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First Transcontinental Railroad
History >>Westward Expansion

The First Transcontinental Railroad stretched from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. No longer would people travel in long wagon trains that took months to reachCalifornia. They could now travel faster, safer, and cheaper by train. In addition to people, things like mail, supplies, and trade goods could now be shipped across the country in just a few days. The railroad was built between 1863 and 1869.

Background

The first talk of a transcontinental railroad started around 1830. One of the first promoters of the railroad was a merchant named Asa Whitney. Asa tried hard for many years to get Congress to pass an act to build the railroad, but failed. However, in the 1860s Theodore Judah began to lobby for a railroad. He surveyed the Sierra Nevada Mountains and found a pass where the railroad could be built.

The Route

There were two main routes along which people wanted the first railroad to be built.

One route was called the "central route". It followed much the same route as the Oregon Trail. It would begin in Omaha, Nebraska and end up in Sacramento, California.

The other route was the "southern route". This route would stretch across Texas, New Mexico, and end up in Los Angeles, California.

The central route was eventually chosen by Congress.

Route of the First Transcontinental Railroad by Unknown

Pacific Railroad Act

In 1862President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act into law. The act said that there were two main railroad lines. The Central Pacific Railroad would come from California and the Union Pacific Railroad would come from the Midwest. The two railroads would meet somewhere in the middle.

The act gave the railroad companies land where they could build the railroad. It also paid them for each mile that they built. They were paid more money for miles of track built in themountains versus miles of track built on the flat plains.

Building the Railroad

Across the Continent
by Joseph Becker

Building the railroad was tough, hard work. Weather conditions were especially tough in the mountains during the winter. A lot of times the only way to travel over the mountains was to go through the mountains by blasting a tunnel. The Central Pacific Railroad had to blast a number of tunnels through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The longest tunnel built was 1659 feet long. It took a long time to build the tunnels. They were able to blast around one foot per day on average.

While the Central Pacific Railroad had to deal with mountains and snow, the Union Pacific Railroad was challenged byNative Americans raids. As the Native Americans came to realize the threat to their way of life that the "Iron Horse" was going to bring, they began to raid the railroad work sites. Also, a lot of the land that was "granted" to the railroad by the government was actually Native American land.

The Workers

The majority of the workers on the Union Pacific Railroad were Irish laborers, many who had served in both the Union and the Confederate armies. In Utah, a lot of the track was built by Mormon workers. Most of the Central Pacific Railroad was built by Chinese immigrants.

The Golden Spike

The two railroads finally met at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869. Leland Stanford, governor of California and president of the Central Pacific Railroad, drove in the last spike. This final spike was called the "Golden Spike" or "The Final Spike". You can see it today at Stanford University in California.

Driving the Golden Spike on 10th May, 1869
by American School

Interesting Facts about the First Transcontinental Railroad

The Pony Express traveled a similar route to the central route and helped to prove that the route was passable in winter.

The transcontinental railroad was also called the Pacific Railroad and the Overland Route.

The total length of the First Transcontinental Railroad was 1,776 miles.

The Central Pacific Railroad was controlled by four men called the "Big Four". They were Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker.

It was later, in November of 1869, when the Central Pacific connected San Francisco to Sacramento.

Activities

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Works Cited

History >>Westward Expansion

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Kids learn about the First Transcontinental Railroad. Fun facts about the route, the Union Pacific, and the Pacific Railroad Act.

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Kids learn about the biography and life of explorer and guide Sacagawea. Native American woman who helped Lewis and Clark.

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Kids learn about the Homestead Act and Land Rush of the Old West. Facts about Homesteaders and the grabbing land in the midwest.

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Kids learn about the cowboys of the old west. Fun facts like the cattle drive, round up, the clothes they wore, and the cowboy code.

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Kids learn about the Pony Express from the Old West. Riders would swap horses at stations to deliver the mail faster to and from California.

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Kids learn about the California Gold Rush from the Old West. Thousands of people move to the west to search for gold and strike it rich.

