Cattle Drives The west was rough, untamed, was denied stateship, because of the rowdy people, and towns. The cattle drives, and cowboys shaped the west, the cowtowns, and the people. After the Civil War, there was as shortage of food, mainly beef, so the people of the west, and the ranchers were depended upon for the food, beef. With no, or few railroads, the cowboys were forced to drive the cattle long distances. The cow towns were practically made by the cowboys and the need for beef. They were called boom towns. Boom towns were towns with a few houses, and a general store. With cowboys coming through, the towns boomed, with give or take 27 saloons, 8 gambling halls, and a boot hill were normally added. The towns closest to Texas had bigger, and better attractions. They were the main stops for the cattle, for selling, and then moved down the state's. Over time people realized that the cattle weren't always the reason for the stops, sometimes the women were. The Chisholm trail was the route most taken, according to the price of beef in the towns along the way. Abilene, …show more content…
The Fever was deadly, and very common, spreading to any animal that came within touching distance. The Cowboys often came to the towns and created ruckus, scaring the women and children, and sometimes ruining the towns. Since their was no “law” the towns were a mes. Because of the violence, the cow towns, or boom towns, now had a police force. A marshal was hired for the jobs, to keep the peace, and stop those who didn't, often putting their own lives in danger. This is where the big and famous marshals come in, like Wild Bill Hickok. The towns paid for the marshals, and in return, their towns were orderly, until the cowboys arrived. The Towns were more peaceful, and crimes that were committed, usually didn't go
The change in transportation led to social changes as well. Due to the construction of railroads in the urban areas there was more settlement in places where transportation was available such as New York. Due to the increase in transportation, white plantation owners increased their need for slave labor on the cotton farms as well as stricter slave code policies were increased in the South. Due to the advanced railroad system Americans are able to move westward very easily. All the migrants were in search for a new life and quick riches. In 1848-1855 Americans moved west because of the California Gold Rush. The gold rush attracted Chinese migrants to the western United States. Some migrants planned to take advantage of the public lands that the federal government was selling in order to
Even though both the South and the West were agricultural, the West linked itself with the Northern point of view. Economic requirements improved sectional differences, accumulating to the interregional opposition.
In the mid-1800s, many Americans began to move westward, with a variety of motivations. Farmers were drawn west by all of the fertile, open land in the west, offered to them cheap by the Homestead Act. The California Gold Rush was another reason many moved west. Gold was discovered in California, and miners flocked there, hoping to strike it rich. Additionally, cattle ranchers were attracted to the west because their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains. Later on, newly built railroads, including the first transcontinental railroad, made transportation of people and goods west much more feasible, and opened the West to rapid settlement (History Alive). Although Westward Expansion was a time of full
The Steel Plow created by John Deere had the greatest impact on the growth of the west, it is used to break up tough soil without soil getting stuck to it. This plow was known to help the westward expansion making it easier to grow crops, which helps produce food, helping the population to grow. The plow helped to cut furrows through thicker soils. Without the invention of steel plows farmers may not have been able to cut through the thicker soils of the west, therefore the expansion of the west may not have been possible.
The American West is one of the most famous and important part of the American history. The American West or another name the American Frontier started off in the late-1700 and ended in mid-1940. Although that part of history ended, but the influence and the old west culture is still around today. So let get into the history of the American West, of what made the West what it is and how all the forces molded the West.
The Northern and Southern sections of the US had various economical differences which led to the Civil War. During that time period, the Northern part of the country’s economy was heavily based on industrial practices, in comparison to the Southern economy which was founded on agricultural practices. In the map of Railroads in 1860, railroads were heavily located in the Northern part of the US compared to the South because the Northern economy demands the need for railroads in order to transport the
The trans-Mississippi West was a daunting region shaped primarily by three main groups of settlers. Each group of settlers had their own problems specific to their area and lifestyle. The settlers were resilient however and overcame their problems. As the frontier came to an end, some argued that the frontier had largely influenced American life and character.
America kept moving westward, into Native American territory, which is what started the problems. The US government did not want the Native Americans attacking the settlers so they created reservations. The settlers agreed to this idea, but the Native Americans were not so sure because before they were able to roam freely and now they were confined to hunting in one open space. The main source of all life was the buffalo because it provided food and clothing (Doc. A). When trains were put in it disrupted the hunting pattern of the buffalo meaning that they lost a huge source of their life. To get revenge on the the settlers for putting the trains through their hunting land, the Natives would clip the telegraph lines. Famous Buffalo Bill Cody was a American icon during the twentieth century because he symbolized what the wild west was like.
In the late 19th century, the American people began to go west. Americans began to pour into the West because of rapid population growth and affordable land (Importance of the West). They were also promised wide open land and to be free of Indians (Importance of the West). The West was in fact not free of Indians, and there were several wars that ensued in Arkansas, Montana, Washington, and California (Youngs).
The cattle industry started to rise after the American civil war. This was due to the increase of cows in Texas as cows weren’t fenced in. A man called Joseph McCoy soon came up with the idea of the cow town of Abilene, where Northern buyers could meet up with Southern sellers where they were on equal footing and couldn’t be attacked by Indians. Abilene was built on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. This made it easier to transport cattle bought to the cities in the East like Chicago. By 1870 300,000 cattle were being bought and sold in Abilene. Cows that were sold in Texas for $5 could be sold for $40 in a cow town. This helped the cattle industry rise as it meant more people would sell their cows and gain profit. This then developed even further as the railroad was moved westward which developed other cow towns such as Dodge city and Kansas because it meant there was more places where you could gain more profit for selling your cows.
In the time just before the Civil War, the United States was one of the most successful nations in the world. The United States had become the world’s leading cotton producing country and had developed industry, which would in the future, surpass that of Great Britain. Also, the United States possessed an advanced railroad and transportation system. However, despite its successes, the United States was becoming increasingly divided. The North and the South had many distinct differences in terms of their social, cultural, and economic characteristics that brought about sectionalism and, eventually, the Civil War.
The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the idea of the far west captivated many. The chance to begin life anew attracted thousands of individuals and families alike to move out west and escape their current life, which was usually full of poverty and for some, full of discrimination. As the west expanded and grew into an important part of the United States, westerners found it somewhat difficult to survive with important resources going scarce. Although the
Westward expansion was a new thing and time in our country and had many impacts on the American people and ways of life. The government made it available to buy a lot more of land in the West. Our government gave opportunities for people to move west for a better life or more land in the west. The government gave opportunities like the homestead act where the government would give families 160 acres of land if they moved west at the time this deal was going on. This act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862. People moved west for any opportunity they could. People moved for a new life, more land, and more opportunities in
The Westward Expansion has often been regarded as the central theme of American history, down to the end of the19th century and as the main factor in the shaping of American history. As Frederick Jackson Turner says, the greatest force or influence in shaping American democracy and society had been that there was so much free land in America and this profoundly affected American society. Motives After the revolution, the winning of independence opened up the Western country and was hence followed by a steady flow of settlers to the Mississippi valley. By 1840, 10 new western states had been added to the Federal union. The frontier line ran through Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas on the western side