Unit 1.3: Technology and the West

I. Railroads

Why Build a ______Railroad?

Would tie the ______together

Would reduce travel time between East Coast and West Coast from months to ______

Would lead to growth of towns and cities along the rail line

Would make moving goods and raw materials ______

Which Route to Build?

Southerners wanted a route out of ______, but rough terrain in Arizona led to the purchase of flatter land from Mexico (the Gadsden Purchase)

Northerners wanted a route out of ______, but Southerners blocked their efforts in hopes that they could barter the route’s location in exchange for an expansion of slavery

The ______Railway Act

Passed in 1862 (during the Civil War, so the ______route won)

Congress approved the construction of a transcontinental railroad, awarding contracts to both the ______Pacific and ______Pacific Railroads

Both companies were given land along the right-of-way as payment, rather than cash; this encouraged competition and speedier construction – whoever built the most railroad, got the most land

The Union Pacific Railroad

Led by ______, a former general known for his organizational and managerial skills

Started construction on a rail line heading west out of ______, Nebraska in 1865

Union Pacific’s Workforce

The Union Pacific used a mixture of unemployed Civil War veterans and ______immigrants for labor

They hired over 10,000 men and housed them in camps along the tracks and in rolling dormitory cars

Rough living conditions led high crime rates – lots of ______, drinking, and fighting between workers

The Central Pacific Railroad

Organized in California under 4 investors, including ______, the future governor of California and the founder of Stanford University

Started construction of a railroad heading east out of ______

Had the major disadvantage of having to have all their railroad and construction equipment delivered by ______from the east

Also had to begin building in the mountains almost immediately, slowing their progress and increasing their expenses

Central Pacific’s Workforce

The organizers of the Central Pacific chose to hire over 10,000 ______laborers

Chinese were willing to work very ______because unemployment in China was very high due to the Taiping Rebellion

Chinese immigrants, who faced tremendous racism and were rarely treated fairly, tended to band together, creating “______” neighborhoods in major cities like San Francisco

The Workingman’s Party of California

The growing numbers of Chinese workers led to increased ______and anti-immigrant political activism

The Workingman’s Party of California was a political party founded by _____ immigrant Denis Kearney in the 1870s to oppose Chinese immigration and the use of Chinese labor to build the railroads

Simple motto: “The ______!”

The Chinese Exclusion Act

Growing anti-Chinese sentiments led Congress to pass a bill in 1882 banning all Chinese ______for 10 years

Additionally, Chinese immigrants already in the U.S. were blocked from becoming citizens

Congress renewed the Act for ____ more years in 1892 before banning Chinese immigration permanently in 1902 (the Act was repealed in 1942)

The ban led to a decline in the Chinese population in the U.S., since most early Chinese immigrants were men

Completion of the Railroad

The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads finally met at ______, Utah on May 10, 1869

The completion of the railroad was celebrated with the driving of a golden spike to mark the spot where the two lines met

Amazingly, the entire railway had been built in only about ______

Time Zones Introduced

Prior to the railroads, time had been measured purely by the _____ position, so the time of day was determined locally

In 1883, the American Railway Association divided the nation into __ time zones to ease railroad scheduling and to improve ______; train wrecks were common due to discrepancies in local time, so a standardization of time measurement was necessary

Standardization of Trains

Hundreds of small, independent railroads quickly consolidated into just _____major companies, increasing efficiency, lowering shipping and travel costs, and allowing for the development of standardized technology which further increased efficiency

The growing railroad networks also tied America’s regions together after the ______, helping minimize sectionalism

The ______System

The federal government continued to ______land to the railroad companies alongside their rail lines as payment and to encourage development

The railroads ______this land to settlers to raise the capital needed to build more railroads

Over 120 million acres of public lands had been given to the railroad companies by the late 1800s

II. Farming Technologies

The Steel Plow

John Deere patented a steel-bladed plow in 1837 that could cut through the tough sod of the Great Plains

Deere’s steel plow opened the way for “______” to farm the prairie, but they also led to the breakdown of prairie soils and the loss of topsoil to wind & water erosion, factors that would later cause serious problems for Plains farmers

The Mechanical Reaper

Developed by ______in 1834, the mechanical reaper was a horse-drawn machine which could harvest far more grain than a man swinging a scythe

The reaper led to farmers planting more ______, leading to an increase in grain production

Dry-farming

Farming method where seeds are planted deep in the ground where there is enough moisture to allow them to germinate ______or surface watering

This was the perfect method for use on the ______where surface water was scarce and rainfall irregular

The best crops for dry-farming were ______, so Plains farmers grew wheat and corn out of necessity

The ______Wars

As more farmers moved onto the Plains, they wanted to define and protect ______

As sheep ranchers moved in, they needed access to ______

Both groups were in conflict with the cattle ranchers who depended on the open range to graze and move their herds to the railheads

As a result, brief but violent range wars became common

______Ends the Open Range Era

Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874, barbed wire allowed large areas of land to be fenced off ______, without the use of very much wood

It allowed farmers and sheep ranchers to fence in the prairie and shut down routes (like the ______Trail) used by cattle drivers

Cattle ranchers were forced to change their practices, and organize defined, enclosed ranches rather than drive cattle across the open range

Farmers Fall on Hard Times

In the 1880s, a serious drought struck the Plains, wiping out many farmers and ranchers

In the 1890s, excessive wheat production caused grain prices to drop, hurting farmers again

To survive, farmers often ______their land to banks, but frequently lost their land when they couldn’t meet their mortgage payments