Settlement, Development and fight for the plains Flashcards
Why in the 1840’s was lawlessness only a minimal problem for migrants?
Because there was only a small number of migrants so they had to rely on each other
What problem in the 1950s in California led to problems with law and order?
Growth/ increase in population
What types of crime was there in California?
- claim jumping
- salting a claim
- drunken violence
- racist crime
What happened in China in 1951 to lead to Chinese’s migrants moving to California?
Famine
How many Chinese migrants moved to California in 1851?
2,000 people
How many Chinese migrants moved to California in 1852?
20,000 migrants
How did Chinese migrants moving to California cause racist violence?
As some Chinese migrants took the job of the miners under ground.
What happened in 1851 in San Francisco?
A crime wave
What caused the San Francisco crime wave?
Limited law and order and an influx of Chinese migrants
How many people did it take for a territory to have law and order?
60 thousand people
What happened in 1850-51 for miners?
Many miners moved underground and some became unemployed
What did unemployed lead to?
An increase in crime
What happened in San Francisco in 1851 to “tackle crime”?
Vigilante committees form
How many people were hung by vigilante groups in San Francisco in 1851?
89 suspects , even though they had no authority to do so
What year was Billy the kid born?
1859
What was the fastest way to travel between 1840’s-1860’s
Horseback
What was a problem with horseback travel?
Any news of trouble took a long time to reach officers
How did the civil war cause lawlessness between 1861-1865?
As deserters would hide out in western territories with little law and order
Who were the Reno gang?
A group of civil war deserters
What years did the Reno gang carry out train robberies?
1866,1867,1868
How much money did the Reno gang net on the 4th robbery?
$96,000
When was the Pinkerton agency set up?
1850
Who were the Pinkerton agency?
A private law enforcement agency
What did the Pinkerton agency do?
Track down outlaws and bring them to justice.
Why did the role of the Pinkerton agency decline?
Because the West became more civilised and lawlessness decreased
Who were the exception to lawlessness in 1869?
Wyatt Earp and Billy the kid
Why did lawlessness decrease in 1869?
Because frontier towns were connected to bigger towns by rail and electric telegraph so lawlessness decreased
When did Abilene hire wild bill Hickcok as town marshal?
1871
What did the mayor of Abilene decide to do to keep law and order?
Ban cowboys
When was the great die up?
1886-1887
What was the great die up?
When ranchers used barbed wire to fence off land, this created tension as it prevented the homesteaders from having access to water
When did the cattle barons try to control the beef market?
1870’s and 1880’s
What did cattle barons do to influence beef staying popular?
- kill sheep
- bought land surrounding water supplies so farmers and homesteaders had no access
Why did cattle barons kill sheep?
As they did not want lamb to be more popular the beef
How many acres was promised by the homestead act?
160 acres
When was the homesteaders act?
1862
What impact did the homesteaders act have on the plains?
More family’s moved to the plains his led to a decrease in violence because families were stable and less violent.
When was lawlessness in Abilene?
1867
Why were cow towns the centre of lawlessness?
Because cowboys had been on the long drive for months and got paid once they reached these towns.
What would cowboys spend there money on at cow towns?
- alcohol
- gambling
- prostitutes
When was it legal to kill a man?
In “self defence”
What was hell on wheels a nickname for?
New towns that developed along the railroad lines , also often cow towns.
What did hell on wheels towns try to do?
Build jail houses but drunk cowboys would often tear them down again
Why did lawlessness decrease in the late 1870’s and 1880’s?
Because the towns developed and people wanted their businesses and families to be secure.
What happened when ranching became more popular than the long drive to cow towns in the 1870’s and 1880’s?
Cowboys lifestyle became more settled and this reduced drunken violence in the west and some cattle barons even banned alcohol on their ranches.
When was the Lincoln county war?
1878
What happened in the Lincoln county war?
A conflict between a cattle baron called John chisum and smaller ranchers. Billy the kid’s friend Murphy was killed and he swore revenge.
