The Contested West

1. Conquest and Settlement The Contested West

3. Mining

4. Comstock Lode • the Washoe basin in Nevada where the richest silver ore on the continent

5. Silver miners

6. Silver mining required capital, technical knowledge, equipment • Rife with speculation, misrepresentation, thievery • Drew thousands, including immigrants, especially Irish • Virginia City • 1870s, one out of 30 miners injured on the job; one out of 80 killed • Depicted as lawless, often urbanized and industrialized Silver mining

7. 1873 new vein uncovered, transitioning from small scale industry to corporate enterprise, creating a radically new social and economic environment • Nevada statehood because of the mines 1864 Territory into Statehood

8. New Englanders, Mormons, African-Americans, Mexicans, Latinos, and immigrants from Asia, Europe and Canada Complex blend of racism and prejudice Violence between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers; ranchers and farmers; miners and their bosses; rival Indian groups; and whites and Indians Diversity in the WEst

9. Brigham Young and the Mormons

10. By 1870, 63,000 Chinese immigrants lived in America but were denied access to citizenship 1876 Workingman’s Party formed to fight for Chinese exclusion As the Chinese population declined, Japanese immigration grew The CHinese

11. Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain within the United States. Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

12. Buffalo Soldiers

13. By 1870s the most desirable land was taken Railroads the biggest winners 1870s farmers pushed further west into the ‘Great American Desert’ western Kansas, Nebraska, eastern Colorado Homestead Act 1862

14. Oklahoma Land rush • Opening of Oklahoma territory brought as many as 10,000 settlers in one day

15. Survey Crew

16. Land Office

17. “Cattle Kingdom” from Texas to Wyoming revolutionized by barbed wire ‘fence cutters’ battled for free range Cowboys were wage laborers Birth of Agribusiness

18. Vaqueros (Hispanic cowboys) became migrant workers on land their families had once owned Blizzards and drought decimated herds and by late 1880s, the heyday of cattle ranching ended In California

19. Pioneered investment and corporate structures for the business of agriculture Developed foreign markets for cotton and grain Industrialized equipment and technique Sought control of land and water rights Henry Miller and Charles Lux

20. Generous federal land grants meant that railroads could sell land next to track at a profit Railroads received more than 180 million acres They connected with major cattle trailheads to capitalize on markets Railroads and Development of the West

21. Note the cattle trails

22. Mythologies of the West

23. One of the most enduring of the myths about the West Written by Frederick Jackson Turner, historian That the frontier, the free and empty land to the West, was the most defining element of America In reality, the land was never empty or free Frontier Thesis