Unit 7: Industrial Society/The Gilded

Age/The WestChapter 18: Conflict &

Change in the West, 1865-1902

The Homestead Act 1862

160-acre plots for minimum of 5 years

Eastern families, exodusters

Morrill Land Grants

“To teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”

Transcontinental Railroad

Pacific Railway Acts

Union Pacific R/R started in Omaha, NE & went westRelied on Irish immigrants

Central Pacific R/R started in Sacramento & went eastRelied on Chinese immigrants

Transcontinental RailroadBoth companies were given federal loans & land

grants

Completed in 1869 when they met at Promontory Summit, Utah

Transcontinental Railroad

ResultsConnected the west to the east;

communication Opened up new markets for manufactured

goodsIncreased trade with AsiaPaved the way for the growth of the west

Four more transcontinental lines were completed before the end of the century

Time Zones (1883)

Legendary Gunslingers & Train Robbers

Jesse JamesJesse James

Billy the KidBilly the Kid

Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp

The Plains IndiansGovt. signed the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) & the

Fort Atkinson Treaty (1853) with various tribesMarked the beginning of the reservation system in

the west as Indians were separated into great colonies

After the Civil War, fighting btwn. the Indians & the Army ensued

Indian way of life was destroyed by…RailroadsDiseaseNear extinction of buffalo

The Plains Indians

Buffalo provided food, fertilizer, & clothing1865 - 15 million1885 - less than 1,000

Buffalo herds were massacred with the building of the railroadsFood for r/r

construction workers Killed for amusement

William “Buffalo Bill” Cody

The Plains Indians

Last major confrontation btwn. the Army & the Indians came in 1890Indians began practicing

the Ghost DanceBattle of Wounded Knee

Creek

Arapahoe Ghost Dance, 1890Arapahoe Ghost Dance, 1890