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History: Westward Expansion and the Old West for Kids

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Kids learn about the history of the Westward Expansion and the Old West of the United States as pioneers settled the west as the country expanded. Educational articles for teachers, students, and schools including daily life on the frontier, gold rush, Pony Express, timeline, glossary, and people.

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The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and "improve" their plot by cultivating the land. After five years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a six-month residency and trivial improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, Union soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements.

Although this act was included in the Republican party platform of 1860, support for the idea began decades earlier. Even under the Articles of Confederation, before 1787, the distribution of government lands generated much interest and discussion.

The act, however, proved to be no panacea for poverty. Comparatively few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire the necessary tools, seed, and livestock. In the end, most of those who purchased land under the act came from areas quite close to their new homesteads (Iowans moved to Nebraska, Minnesotans to South Dakota, and so on). Unfortunately, the act was framed so ambiguously that it seemed to invite fraud, and early modifications by Congress only compounded the problem. Most of the land went to speculators, cattle owners, miners, loggers, and railroads. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders. Indeed, small farmers acquired more land under the Homestead Act in the 20th century than in the 19th.

Transcript
CHAP. LXXV. -An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death; shall. prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne rue allegiance to the Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And provided, further, That in case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an Infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall ensure to the benefit of said infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children for the time being have their domicile, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office shall note all such applications on the tract books and plats of, his office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof to the General Land Office, together with the proof upon which they have been founded.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the government.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, one half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preemption rights: And provided, further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a preemption right prior to the passage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided, further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits, required or authorized by this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act, from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting preemption rights.

APPROVED, May 20, 1862.

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EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392); 5/20/1862; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789 - 2011; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

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A homesteader had to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Settlers from all walks of life worked to meet the challenge of "proving up". They included immigrants, farmers without land of their own, single women, and formerly enslaved people.

A filing fee was the only money required, but sacrifice and hard work exacted a different price from the hopeful settlers. Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm to get the land. The patent they received represented the culmination of hard work and determination. Nearly four million homesteaders settled land across 30 states over 123 years.

The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed anyone over 21 years of age or the head of a household to apply for free federal land with two simple stipulations:

1. Be a citizen of the United States or legally declare their intent to become one

2. Did not fight against the United States or aid enemies of the United States

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About the Homestead Act - Homestead National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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A homesteader had to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Settlers from all walks of life worked to meet the challenge of "proving up". They included immigrants, farmers without land of their own, single women, and formerly enslaved people.

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Homestead Act of 1862 | Summary, History, & Significance

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Homestead Act of 1862, legislative action that promoted the settlement and development of the American West. It was also notable for the opportunity it gave African Americans to own land. President Abraham Lincoln signed the act into law on May 20, 1862. Some 270 million acres were distributed under it.

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What factors, forces or reasons cause people to move from one geographic area to another? The first people to live in what we now call Iowa may have arrived some 8,000-10,000 years ago. They lived along the edges of the receding glaciers and hunted large game animals.

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From the earliest days of European settlement on the Atlantic Coast, pioneers began moving west to obtain land, trade, and raise families. From the beginning, there were Native Americans occupying these lands which created numerous conflicts as the natives tried to maintain their lifestyles.

1850 - There are 20,000,000 buffalo on the plains between Montana and Texas.

On September 9, 1850 - California entered the Union. With miners flooding the hillsides and devastating the land, California's Indians found themselves deprived of their traditional food sources and forced by hunger to raid the mining towns and other white settlements.

1850-1875 - The extermination of buffalo herds by sports and hide hunters severely limits the Plains Indians ' food supply and ability to survive.

1851 - A series of Fort Laramie treaties were signed with the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Plains tribes delineating the extent of their territories and allowing passage across these territories in exchange for payments to the tribes. Thus began the incursions of miners and wagon trains on the Oregon and later the Bozeman Trail, few at first but an onslaught after the end of the Civil War.

Federal commissioners attempting to halt the brutal treatment of Indians in California negotiated 18 treaties with various tribes, promising them 8.5 million acres of reservation lands. However, California politicians succeeded in having the treaties secretly rejected by Congress in 1852, leaving the natives homeless within a hostile white society.

