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Discoveries of Large Amounts of Gold and Silver
In 1859 an abundance of gold was found in Montana, South Dakota, California and Colarado. Along with the discovery of large deposites of silver in Kansas. The finding of these precious metals increased the population in the west which made the Native American have to move and would later cause a war with the Indians. -
Homestead Act of 1862
The Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by giving160 acres of land to people who settled there. First the homesteaders had to pay a small filing fee, then they had to live in the area for 5 years in a row and they would recieve the land. -
Barbed Wire
In 1860 a French man purposed an idea to make a fence consisting of flat and thin wire. In 1865 a patent was given to Louis François Janin to create double wire with dimond dhaped metal barbs. The first patent in the United States for barbed wire went to Joseph Glidden, a farmer who used the barbed wire to keep animals from running away. -
Transcontinential Railroad System
The transcontinential railroad was a railroad that connected eastern United States to the west. This railroad system made it easier for the eastern coast to be able to transport people and things to California quickly. This helped because California is all the way on the other side of America and it was becoming popular very quickly. -
Extinction of Buffalo
Buffalo in North America were made extinct in the 1800's by human encroachment and hunting. White hunters, such as William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, slaughtered bison to sell at meet market demand until they were nearly gone. The government then stepped in to save the buffalo by keeping them at Yellowstone National Park. -
Jesse James Assasination
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri. He was alsoa member of the James-Younger gang. Bob Ford shot Jesse in the back when Jesse was standing on a chair, dusting a picture frame before a robbery one morning. -
Wild West Shows
In 1883 the first prototypical wild west show was formed. Wild west shows were performances that contained a lot of excitement and were very fun to watch. Wild animals, majic tricks, theatrical reenactments, and many frontiersmen were in the show. -
Dawes Act of 1886
It attempted to "americanize" the Indians. Each tribe was given 160 acres and after 25 years that property would become theirs. If they acted like good Americans they would also become an American citizen. -
Switch from Long Drives to Cattle Ranching
The first recorded large cattle drive was in 1846 and was transpoting about 1,000 animals from Texas to Ohio. The time period that America had long drives was very unique, but it was also very short. In about 1890 Americans started cattle ranching because long drives created many problems; Texas cattle carried ticks that carried a disease called Texas Fever that destroyed large herds of cattle and barbed wire became popular which made it harder to transport cattle. -
Growth of New Towns and Cities
New towns and cities were built in the west to support cattle, mining, and farming industries because the gold mines and siver mines were in the west which brought out many people who hoped to become rich. Cattle were now staying on ranches and needed a place to stay and room to move, but the land in the west had good soil to farm on and nobody was on living their now. Boom towns in the west created rapid population growth and made small towns into big cities.