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Transcontinental Railroads
The construction of transcontinental railroads was crucial to the settlement of the last western frontiers. They facilitated the movement of settlers to the Great Plains and connected the West with the East, creating a national market.
The first transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869, connected Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California. It employed thousands of workers, including Irish and Chinese immigrants.
By 1883, additional transcontinental railroads connected various parts of the country, promoting further settlement and economic growth. These railroads, however, often faced financial difficulties and had significant environmental and cultural impacts, including the near-extermination of buffalo and the displacement of American Indians.
Mining Frontier
The California Gold Rush of 1849 set off a series of gold and silver rushes across the western United States, leading to the rapid settlement of states such as South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona.
Prospectors initially used simple tools, but large mining companies eventually took over with deep-shaft mining, requiring significant investment and equipment.
Mining booms created boomtowns that often became ghost towns after the resources were depleted. Some towns, like San Francisco, Sacramento, and Denver, grew into prosperous cities due to their strategic locations and the services they provided to mining operations.
Cattle Frontier
The cattle industry boomed after the Civil War, utilizing the vast grasslands from Texas to Canada. Mexican vaqueros' traditions influenced the American cattle business, including the hardy Texas longhorn cattle.
Railroads facilitated the cattle drives, allowing ranchers to transport cattle to markets in the East, where they fetched high prices. Towns like Dodge City and Abilene in Kansas became key cattle trade hubs.
The cattle drives declined in the 1880s due to overgrazing, severe weather, and the arrival of homesteaders who used barbed wire to fence off the open range. Wealthy cattle owners then shifted to developing large ranches with scientific ranching techniques.
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged farming on the Great Plains by offering 160 acres of public land free to any family that settled on it for five years. This promise of free land attracted hundreds of thousands of native-born and immigrant families between 1870 and 1900.
Although about 500,000 families took advantage of the Homestead Act, many had to purchase their land as the best public lands were often taken by railroad companies and speculators.
Problems and Solutions
Early settlers faced numerous challenges, including extreme weather, grasshopper plagues, and isolation. They built homes from sod bricks due to the lack of wood.
Solutions included using barbed wire (invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874) for fencing, and windmills for drilling wells to access water. However, many homesteaders found 160 acres insufficient, leading to the failure of two-thirds of the farms by 1900.
Success on the Great Plains:
Farmers adopted "dry farming" techniques, deep-plowed the soil, and planted hardy strains of Russian wheat. Government programs to build dams and irrigation systems also helped sustain agriculture in the West.
Farmers Organize
By the late 1800s, farming had become more commercialized and specialized, with farmers raising single cash crops like corn or wheat for national and international markets. This shift led to increased dependency on expensive machinery and the consolidation of smaller farms.
Falling Prices:
Increased production in the U.S. and other countries drove down prices for crops, resulting in deflation. Farmers faced high interest rates and had to grow more crops to pay off debts, creating a vicious cycle of falling prices and increasing debt.
Rising Costs:
Farmers felt victimized by monopolistic practices of industrial corporations, middlemen, and railroads, which charged high rates for shipping and storage. Taxes on land and property also seemed unfair compared to taxes on income from stocks and bonds.
Fighting Back
National Grange Movement:
The National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry, founded in 1868 by Oliver H. Kelley, started as a social and educational organization but quickly moved into economic and political action to protect farmers from middlemen, trusts, and railroads.
Grangers established cooperatives and lobbied for laws regulating railroad and elevator rates. They achieved a significant victory in the Munn v. Illinois case (1877), which upheld state regulation of public businesses.
Goals and Problems: Grangers aimed to curb the abusive practices of railroad companies, which often charged exorbitant rates for the shipment and storage of crops. This exploitation made it difficult for farmers to profit from their produce and sustain their livelihoods. By advocating for regulation, Grangers sought fairer pricing and more equitable treatment for farmers.
Farmers’ Alliances:
Farmers formed state and regional alliances to educate themselves on scientific farming methods and pursue economic and political action. By 1890, about 1 million farmers had joined these alliances, which included both White and Black farmers in the South.
Ocala Platform:
In 1890, the National Alliance met in Ocala, Florida, and created a platform calling for reforms such as the direct election of U.S. senators, lower tariff rates, a graduated income tax, and a new federally regulated banking system.
They also demanded the use of Treasury notes and silver to increase the money supply and proposed federal storage and loans for crops. Although they did not form a political party, their ideas influenced local and state elections and later became part of the Populist movement.
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