Westward Expansion
Factors which contributed to opening of Exploration:
the West: → 1804: Lewis & Clark expedition: discovered how
to economically exploit new land → maps, botanical
specimens, info on Native Americans
→ 1806-7: Pike explored the headwaters of
Arkansas River as far as Colorado and returned by
way of Santa Fe = giving America their first detailed
information on the Great Plains and Rocky
Mountains.
→ 1819-20 expedition led by Major Long travelled
across present-day- Nebraska and Colorado to the
Rockies.
Declared that the Plains and Great American Desert
were totally unsustainable for white settlers.
Fur Trade + Trails:
→ few whites exploring the Far West
→ would sell Beavers' fur to Astor’s American or
Rocky Mountain fur company; brought back
geographical knowledge of the areas through which
they roamed
Printed accounts of adventures like Bridgers
publicised the FW.
Trappers opened up trails from the Appalachians to
the Rockies = helped people move - acted as
guides
→ The Oregon Trail → 400,000 settlers to support
the trade
→ first mass movement the ‘great migration’ of
1,000 settlers in 1843 led by John Grant
Cattle:
→ Texas → 5 million cattle roamed free = $3 dollars
a head BUT in north, they were worth 10x more.
→ 1866 post-war ‘long drive’ to Missouri due to
demand for beef.
not successful; heavy losses en route +
Arkansas/Missouri farmers opposed the march due
to the possibility of cattle carrying diseases.
→ development of Cattle trails: Chisholm trail →
established to drive large herds of cattle over long
distances to railheads, where they could be shipped
to urban centres.
→ 1867; McCoy developed more suitable railheads
in Kansas → 35,000 head of cattle trudged the
Chisholm Trail to Abilene
→ 1880 = Ranching spread northwards from Texas
to Canada
,Greatest boom in ranching ‘beef bonanza’ - US +
European investors.
→ 1883 British companies owned 8 million hectares
of western grazing land = cowboys became
farmhands - only focusing on land their employer
had.
→ Post-war 40,000 cowboys roamed the plains -
diverse group, not glamorous $25 per month,
18-hour days
→ Cattle drives short-lived → Dev of railways
→ harsh winter of 1886 = 90% of cattle died
→ 1890s Cowboys + open range over.
Farming:
→ technological developments helped increase
- John Deere’s steel plough 1837
→ some of the soil in the west was rich, but
this development of labour-saving devices
that could cope with prairie soil made
cultivation of the central wheat belt possible
- McCormick mechanical reaper 1831
→ further aided production on a large scale
and allowed large areas of grain to be
harvested efficiently
→ Bankers + companies provided machinery =
farmers dependant on investors
→ One major problem had been water supply
- largely overcome by deep-drilled wells and
windmills to pump water from deep
underground
- Allowed crops to be watered and provided
water for cattle
→ Development of barbed wire by Joseph Glidden
in 1874 and electric fencing patented in 1886,
allowed large areas to be fenced in so that cattle
farming became an option.
→ 1865, USA exported 1.2 billion litres of wheat
→ farmers flooded the West.
1800, 390,000 lived West of the Appalachians →
over 7 million by 1840
→ Minnesota + Dakota (breadbasket for USA) =
Bonanza farming → huge farms with machinery for
mass production → 4,000+ hectares, employing
many men → owned by wealthy cooperations
- Suffered in 1870s → crop prices dropped
due to overproduction in USA.
1867- Corn 78 cents a bushel → 1874 = 31C
,Mining gold
→ individuals hoped to make money by panning for
gold.
→ 1948 California major rush - 100,000 moved
BUT never established a frontier as their
settlements were scattered over often inhospitable
and barren regions
→ 1858 discovery of gold in Colorado resulted in
Pikes peak rush
→ led to mining towns:
- Deadwood, Dakota + Tombstone BUT
attracted saloon keepers, prostitutes, and
assorted desperadoes. Determined to extract
a living from the miners.
- Mining towns established notorious
reputations for debauchery + violence.
→ 1870s - Hold in Black Hills Dakota - owned by
Sioux.
→ 1873, Towns didnt survive; miners expectations
faded - high prices, low yields; deception. Towns
disappeared as quickly as they had risen
→ Western mining became big business = money
went to banks + company owners
→ attracted permanent settlers.
- Aided by the development of railroads, that
helped connect East to West → ensured
people would survive long as they would get
livestock.
→ decrease in 1870-80s = surface gold had been
gathered up + people needed new teachnology to
extract it.
- Large companies took over = Deadwood
mines = Homestake Mining.
Communications:
Improvements in communications encouraged
settlers to move westwards as they could transport
produce back to markets in the east and receive
industrial goods
In 1840 it took at least two weeks to travel from New
York to Chicago, by 1860 it was just two days.
, Trails + Roads:
→ initial transport = horseback, foot, canoes,
wagons
→ development of the Cumberland Road: building
of ‘Cumberland Pike’ 1808 was to link the Atlantic
with Ohio.
→ did make movement easier and was gradually
extended further west, reaching Illinois by 1830 and
encouraging settlers to follow
→ BUT, journeys along roads were slow and settlers
were susceptible to attacks, which was a concern
for families moving to the west
Steamboats:
essential in assisting in the exploration, settlement
and the expansion of the American continent.
Before:
Many pioneers preferred to use rivers as a means of
transportation.
→ Moving goods and people along river routes was
cheaper and much quicker
→ Flatboats were used before the steamboat was
invented.
BUT, these boats could only go one way which was
downstream, they could not travel upstream.
→ 1807; Fulton and Livington launched “The North
River Steamboat of Clermont”, world’s first
commercially successful steamboat.
- The boat got its power from a steam engine
Fulton made to make it move.
- The steamboat solved the upstream travel
difficulty.
- That steamboat went with passengers from
New York City to Albany and back again, a
round trip of 300 miles, in 62 hours in 1807.
Results:
→ steamboats meant trade could go both ways,
before on Flatboats = stolen, broken or lost.
→ enabled a new economy as people could now
trade more easily with the East which stimulated the
agricultural economy of the West by providing better
access to markets.
For the farmers in the South, this meant boats could
pick up the goods they made and wanted to sell and
take them to new markets in the North.
