HIST 011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Joseph Glidden, Homestead Acts, Placer Mining
Document Summary
The last west and the new south, 1865-1900 (ch 17) Before the 1860, lands between ms river and pacific coast: the great american desert conditions that aren"t suited for farming (less than 15 in of rainfall, winter blizzards/hot dry summers, etc) Open grassland however supported 15 mil bison for the amin to support themselves. Frontier practically vanishes though in only 35 years ; natural resources exterminated(buffalo wiped out, fenced in homesteads and ranches, steel rails and modernized by new towns) 10 new w states; only arizona, new mexico and oklahoma remained as territories. Gold discovered in ca (1848) 1st flood of newcomers; only the beginning for the quest for au + ag. Series of au/ag strikes occur in co(100k miners) nv(produced mil; enters. Some towns do grow (add theaters, churches, newspapers, schools, libraries, rr, police); or become mines and expand into prosperous cities.