On August 5, 1851, Santee Sioux Chief Little Crow signed a treaty with the federal government, ceding nearly all his people's territory in Minnesota. Though not happy with the agreement, he abided by it for many years.

1853 - California began confining its remaining Indian population on harsh military reservations, but the combination of legal enslavement and near genocide had already made California the site of the worst slaughter of Native Americans in United States history. As many as 150,000 Indians lived in the state before 1849; by 1870, fewer than 30,000 remained.

1855 - On September 3, 1855, the Ash Hollow Massacre occurred in Nebraska. Colonel William Harney used 1,300 soldiers to massacre an entire Brule village in retribution for the killing of 30 soldiers, who were killed in retribution for the killing of Brule Chief Conquering Bear, in a dispute over a cow.

1856 - On January 26, 1856, in the Battle of Seattle, settlers drove Indians from their land so that a little town of white settlers could prosper. The sloop Decatur fired its cannon, routing the "Indians." Two settlers were killed in the fight.

1857 - In September 1857, the Fancher Party, a group of California-bound emigrants from Arkansas and Missouri, arrived in Salt Lake City. According to Brigham Young's edict, the townspeople refused to sell supplies to the group. The wagon train then headed south and camped in Mountain Meadows.

1858 - On May 17, 1858, 1,200 Coeur d'Alene, Palouse, Spokan, and Skitswich Indians defeated a strong force of Colonel Steptoe near Colfax, Washington, at the village of To-ho-to-nim-me.

On September 17, 1858, Colonel Wright dictated terms of surrender to Indians at Coeur d'Alene mission. Twenty-four chiefs of the Yakama, Cayuse, Wallawalla, Palouse, and Spokan tribes were shot or hanged.

1860 - On February 26, 1860, white settlers from Eureka, California attacked and killed 188 members of the Wiyot Tribe on Indian Island in Humboldt Bay. Only one Wiyot member survived - a child named Jerry James, who was the son of chief Captain Jim.

1860 to 1864 - The Navajo War broke out in New Mexico Territory as a result of tensions between the Navajo and American military forces in the area. During a final standoff in January 1864 at Canyon de Chelly, fears of harsh winter conditions and starvation forced the Navajo to surrender to Kit Carson and his troops. Carson ordered the destruction of Navajo property and organized the Navajo Long Walk to Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.1861

1861 - On February 13, 1861, the first military action to result in the Congressional Medal of Honor occurred. Colonel Bernard Irwin attacked and defeated hostile Chiricahua Indians in Arizona.

On February 18, 1861, the Arapaho and Cheyenne ceded most of eastern Colorado, which had been guaranteed to them forever in an 1851 treaty.

On June 11, 1861, rancher Nathan Hungate, his wife, and two little girls were slaughtered in Chivington, Colorado by Indians.

On September 22, 1861, in an unprovoked peacetime attack, U.S. Army soldiers massacred visiting Navajo men, women, and children during a horse race at Fort Wingate, New Mexico.

On September 22, 1861, 500 Apache led by C ochise attacked the town of Pinos Altos, New Mexico. Three miners and 14 Indians were killed.

On November 29, 1861, 750 Colorado volunteers of the 3rd Colorado Cavalry, under the command of Colonel John Chivington, attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho village in Colorado in retaliation for the Hungates. In what is known as the Sand Creek Massacre, 163 Indians were killed; 110 of them were women and children. Afterward and the soldiers scalped the victims, mutilated bodies and the dead were left to be eaten by coyotes and vultures.

1862 - Congress passes the Homestead Act making western lands belonging to many Indian Nations available to non-Indian American settlers.

August 18, 1862 - The Sioux Uprising (or Santee War) in Minnesota began. The Sioux declared war on the white settlers, killing more than 1,000. They were eventually defeated by the U.S. army, which marched 1,700 survivors to Fort Snelling. Others escaped to the safety of their western relatives. Over 400 Indians were tried for murder, 38 of whom were publicly executed. By 1864 90% of the Santee, and many of the Teton who sheltered them were dead or in prison.

