Chapter 17

Timeline
By Sophia Guidara and
Amy Juckett

1849 - Gold Rush

The Gold Rush of 1849 excited the nation. It attracted miners from all over
the world to California to the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains to the
Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. Gold was found in the Sacramento River
Valley in early 1849. By the end of 1849, 100,000 people lived in the
California territory. Two billion dollars worth of gold was found by the end of
1852.

1851 - Big Talk

In 1851, thousands of people gathered near Fort Laramie in Wyoming for a
big talk with US officials. The officials wanted nations of many Plains to
stop following the buffalo. If the people would settle permanently, the
government promised to protect their lands.

1859 - The Comstock Lode

In 1859, two Irish prospectors found gold in the Sierra Nevada. Although they
had found the gold they were looking for, Henry Comstock said the claim was
on his property. The found was later known as the Comstock Lode. Bluetinted sand stuck to all of the equipment and made it difficult to dig out
gold. The blue mud appeared to have had silver in it. This was one of the
richest silver mines ever. The Comstock Lode produced $300 million worth of
silver and made Nevada a big state of mining. A tent city near mines grew
into the boomtown of Virginia City.

1860 - Cattle Drives

In the 1860s, ranchers began rounding up the cattle. They hired skilled
riders, called cowhands, to move the cattle to railroads in Kansas, Missouri,
and Wyoming. The ideal time to begin a cattle trail was during the spring
because the grass grew tall and rivers were full from spring rains. A cattle
drive is the herding and moving of cattle over long distances, usually by
following cattle trails. The cattle drives lasted two to three months. In one
year, 600,000 cattle would be moved to the north.

1860- Transcontinental Railroad

In 1862 Leland Stanford and his partners got the right to build a line east
from Sacramento, California. The railroad was called Central Pacific. The
other railroad Union Pacific would build west. the men hired 10,000 chinese
to help them. They battled through snow, winds, and avalanches which made
them stop working. On May 10, 1869, the two lines met in Promontory, Utah.

1862- Homestead Act

The Homestead Act was created in 1862. It offered 160 acres of land for
anyone who lived on the land for five years. The Congress wanted to give
poor people the chance to also farm. Only a few people had enough money to
make the change. Some large companies took large plots of land illegally. 160
acres was not enough to be able to grow enough food in order to make a
profit. Only one homesteader was able to stay all five years.

1864- Navajos
The Navajo indians lived in the south west raising cattle,sheep and horses.
They would raid other farms in order to get more live stock. To stop them the
farmers called the army. After multiple wars, they were beat in Arizona. The
soldiers took them on a long walk to the Pecos River. They battled years of
disease and hunger.

1867- Cow Towns

Joseph McCoy had a great idea in 1867. This idea was Cow Towns. He believed
that after months of riding cowboys needed a shower and a warm bed to
sleep in. Cattle needed to be pened before they ship east. The first cow town
was built in Abilene Kansas this was were the Chisholm trail and the Kansas
Pacific Railroad met. Dance halls, saloons and hotels were all over the towns.
Some times there were bar fights and gun fights. Some towns banned pistols.

1867- National Grange

Most farmers lived in poverty or in the middle of the country with nobody
around. Granges are farmers that meet for sewing bees, lectures and other
farming events. In 1867 some of the granges got together and formed the
National Grange. It started as an educational movement but then changed
into an economic protest. Granges demanded same low rates as railroads
and warehouses that were give to big time farmers. They than elected state
officials to wright laws limiting these rates.

1870- Buffalo
The buffalo started to decrease in the 1870s due to the native americans
hunting. Railroad builders made hunters kill the buffalo so then they could
eat. They also killed buffalo to make robes that went for high prices.One
hunter could kill over 2,000 buffalo a month.

1887- Dawes Act

In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, hoping to improve Native American
life. The act tried to turn the Native Americans into farmers, giving the males
160 acres to farm. It also set up schools. However, the Dawes Act failed. Few
Native Americans went to farming, many sold their land cheaply, and federal
agents replaced native leaders.