Life in the west

Question 1

Railways?

What were the transcontinental railway lines built and when?

3 in total

Answer 1

• The Southern Pacific (1883)
• The Northern Pacific (1883)
• The Atchison (1884)

Question 2

What help was provided to invest in railways?

Answer 2

• Federal - Land grants of 70 million hectares
• State - $200 million, land grants of 19 million hectares

Question 3

3 benefits of railroads?

Answer 3

• revolutionised west ensured flood of people in and abundance of raw goods out
• Stimulated the growth of iron, steel, lumber and other industries
• Land next to the railroad fetched 2x the normal amount and government traffic on the land grant lines had a 50% discount
• The new West of cattlemen and farmers was largely the product of railroads
• stimulated growth of cattle industry and land settlment

Question 4

Agriculture new inventions?

Answer 4

• new inventions and processes helped overcome Plain’s agricultural problems
• Dry farming methods enabled farmers to grow particular types of corn
• US factories produced many new farm machinery: Reapers, combined harvesters, barbed wire, deep-drilled well and steel windmills

Question 5

Expansion in agriculture

Wheat production changes : numbers

Wheat exports

Labour hours

Answer 5

• results of expansion in agriculture
• Wheat production = 211 million bushels to 599 million bushels
• Wheat exports = 6 million bushels (1867) to 102 million bushels (1900)
• To produce 15 bushels of wheat = 35 labour hours (1840) to 15 labour hours (1900)

Question 6

Decline in agriculture

Answer 6

• Most farmers suffered in the 1870s as cereal prices tumbled as a result of the glut on America and world markets
• Corn prices decrease = 78 cents a bushel (1867) to 31 cents a bushel (1873)
• Farmers with heavy loans went bankrupt
• Further busts in 1880s and 90s - blamed big businesses and federal government
• support for populist party grew

Question 7

What was life in the West like in terms of ranching and cattle trails?

Answer 7

• At the end of the Civil War, ranching based in Texas
• In texas, climatic conditions ideal for raising cattle + ranchers could acquire grazing land at 50 cents an acre
• 1867, McCoy devises the Long Drive Route
• 1866 to 1885, 5.71 million cattle are taken North by this route

Question 8

What was meatpacking like in the west?

Answer 8

Meatpacking:

• Armour in 1868 established a meatpacking business –> followed by others
• harsh conditions + Much exploitation of immigrants shown in The Jungle - novel by Upton Sinclair

Question 9

How many cowboys after the civil war?

Answer 9

40,000 cowboys 20 years after the Civil War

Question 10

What is the background of the cowboys?

Answer 10

Background:

• ⅓ were Mexican, African American, Asian or Native American
• Many were ex-confederate soldiers

Question 11

What was life like for the cowboys?

Answer 11

• 18 hour day
• Weather and dangerous animals
• $25 to $30 a month
• trying to coax forward a sprawling mass of cattle
• hazardous conditions: dust, snakes, floods, blizzards etc

Question 12

What was life in the West life in terms of Cattle ranching?

Importance of water rights?

Boom in open range cattle trade?

Answer 12

• Cattle ranches established on plains
• By 1880, ranching had spread as far as Canada
• ranchers maintained position by force, fraud and perjury
• Water rights more important than land rights - if you controlled water u controlled land
• Disputes over land and water, very common + usually violence
• Vigilante systems sprang up providing order
  Boom in open range cattle trade:
• Came in 1880’s with Eastern and European investment in ‘Beef Bonanza’
• 1883 = British own 8 million hectares of Western grazing land
• By mid 80s the open range cattle business resembled large-scale corporate enterprise

Question 13

How was there disaster regarding the open range?

Answer 13

Disaster:

• Severe winters 1885 - 1887, straddling a summer of drought, results in death of up to 90% western cattle
• results in the end of the open range + cowboys by 1890

Question 14

What was turners essay?

Answer 14

1893, Frederick Turner, presented a conference paper called ‘The Significance of the Frontier in American History’

Question 15

What did Turner argue in his essay?

Answer 15

• The key to America was ‘the existence of an area of free land’
• The excess of land acted as a safety valve against social discord and violence
• The harshness of the frontier created self-reliant individuals
• America was different in social structure to Europe
  The US had a unique form of democracy

Question 16

What were the criticisms of the Turner Essay?

Answer 16

• 1942, ‘The Frontier & American Institutions: A Criticism of the Turner Thesis’ - Pierson argued that many factors influenced American Culture
• 1949, ‘Westward Expansion, a History of the American Frontier’ by Billington notes that Turner never defines frontier and challenges view that it was a safety valve
• General thoughts = ignored women, hasty generalisation, ignored immigrants and Native Americans, promoted provincialism

Question 17

What was the problem for life on the plains for new settlers? - should have been earlier

Answer 17

• the nearest neighbourhoods were often miles away, a problem for women who were about to give birth
• soil rich but often bad weather, ie tornadoes, hailstorms, droughts etc
• If land was relatively cheap, horses, livestock, wagons, wells etc were not
• Freight rates and interest rates on loans cripplingly high