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Period: to
Competitors of the West
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California Gold Rush
Gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" as a reference to 1849, often faced substantial hardships on the trip to get to Califoria from all aver the country and other countries. -
Farming in 1860
There were 10 million farmers, 2 million farms, and about 8 billion dollars of gross profit. -
The Homestead Act
The Homestead act was very important for settlers to be able to expand West. It gave the applicant an ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. In the United States, this originally consisted of grants totaling 160 acres (65 hectares, or one-fourth of a section) of unappropriated federal land within the boundaries of the public land states. -
Sand Creek Massacre
A 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory. They killed an estimated 70–163 Indians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. -
Chisholm Trail
Jesse Chisholm created the famous "Chisholm Trail" in 1865. Cowboys and vaqueros brought cattle up north on his trail the first time in 1866. This was an effecient way to transport big herds of cattle to the west. -
Yellowstone National Park created
Create to protect the great land and wildlife in the area. People were no able to expand or farm in this area. -
General Mining Act
Allowed all adults to make claims on minerals such as gold and silver in federal lands and this created a large gold rush. -
Droughts and severe winters
The droughts and severe winters in 1885 through 1887 cause the collapse of the cattle boom and farming in the West. -
Wounded Knee
A massacre withteh Lakota tribe, A deaf tribesman named Black Coyote wouldn't give up his rifle and a scuffle happened and a shot was fired. After the hot was fired the troops shot and killed over 150 people women, children and men. 51 people were injured and some died after. -
Farming in 1900
The farms tripled from 2 to 6 million farms, 12 more million people started farming in the west, and farming grossed over 2 million dollars.
