settling the west us history ch 11. the new south many believed south could never return to an...

Settling the West

US History Ch 11

The New South

• Many believed South could never return to an agricultural society

• Rail Roads, Tobacco Processing, Cotton Mills• Remains largely Agrarian

New Southern Labor

• Tenant Farmers- rented land to farm• Share Croppers- Shared crops for rented land• Country stores could use crop liens for

delinquent payments• Debt Peonage- sharecropper couldn’t leave

until all dept was paid

Why did people migrate west

• Gold• New Opportunities• Minerals: Demand for minerals rise after civil

war.• America industrialization after Civil War

Boomtowns

• Quick growing towns• Existed before Civil War• Nevada Admitted to the union after Virginia

city silver strike, 230,000,000 in silver• Rough places used Vigilance Committees to

enforce law and order• Ghost Towns after mines dried up

Impact of Boomtowns

• Many new states out west• Rail Roads expand to boom towns

Ranchers and Cattle Drivers

• Cattle ranching prospers because of “open range” and civil war

• Cattle Drives take roaming cattle from midwest east were the command higher prices (long drive)

• Barbed Wire ends cattle drives

Farming the Great Planes

• Land thought to be useless proves to be fertile farming land

• Buffalo “Wal-Mart on Hooves”• Rail Roads help with settling the land• Homestead Act:10 dollar registration fee, 160

acre tract of land, must live there 5 years before owning.