December 26, 1862 - The mass execution of 38 Sioux men in Mankato, Minnesota for crimes during the Sioux Uprising. The trials of almost every adult male who had voluntarily surrendered to General Sibley, at a rate of up to 40 a day, were conducted under the premise of guilty until proven innocent. Originally 303 men were condemned to death. President Abraham Lincoln intervened and ordered a complete review of the records which reduced the list to 38.

1863 - After the end of the Santee Sioux uprising, Little Crow left the area. Eventually, he returned to steal horses and supplies so he and his followers could survive. On July 3, 1863, Little Crow was killed for a bounty of $25 and his son escaped.

1864 - The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo - Under the military leadership of Kit Carson, the federal government forced 8,000 Navajo men, women, and children to walk more than 300 miles from their ancestral homeland in northeastern Arizona to a newly-designated reservation at Bosque Redondo in northwestern New Mexico.

1865 - In July 1865, General Patrick Conner organized three columns of soldiers to begin an invasion of the Powder River Basin, from the Black Hills to the Big Horn Mountains. They had one order: "Attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age."

Late August 1865 - The Battle of Tongue River occurs in Wyoming when General Patrick Conner's column destroys an Arapaho village, including all the winter's food supply, tents, and clothes. They kill over 50 of the Arapaho villagers.

October 14, 1865 - The Southern Cheyenne chiefs sign a treaty agreeing to cede all the land they formerly claimed as their own, most of Colorado Territory, to the U.S. government. This was the desired end of the Sand Creek Massacre.

October 1865 - General Patrick Conner returns to Fort Laramie leaving two companies of soldiers at the fort they had constructed at the fork of the Crazy Woman Creek and the Powder River. Red Cloud and his warriors kept these men isolated and without supplies all winter. Many died of scurvy, malnutrition, and pneumonia before winter's end. They were not relieved until June 28th by Colonel Carrington's company.

Late Fall, 1865 - Nine treaties were signed with the Sioux including the Brule, Hunkpapa, Oglala, and Minneconjou. These were widely advertised as signifying the end of the Plains wars although none of the war chiefs had signed any of these treaties.

December 21, 1865 - An illegal Executive Order removed lands from the Oregon Coast Indian Reservation, cutting the territory in half.

1866 - The Sioux Nations are angered as the U.S. Army begins building forts along the Bozeman Trail, an important route to the goldfields of Virginia City, Montana. Captain Fetterman and 80 soldiers are killed.

April 1, 1866 - Congress overrides President Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Bill, giving equal rights to all persons born in the U.S. (except Indians). The President is empowered to use the Army to enforce the law.

December 21, 1866 - The Fetterman Massacre was fought near Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming Territory. Angered at white interlopers traveling through their country, Sioux and Cheyenne forces continually harassed the soldiers at Fort Phil Kearny, constructed to provide emigrant protection along the newly opened Bozeman Trail. Out maneuvering the soldiers, the Indians killed all 80 of them.

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Native American Timeline - Westward Expansion

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From the earliest days of European settlement on the Atlantic Coast, pioneers began moving west to obtain land, trade, and raise families. From the beginning, there were Native Americans occupying these lands which created numerous conflicts as the natives tried to maintain their lifestyles.

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Worksheet

Weighing the Evidence

Examine the documents and text included in this activity. Consider how each document does or does not support two opposing interpretations or conclusions. Fill in the topic or interpretations if they are not provided. To show how the documents support the different interpretations, enter the corresponding document number into the boxes near the interpretation. Write your conclusion response in the space provided.

Impact of Westward Expansion government policies on Native Americans.

Activity Element

Dawes Act of 1887

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Column of cavalry, artillery, and wagons, commanded by Gen. George A. Custer, crossing the plains of Dakota Territory. By W. H. Illingworth, 1874 Black Hills expedition

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Poster Advertising "Indian Territory That Garden of the World, Open for Homestead and Pre-Emption" in Current Day Oklahoma

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Letter from Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico to President Grover Cleveland Supporting Apache Removal to Eastern Reservations

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Three of Uncle Sam's Pets. We get rations every 29 days. Our pulse is good. Expressive medium. We put in 60 minutes each hour in our present attitude https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsc.02528/

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392).

