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Comstock Lode
The comstock lode is one of the most important mining discoveries in all of the U.S.A.'s history. The discovery was a little over half silver and the rest gold. In the beginning miners and corporations went to court to fight over the claim boundaries. By the end of the Comstock lode the dollar value of metals removed equalled $305,779,612.48. Without this nevada would not have become a state when it did. -
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Transcontinental Railroad
The transcontinental railroad would take a great part in the expansion of The United States of America. It could move goods and people across the country in ten days. this journey used to take several months by wagon. For this great step to happen there was a large deal of work that had to be done. to build this railroad in under ten years, so the contract would not void, they imported chinese workers who worked hard and got paid little. once the work was done the rail went from NE to CA. -
Homestead Act
This act, during the civil war gave any adult citizen or intened citizen who had never fought against the U.S. government the right to own 160 acres of land. They could do so if they paid a small processing fee of $12 and improved the land over a 5 year period. Even with such a low price most could not afford to do this because it was expensive for just the trip to move out west. Large corporations had no problems with funds so they bought the land, split it up and sold it for a huge profit. -
Barbed Wire
Micheal Kelly invented the idea of barbed wire. Micheal, along with other farmers and ranchers got tired of cowboys and cattle coming through ruining their crops and land. Most created fences to try and keep them out but Micheal's idea was the most effective. To make barbed wire he would intertwine steel barbs between two steel wires. These created boundaries and soon made it made it impossible to continue cattle drives. 10 years later a different inventor patented Micheals idea. -
Fort Laramie Treaty
The treaty put the indians on a reservation and the Government had to give them money, animals and tools for staying on that piece of land. The government found gold in pikes peak and they wanted the indians out so it could be mined, so they kicked them out. This event shows how the government idealizes money and disvalues a good relationship with the natives. This did not make the indians happy and sparked a new hostility toward new settlers. -
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The Cattle Kingdom
Cowboys herded cattle from down by texas up to more northern states. Their choice cattle was the Texas Longhorn. The longhorn was tough and needed little water. The young men herding these beasts were even more tough. They faced death everyday with getting trampled being a real concern. while the herds were being led on the trail they could trample many farmers crops. This led to the creation of barbed wire fences which closed off the passage the cowboys took, ending the cattle drives. -
Dawes Act
The dawes act gave native american families their own small plots of land. This was apart of one of the "solutions" we had to help fix our relationship with the natives. The "solution" this was apart of was americanization. The dawes act goal was to make independent farmers out of native americans. The indians werent used to any part of our lifestyle. Since they couldnt get used to being contained, not knowing better they sold their land for for an extremely low cost and got taken advantaged of. -
Oklahoma Land Rush
People lined the borders of Oklahoma to try and claim the Little bit of land that was still open, if they could claim it first they could have it. As you can imagine this caused some problems. some people would hide out by the plot they wanted to claim. These people were called sooners, they popped out and claimed the land as soon as everyone else was released to go get land. There were also many disputes over who got there first. People would do just about anything to get some free land. -
Wyoming becomes a state
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Idaho becomes a state
