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