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Photograph of Chiracahua Apaches Arriving at the Carlisle Indian School

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Activity Element

Photograph of Chiracahua Apache Indians After Training at the Carlisle Indian School

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Conclusion

Weighing the Evidence

Once you have completed all pieces of your evaluation, please remember to email your completed work to Elawson1@jcboe.org. Thank you!

Your Response

Document

2/8/1887

This "Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations" emphasized the treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes.

It was different than the earlier Federal Indian policy (1870 to 1900) of removal, treaties, reservations, and war. This new policy sought to break up reservations by granting land allotments to individual Native Americans and encouraging them to take up agriculture.

It was reasoned that if a person adopted "White" clothing and ways, and was responsible for their own farm, they would gradually drop their "Indian-ness" and be assimilated into White American culture. Then it would no longer be necessary for the government to oversee Indian welfare in the paternalistic ways it had previously done, including providing meager annuities, with American Indians treated as dependents.

The Dawes Act, named for its author, Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts, and also known as the General Allotment Act, authorized the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land.

The purpose of the Dawes Act, and the subsequent acts that extended its initial provisions, was purportedly to protect American Indian property rights, particularly during the land rushes of the 1890s. But in many instances the results were vastly different. The land allotted to individuals included desert or near-desert lands unsuitable for farming. In addition, the techniques of self-sufficient farming were much different from their tribal way of life. Many did not want to take up agriculture, and those who did want to farm could not afford the tools, animals, seed, and other supplies necessary to get started.

There were also problems with inheritance. Often young children inherited allotments that they could not farm because they had been sent away to boarding schools. Multiple heirs also caused a problem; when several people inherited an allotment, the size of the holdings became too small for effective farming. Tribes were also often underpaid for the land allotments, and when individuals did not accept the government requirements, their allotments were sold to non-Native individuals, causing American Indian communities to lose vast acreage of their tribal lands.

Some groups were exempt from the law: Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles; Osage, Miamies and Peorias; Sacs and Foxes; those "in the Indian Territory"; the Seneca Nation of New York Indians in the State of New York; and "that strip of territory in the State of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south."

Subsequent events, however, extended the act's provisions to these groups as well. In 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed the Dawes Commission to negotiate with the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, who were known as the Five Civilized Tribes. As a result of these negotiations, several acts were passed that allotted a share of common property to members of the Five Civilized Tribes in exchange for abolishing their tribal governments and recognizing state and Federal laws. In order to receive the allotted land, members were to enroll with the Office of Indian Affairs (later renamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]). Once enrolled, the individual's name went on the "Dawes Rolls." This process assisted the BIA and the Secretary of the Interior in determining the eligibility of individual members for land distribution.

Transcript

Forty-Ninth Congress of the United States of America;
At the Second Session,

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the sixth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eight-six.

An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:

To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;
To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and
To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section:

Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land in any of said reservations to allot lands to each individual of the classes above named in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each individual of each of said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions of this act: And provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart such reservation provides the allotment of lands in severalty in quantities in excess of those herein provided, the President, in making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in such treaty or act: And provided further, That when the lands allotted are only valuable for grazing[pages ommitted]

separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens, whether said Indian has been or not, by birth or otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians within the territorial limits of the United States without in any manner affecting the right of any such Indian to tribal or other property.

Sec. 7. That in cases where the use of water for irrigation is necessary to render the lands within any Indian reservation available for agricultural purposes, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof among the Indians residing upon any such reservation; and no oother appropriation or grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall permitted to the damage of any other riparian proprietor.

Sec. 8. That the provisions of this act shall not extend to the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osage, Miamies and Peorias, and Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian Territory, nor to any of the reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians in the State of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the State of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by executive order.

