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American Old West
The American old west, from 1700 to the early 1900s, was a wild, lawless yet very interesting time, and many influences from these times can still be seen today in the modern west. Explorers, trappers, settlers, marshals, gunmen, Indians, cowboys, villains, ranchers, prospectors, businessmen and women, and multitudes of others came together to lay the foundations of Western USA. In this category, there are questions on the lives and adventures of these people.
330 Questions
What impact did the railroads have on cattle?
The transcontinental railroad allowed cattle to be delivered across the country on the railroad, instead of herded by cowboys. This led to an increase in cattle distribution and the weakening of the cowboy cattle drives. It also helped to lower transportation costs.
the cow towns deveoped near rairoad lines so they could be loaded on the next rairoad car to be shipped in the East!
Why would someone go to the west?
In the old days they gave free land. So the people who were poor went to the west to farm.
How was the cattle kingdom significant?
The Cattle Kingdom
The cattle industry grew tremendously in the two decades after the Civil War, moving into western Kansas and Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas in the 1870s and 1880s with the expansion of the railroads. While motion pictures, television, and novels have helped make cowboys -the men who rounded up, branded, and drove the cattle to market - the most heroic and best known symbols of the West, cattle ranching was in fact a big business that attracted foreign investment and required considerable organization.
The long drive. The rise of the cattle kingdom coincided with the spread of the railroads across the country. In 1866, Texas ranchers drove their herds of longhorn cattle north to the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri, for shipment to the slaughter and packinghouses in the East. As the railroads moved west, the terminus of the long drive moved with them. The famed Chisholm Trail went from San Antonio to Abilene, Kansas, while the Western Trail ended in Dodge City. These drives covered approximately 800 miles and took about two months; the Goodknight-Loving Trail, which swung through west Texas and then north into New Mexico and Colorado, was considerably longer.
The cattle business was a profitable one. A steer purchased for less than ten dollars in south Texas might sell for three or more times that amount in the Kansas cow towns. Since the herds grazed on the open range and as few as a dozen cowboys could handle several thousand heads of cattle, a rancher's operating expenses were low. Given this positive outlook, it is not surprising that the cattle industry attracted capital from investors both in the East and overseas. Many ranchers simply managed cattle and land for outside corporate interests. Two of the largest corporate ranches - the Anglo-American Cattle Company (1879) and the Prairie Cattle Company (1881) - were established in England and Scotland, respectively.
Few cowboys made driving cattle their life's work, and after a year or two, most moved on to some other occupation. Although there were certainly cowhands who hoped to save enough money to start a ranch of their own, this was not easy. The cowboys were basically wageworkers, paid a meager $25 to $40 per month plus room and board. Ranch hands in the Texas Panhandle and in Wyoming even went on strike demanding higher salaries in the 1880s. Although whites were invariably hired as foremen in the ranch-hand hierarchy, nearly 20 percent of the cowboys were African and Mexican Americans. Indeed, the techniques for handling cattle on the range and the clothes the cowboys wore owed much to their early Mexican counterparts, the vaqueros.
Range wars. As settlers advanced into cattle country, a conflict was inevitable between the farmers who fenced their land with barbed wire and sought to control water sources and the ranchers whose livelihood depended on keeping the range open. But the so-called range wars also pitted cattlemen against sheepherders (sheep were notorious for eating grasses down to the stubble so that the land was unsuited for cattle grazing) and cattle barons against smaller ranchers. In what was known as the Johnson County War (1892), the Wyoming Stock Growers Association hired gunmen to get rid of small operators accused of stealing cattle.
The collapse of the cattle kingdom. A combination of factors brought an end to the cattle kingdom in the 1880s. The profitability of the industry encouraged ranchers to increase the size of their herds, which led to both overgrazing (the range could not support the number of cattle) and overproduction. As with crop production, more beef on the market and the rise of foreign competition led to declining prices. In addition to the loss of grazing land, nature took its toll. Successive harsh winters in 1886 and 1887, coupled with summer droughts, decimated the cattle herds on the Great Plains and forced ranchers to adopt new techniques. With some notable exceptions, such as the fabled King Ranch in south Texas, the trend shifted toward smaller ranches. Cattlemen fenced in more manageable herds averaging 200 head, feeding them hay or grain in the winter and turning to selective breeding to increase the amount of beef produced.
What factors caused the rise and fall of the cattle industry?
The railroad and the development of railroad cars that were refrigerated led to the rise of the western cattle industry. The land was perfect for cattle and the railroad allowed ranchers to send meat all over the country.
