Heartland 1860-1900
Unit 6

After the civil war --1865
Many head west
America tries to come together- north and south, east and west
Time of the cowboy and buffalo hunting
The west is the great wildness that separates America

Transcontinental railroad 1863-1869
Used to connect east and west
Over 3,000 kilometers long
The largest railroad in the world at the time
Irish immigrants and civil war vets built the railroad

Difficulties in building it
Mountains stood in the way
The Sierra Madres were the most difficult to build through
Chinese workers were used in planting explosives (a very dangerous job)
Two companies built the railroad:
The Union Pacific in the east
The Central Pacific in the West
They would meet in Utah (like a competition)

The railroad is complete
May 6, 1869
It use to take 6 months to cross America
Now, it only takes 6 days on the railroad
Business is booming out west!
Boston to California is a common route
Mass migration to the West

Dangerous weather
The west is still dangerous
Praire fires can burn land very quickly
Tornadoes can destroy entire towns
Locusts and bugs can destroy all the crops
Remember, there is still little help out in the Midwest USA
People still had to rely on themselves

Logs and wood
Worth millions
Logs were floated up the river
They were used to build homes and businesses out west
River men were used to keep the logs flowing
Again, it was a dangerous job
Wood is used out west to build towns very quickly
So fast that the streets are given numbers instead of names

Buffalo hunting
Buffalo are big beasts that roam out west
There are millions of them
They are worth a lot of money
Civil war vets and their guns go hunting
On a good day, they can earn more than the president
HOWEVER, the problem was that buffalo were hunted almost to extinction
The Indians couldn’t understand it
The Americans simply wanted to get rich

Horses are also big out west
Horses are brought to America from Spain and Portugal
Indians were excellent at using the horse in combat
Horses were also used in hunting buffalo
With buffalo gone, it was the end of the Indian way of life

Rise of the cowboy
Cowboys soon replaced Indians out west
They were mostly civil war vets and explorers
They were used to tame cattle and keep law and order
Texas is still very wild at this time
Cowboys are America’s new heroes (like the astronauts of the 1960’s)

A new weapon
Colt 45 revolver
Could be fired and reloaded very quickly
Used by cowboys
Cost $17.00
Could fire 6 bullets

Barbed wire
This new invention allowed farmers to plant and keep cattle out
This would lead to a battle between cowboys and farmers
Invented by Joseph Glidden
Wooden fences were too expensive to use out west
Barbed wire made it possible to use fencing even out west
The open range is finished

Indians: the end of the road
There are still battles between Indians and cowboys
The government takes the Indians land for more railroads
The buffalo are all killed and the Indians are removed from their land
This is a dark spot in American history

George Custer
Custer attacks the Indians
It is called “Custer’s Last Stand” because he and all his men are killed - 1876
The Indians, however, lose the war
They are relocated
Wounded Knee is the stand for the Indians - 1890
Here, the Indians are massacred (Men, women and children)

Richard Sears 1894
Commerce and business come out west
The first product is a watch
Mail order catalogs and orders are received in the east and the product is shipped out west
This is like the internet business today
By 1900, the USA is the biggest manufacturer on earth