Sec. 9. That for the purpose of making the surveys and resurveys mentioned in section two of this act, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be repaid proportionately out of the proceeds of the sales of such land as may be acquired from the Indians under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 10. That nothing in this act contained shall be so canstrued to affect the right and power of Congress to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian, or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph lines, for the public use, or condemn such lands to public uses, upon making just compensation.

Sec. 11. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent the removal of the Southern Ute Indians from their present reservation in Southwestern Colorado to a new reservation by and with consent of a majority of the adult male members of said tribe.

Approved, February, 8, 1887.

[Endorsements]

Dawes Act of 1887

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Dawes Act of 1887

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Document

1874

This photograph taken by W. H. Illingworth during the 1874 Black Hills expedition, commanded by Lt. Col. George A. Custer, shows a column of cavalry, artillery, and wagons crossing the plains of Dakota Territory.

Column of cavalry, artillery, and wagons, commanded by Gen. George A. Custer, crossing the plains of Dakota Territory. By W. H. Illingworth, 1874 Black Hills expedition

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Document

ca. 1889

The Homestead Act passed on May 20, 1862. It greatly accelerated settlement of the western United States, providing 160 acres of free land to qualified citizens, very often at the expense of displaced American Indians.

Beginning in the 1800s, the Federal government resettled several American Indian tribes into Indian Territory. But then in the late 1800s, Congress adopted a policy of giving individual farms to American Indians on reservations and opening the remaining Indian lands to settlers. The most famous opening was the "land rush" in Oklahoma Territory.

This poster advertises railroad travel for "immigrants to the Indian Territory." It presumes that land in current-day Oklahoma would soon be open to settlement. It says that, in his last message to Congress (President Grover Cleveland's annual message to Congress on December 3, 1888), the President strongly recommended "that the Indian Territory be opened for settlement, and there is no doubt but that Congress...will pass the necessary act declaring the unoccupied lands in Indian Territory...open for homestead and pre-emption." The Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 officially opened "unassigned lands" in Oklahoma Territory to white settlers under the guidelines of the Homestead Act.

The advertisement includes a "map of Indian Territory showing the Lands that will be subject to Homestead Entry and How to Reach Them...of which there will be over 10,000,000 Acres" and says "The rush will be great, and early comers will have every advantage."

Poster Advertising "Indian Territory That Garden of the World, Open for Homestead and Pre-Emption" in Current Day Oklahoma

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Document

8/14/1886

Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico sent this letter to President Grover Cleveland supporting Apache removal to eastern reservations.

Transcript

Santa Fe N. M. August 14 1886.

Hon. Grover Cleveland,
President,

Sir,-

We are much surprised to learn that opposition is being made to the proposition of Gen. Miles to remove portions of the Apache Indians from their present reservation in Arizona.
It does not seem possible that such opposition could originate with persons who comprehend the situation here and the need of radical measures for the pacification of our Indian troubles, or that it could be inspired by a desire to promote the civilization and welfare of these Indians, or the peace and successful development of these territories.
Many of us have resided here for years, have seen this country the victim of Indian raids year after year, and have a right to be credited with intelligent and practical views on this subject. We are firmly convinced that no permanent cessation of these raids, or enduring safety to the isolated camps of miners and ranchmen, can be secured so long as the Chiricahua and Warm Springs bands of these Apaches are permitted to remain in any part of these territories. For two hundred years they have been traditional enemies and at constant war with the white race. It is true there are but few of them, less than five hundred all told, but there are enough, owing to the generally rugged and inaccessible character of the country they infest and raid, and the isolated nature of the settlements, to keep a very large scope of country in a state of ferment, and thereby to retard the development of valua-

