattle and came back to 5000!
154
Why did the Texas ranchers drive cattle northwards in the 1850s?
The increased popularity of beef, and the higher prices available in the north
155
What did the great cattle trails link?
Supply and demand
156
What was the peak year of the long drive?
1871
157
What hazards were faced on the long drive?
stampede, storms, river floods.
158
How far were the cattle driven?
Between 1200 and 1500 miles.
159
How far can cattle travel per day?
15 miles was considered a good drive. (Slightly further than here to GL1)
160
How many cattle trails?
4 main ones.
161
What were the cattle trails called?
Goodnight-loving; Western; Chisholm; Shawnee
162
Why did Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight open up the Goodnight-loving trail?
To supply the Pacific Railroad construction gangs with beef,
163
Who persuaded Union Pacific Eastern Division to go through Abilene so that he could move beef cattle by train?
Joseph McCoy
164
How long did it take Joseph McCoy to build Abilene?
60 days.
165
When was Abilene built?
1867
166
How was Abilene linked to Texas?
Via the Chisholm Trail
167
What happened to Abilene?
It was succeeded by other cattle towns as the railroad advanced - eg Wichita.
168
Why did the cattle town have a poor reputation?
Cowboys went wild after the hardships of the trail - violence!
169
Where else were cattle ranches started?
On the northern Great Plains.
170
Why were cattle ranches started on the northern Great Plains?
It was more efficient to raise cattle there rather than move them from Texas.
171
What were the ranches on the Great Plains like?
Open range, no fence, the cattle could graze where they wanted.
172
How was it possible to know who owned the cattle?
The cattle were branded with the owners mark, calves with the same mark as the mothers.
173
What cattle were chosen to be driven to the railways?
The steers (castrated males). Breeding cows and calves were set free for another year.
174
What was the name given to the spring and autumn round-ups?
Rodeos.
175
Why did the cattlemen and homesteader clash?
Texas fever - Longhorns immune but carried the ticks to the homesteaders cows. Homesteaders used barbed wire to enclose their land, reducing the cattle ranchers access
176
When was barbed wire introduced?
1874
177
What ended the cattle bonanza?
Changing tastes and hard winters
178
How did tastes change to end the cattle bonanza?
Eastern markets wanted higher quality meat than the Texas Longhorn.
179
How did the cattle ranchers respond to demands for higher quality meat, and what problems did this cause?
They crossed the Texas Longhorn with the Hereford, better quality meat but less resistant to harsh conditions.
180
What did some States do that caused problems for cattle ranchers?
They passed quarantine laws, eg Kansas shut the borders to Texas cattle from 1885, between March and November
181
What happened in the winter of 1886-87
It was a very harsh winter, and many cattle died against the homesteaders fences during blizzards.
182
Why were the cattle already weakened in the autumn of 1886?
There were too many cattle for the land to support, the range was over-grazed so the cattle were under fed.
183
What were the average livestock loses in the winter of 1886-7
30%
184
How did cattle ranching change in the 1880s?
Better quality animals, smaller unit, feeding during the winter meant irrigation was needed.
185
Was was the impact of the smaller cattle units in the 1880s?
Cattle ranching was more suitable for families, no longer for big companies.
186
What did the smaller units do to keep the cattle in?
They used barbed wire, like the homesteaders.
187
Who were the cowboys?
Mainly single men, some ex-soldiers, some Mexican, large numbers African-American, some outlaws
188
Were there female cowboys?
A tiny number, eg Becker sisters in 1880s
189
What were the downsides of the cowboy job?
Boring, watching cattle and breathing dust all summer, line camps in winter. Aggressive cattle. Levy charged by Indians for crossing land. Pay low.
190
When were the cowboys paid?
At the end of the trail, eg Abilene.
191
What was the reputation of the cattle towns?
Bad. Violent and many vices as the cowboys were paid here.
192
Why do cowboys have a hat?
The broad brimmed felt gave protection from the weathers.
193
Why did cowboys have a bandana?
The large handkerchief was worn over the nose and mouth to keep out the dust,
194
What horse was best for a cowboy?
The American Quarter - small and sturdy, easy to manoeuvre and could travel all day
195
Why did cowboys wear chaps?
The leather overtrousers protected the legs from thorns.
196
What did cowboys use the lasso for?
Also known as the lariat, used to rope cows
197
What was the cowboy boot like?
High heeled to keep feet in stirrups.
198
What was the cowboy saddle like?
Large, high pommel at front (to tie lasso), high cantle at the back to increase comfort.
199
What weapon would a cowboy carry?
A revolver