Who tracked down Billy the kid after he escaped justice?
Pat Garratt
When was wyatt Earp rumoured to have been involved in stagecoach robberies and to have been a murderous outlaw?
1881
When was the Johnson county war?
1892
What was the Johnson county war?
A war where cattle barons tried to intimidate smaller ranchers and homesteaders.
Was there any justice against cattle barons after the Johnson county war?
No , showing law and order was still not in place properly
What did rich cattle barons do to stop being prosecuted for the Johnson county war?
They used there influence to but the best lawyers and drag out the trial until the county ran out of money and they were acquitted
When was the railroad complete?
1869
When was the pacific rail road act?
1862
What was the population of California in 1855?
300,000
What was the population of California in 1850?
120,000
When was the successful Mormon migration?
1846-1847
In 1846 how many people used the Oregon trail to move?
5000 people
What was the population of California in 1846?
8,000
When was the failed Donner party migration?
1846
When did Jedediah Smith publish his route through the Rocky Mountains called he Oregon trail?
1825
How many people by 1855 had moved to California because of the gold rush?
300,000
How much in 1841 did the US government spend on a expedition to properly map the Oregon trail?
$30,000
Who led the US government expedition to map the Oregon trail?
John Fremont
How many people lost there jobs in the economic crash in the east in 1837?
25% of people
How many people lost wages in the economic collapse in the East? (1837)
40% of people
What year did a party of 60 people use the Oregon trail to move west?
1841
In what year did 900 people use the Oregon trail led by Marcus Whitman to move west? (Great emigration)
1843
When was the American civil war?
1861-1865
What was the civil war?
Where 7 Southern states left the US due to conflict over how to settle the West and slavery.
When did settling on the plains begin?
1850’s
When did the government encourage people to move to the plains?
1854
What new territories did the government create in 1854?
Nebraska and Kansas
When were self governing wind mills invented?
1854
Why where self governing windmills important?
As it made getting water out of the ground easier and this made it easier to farm in the plains
When was the homestead act created?
1862
When did work begin on the railroad?
1863
In 1876 how much government land had become homestead land?
6 million acres
When was the timber culture act passed?
1876
What was the timber culture act?
If homesteaders planted trees on the land they could claim an extra 160 acres
When was the sulky plight invented?
1875
What did the silky plough do?
Make it easier to plough hard land on the plains
When was the exoduster movement?
1879
What was the exoduster movement?
40,000 freed black slaves moved to Kansas and Missouri for a new start
How much land had the rail road companies sold by 1880?
200 million acres of land in the west
When was the Oklahoma land rush?
1893
What was the Oklahoma land rush?
Where the government gave away Indian land to white settlers in Oklahoma
How much land was given away in the Oklahoma land rush?
Over 2 million acres
When was barbed wire invented?
1874
When was the first cow town created?
1867
Who created Abilene (1st cow town)?
Joseph McCoy
Which trail did cowboys use to get to Abilene?
The chisolm trail
How much were cows worth each in Chicago?
$40
What happened with cows in 1865?
They overbred in Texas after the civil war
What year did John Illiff show that cows could survive on the plains?
1861
When was the Good-Night_Loving trail established?
1866
In 1872 how many cattle did Illiff have on his ranch?
26,000
When did and where did Illiff buy his ranch?
Wyoming 1867
When did refrigerated cattle cars come into use on trains?
1875
How much cattle had been driven to Abilene by 1872?
3 million cattle
Whats the most important points about beef bonanza?
- growth of ranching on the plains
- farming cattle became one of the most profitable jobs in the west
- cattle barons began to invest in ranchers
When was the beef bonanza?
1870’s
By 1880 how much cattle was in the west?
4.5 million cattle
When was the great die up?
1886-1887
What percent of herd died in the great die up?
15% of open range herds die
What was the great die up?
Temperature dropped on the plains so many cattle died and this caused the end of open ranges this led to smaller fenced ranches.