How far did the Donner Party travel?
Three families, George Donner's, Jacob Donner's, and James Reed's, left Springfield, Illinois, on April 14, 1846. On May 19 they joined a large wagon train in Kansas. This train was led by William Russell. It broke up into smaller parties. The Donner Party didn't actually exist until July 19, 1846, when a new wagon train was organized and George Donner was elected the captain. This happened near South Pass in Wyoming.
After the first rush to the western gold mining towns who took over mining operations?
Large mining companies
Was John C Fremont apart of the Donner party?
No. He urged the Donner Party to take a shortcut which caused the party unnecessary hardship. If the Donner Party had not taken the shortcut, they would have made it to Sacramento before snow came to the Sierra Nevada mountains.
How did new railroads help to create a cattle boom?
The railroads helped to create cattle kingdoms in the southwest because cattle could be shipped all over the country. Raising cattle in the southwest provided the ranchers with lots of land and grass to feed the cattle.
Why did the Donner party find the need to eat each other?
When the Donner Party was trapped at the beginning of November 1846, they had very little food. They slaughtered their cattle and put the meat in the snow to preserve it. Some of the emigrants had more than the others. When the meat was gone, they ate boiled oxhide and bones. They also ate their dogs. Finally, at the end of February 1847, some of the emigrants had nothing at all left to eat, so they started to eat human flesh. They didn't kill each other for food, they only ate the dead.
Which community is most likely going to be a ghost town mining town or railroad town?
Mining town. The railroad brought prosperity to towns on railroad routes, while miners struggled to survive as the price of ore fell.
What did the donner party eat?
The Donner Party ran out of food and were trapped by a winter storm. Cannibalism was unheard of in civilized societies, so this was met with horror! The survivors weren't exactly welcomed neighbors.
What factors ended the cattle boom?
Corporate structure and frenzied investment/speculation, insufficent grass to support long drives, ranges were shrunk by railroads, severe weather in 1885-1887
The cattle frontier ended because barbed wire was invented, which replaced the need for cowboys. Weather also influenced the downfall, as blizzards trapped herds and droughts caused fire. These disasters destroyed land, and many animals were lost.
Why was water so important to the West?
I'm assuming you've never been to the west!
Most of the Southwestern United States is a harsh, desert and mountain area. Water is scarce and traveling was dangerous, living there even more dangerous. A constant source of water, albeit, a spring, a lake, or a river was vital for civilization to occur. Towns that popped up far from water had to either have it pumped in via pipeline or hauled in via railroad or wagon!
What name was given to railroad towns for markekting and shipping cattle?
Either cow towns or stockyards.
Why were railroads and cow towns important?
The cow towns were at the railheads where cattle could be loaded and shipped on trains rather then having to drive them. The cattle buyers for eastern slaughter houses set up business there. In Kansas the progress of the railroads to the west was important because Kansas farmers feared the larger Texas cattle Ticks, so they legally blocked herds coming further east the farthest railhead.
How did they farm in the late 1800s?
Water and weather. The plains doesn't get a lot of rain and the winter months can be brutal with snow. In the 1860's it was worse than normal for rain because the plains had a long term drought.
What mountain range did the Donner Party get stuck in for the winter?
48 of 87 pioneers survived the trip. Near Truckee Lake, Northwest of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border of North California and Nevada, the Party could go no further. Most survived by cannibalizing their family members and others who died of starvation in what is now known as The Donner Pass.
What challenges would the Donner party face on their trip?
1) desert
2) ran out of water
3) ran out of food
4) blizzard began
Why do you remember the Donner Party?
The Donnor Party happened during a very important part of American History. It was the journey west to expand the countries boundries, and explore new land. The Donnor Party was doing something that has been an obsession of human kind as long as we have existed. We want to discover and explore as far as possible. The reason they stand out from other pioneers' is because the cannibalism that occured during their entrapment in the Sierra Nevada's. But that is just the faucet to the story. The story of canabalism pulls people in, but they real story of how many people suffered and fought for their lives against mother nature is what keep the story present in our history. The Donnor Party is an interesting study because so many factors caused the story to unfold and events to occur. There is also a mistery about what actually happened, and they unknown is very appealing to human kind.
How did the story of The donner Party help to strike down the myth of frontier idealism?
The Donner Party revealed what could happen, if things went wrong. Previous stories were always about the wonderful things that could happen when settlers went west, such as adventure and the possibility of finding one's destiny. The story of the Donner Party showed the dark side. The tale of cannibalism, and the loss of nearly half the party, took much of the glamour away from going west.
