Daily Speak
•Who won the Wacky Olympics on Friday?
Daily Speak
Section 1: Miners, Ranchers and Railroads
Main ideaAs more and more people move west, mining, ranching, and railroads are going to soon change the West
Western Growth Move out there? No Way! Many saw the west as a useless piece of
land much like the desert Frontier- HUGE undeveloped area in
Western United States.
Mining Boom In 1859 Comstock
Lode was discovered Getting rich quick Over the next 20 years
this site would produce $500M in gold.
New Immigrants Immigrants of all races and colors were
racing to the Western part of the U.S. to strike it rich!
New Towns Boomtowns- towns that grow suddenly
when a mine was opened
Cattle Kingdom Cattle ranching becomes popular in the
Midwest on the open range This is the same land the Indians lived off
of... we will revisit this later this chapter!
End of the Open Range Competition for land
ends the open range People started marking
off their land with barbed wire
Growing Communication More people in the West = needs for
communication and transportation to the West
Pony Express= messengers on horseback that delivered mail
Telegraphs put the Pony express out of business
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Transcontinental Railroad Many Americans wanted a railroad to
connect the East Coast to the West Coast Pacific Railway Act- the Government
gave loans and land to the railroad companies
The government land could be sold to help pay for railroad
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Transcontinental Railroad It was hard dangerous work building the
railroad. Two companies competed against each
other Union Pacific vs Central Pacific Golden Spike pounded in at Promontory
Utah, the meeting point of the two railroads
Results of the Railroad Helped economy Helped businesses Railroads becomes one of the largest
industries in America