key dates
Cards (33)
- Oregon Trail First migrants completed their journey West
- Economic crisis in East- Businesses failed and people lost their jobs. Unemployment as high as 25% and wages cut by 40%.
- John Fremont's guidebook published, convinced people the Oregon trail could be followed safely
- Donner Party - The start of their journey that ends in tragedy
- First Mormon migration west
- Gold Rush - The discovery of gold in California led to huge migration to the West, over 300,000 moved by 1855
- Trans Continental Railroad - enabled travel from the East to the West coast
- 'Self governing windmill' - Invented by John Halladay and could pump water from 30 feet down. Did need regular checks
- US Civil War - 600,000 men died in this conflict that the Southern states eventually lost
- Homestead Act - This aimed at settling the West with family farms owned by free men and women. People were given 160 acres and cost $10. After 5 years, if a house had been built they could own this land outright
- Pacific Railroad Act - aimed at developing connections between new land in the West and northern cities. This was passed by Abraham Lincoln. Work began in 1863 at each end of the line
- Transcontinental Railroad completed - The Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies meet in Utah. An electric telegraph system had also been built along the railroad to help communications
- Turkey Red Wheat introduced - Brought by Russian immigrants and it was suited to growing on the Plains. This encouraged more to settle on the Plains
- Timber Culture Act - Settlers could claim 320 acres if they promised to plant trees on a quarter of the land
- Barbed Wire invented - This fenced off crops and protected them from animals. Although cheaper than fencing early types did break and rust
- Sulky Plough invented - 50, 000 sold in first 6 years as it made ploughing land easier. They could tip up and were expensive
- US Civil War - Longhorn cattle numbers boom in Texas whilst fighting takes place. 5 million cows were now in Texas
- John Iliffbuys his first herd of cows and fattens them on the Plains instead of moving them
- Homestead Act - Increase in settlers to the Plains leads to conflict between ranchers and Homesteaders
- Goodnight-Loving Trail established - First occasion of cattle being driven to New Mexico. This took 6 months
- Abilene - Joseph McCoy establishes the first cow town around a railroad in Kansas. He spent $5,000 advertising the fact people could travel there safely. McCoy became a rich man
- John Iliff's ranch - this had now expanded to 16,000 acres and makes Illiff very rich
- Wind pump is invented by Daniel Halladay which would swing round automatically when the wind changed direction and could extract water from below ground
- Barbed wire invented by Joseph Glidden protecting crops and preventing cattle from roaming
- Exoduster Movement - 40, 000 African Americans began to migrate to Kansas under the leadership of Benjamin Singleton. The following year a rumour spread that the government was handing over the entire state which increased migrant numbers
- Dry farming technique was developed by Hardy Webster Campbell. It trapped rainwater under the surface enabling farmers to combat drought
- Last big cattle drive to Dodge City
- Great Die Up - This harsh winter causes 15% of open range cattle to die. Many cattlemen went bankrupt
- Dawes Act - This divides the land Indians had access to on the reservations into family and individual plots
- Oklahoma Land Rush - 7 of these eventually took place with the last happening in 1895