ble mining, ranching and grazing properties upon which this country largely depends for its prosperity.
Generations of hostility show them to be implacable, and that nothing short of extermination will stop their raids so long as they remain here in proximity to their traditional enemies. So long as they are here, that process of extermination will go on, but at a fearful cost of life and property to our people and of treasure to the government. For every warrior killed some boy is now growing up to take his place.
The boys of today are the outlaws and bandits--the Jus, the Nanes and the Geronimos--of tomorrow. It has been so for generations and will continue so, if they remain here, till they are exterminated; all the interests of these territories, in the meantime languishing and their development paralyzed, by the presence of an element that momentarily threatens destruction to our most important industries.
The other bands of the Apaches are peaceful, and in the main, self-sustaining. There is no special occasion or desire for their removal, but the removal of the others named we deem imperative to the restoration of confidence and tranquility to these territories. The lives and property of large numbers of people, and the development of the extraordinary sources of wealth to the country found here are at stake in this matter, and we sincerely hope and pray that the suggestions of Gen. Miles, in the premises, may be adopted.
Gen. Miles has so far since he has been placed in command here, by the wisdom of his plans and the vigor of their execution, kept the actively hostile portion of these bands out of New Mexico and finally

driven them out of Arizona. They are practically conquered and are understood as being desirous to return to the reservation. To permit them to do so would be simply to tempt fate, and a repetition of the folly of two years ago--another drunken debauch and a murder of some of their number at the first opportunity, and a return to the warpath of pillage and murder to escape punishment. That will be the inevitable result if they are permitted to return.Of this we repeat that we are firmly convinced, and that no permanent peace can come to New Mexico or Arizona till these bands are removed to distant and isolation localities.

Very respectfully,

Edmund G. Ross, Governor
Geo W Lane, Secretary
Geo. W. Julian Surgeon General
H. M. Atkinson
Chas T Earley Register Lane Office
Leigh O Knapp U. S. Receiver
J N Snuthee Special Agt G.L.O.
Henry L Waldo
L Bradford Prince

Executive Mansion.
2087 HGA (?) 1886
The within communication is respectfully
[numbers]
referred to the
File with 1066 [unintelligible]
Secretary of War.
By direction of the President:
Daniel S. Lamont, Private Secretary.
Santa Fe N. M.
Aug 14 86
Governor E. G. Ross et al
For removal Chiricahua and Warm Springs bands of Apache Indians from Arizona to distant and isolated localities.

[2087 HGA 1886
File with 1066 Ogo 1886
Read Oco Sept 22 86
Lieutenant General [rec'd back?] Sept 20/86]

Headquarters of the Army, Washington, D. C., Sept 22d, 1886
Respectfully ret? to the Secretary of War

All of the Indians herein referred to have been removed from Arizona. P. A. Shid? Lieut General Commanding

[EB 44 / 262
EB Secy - [unintelligible]]

Letter from Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico to President Grover Cleveland Supporting Apache Removal to Eastern Reservations

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Letter from Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico to President Grover Cleveland Supporting Apache Removal to Eastern Reservations

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Letter from Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico to President Grover Cleveland Supporting Apache Removal to Eastern Reservations

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Letter from Governor Edmond Ross of New Mexico to President Grover Cleveland Supporting Apache Removal to Eastern Reservations

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Document

7/1/1862

This act provided federal subsidies in land and loans for the construction of a transcontinental railroad and telegraph line across the United States, from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

In the 1850s, Congress had commissioned several topographical surveys across the West to determine the best route for a railroad, but private corporations were reluctant to undertake the task without federal assistance. This Act designated the 32nd parallel as the initial transcontinental route and provided government bonds to fund the project and large grants of lands for rights-of-way. The Act aided the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and secured the use of that line to the government.

The legislation authorized two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct the lines. Beginning in 1863, the Union Pacific, employing more than 8,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, built west from Omaha, NE. The Central Pacific, whose workforce included over 10,000 Chinese laborers, built eastward from Sacramento, CA. Each company faced unprecedented construction challenges, severe weather, and conflict with American Indians, whose ancestral lands were transected by the railroads.

On May 10, 1869, the last rails were laid and the last spike was driven in a ceremony at Promontory, UT. The completion of the transcontinental railroad shortened a journey of several months to about one week. Congress eventually authorized four transcontinental railroads and granted 174 million acres of public lands for rights-of-way.

Transcript

Thirty Seventh
Congress of the United States
At the Second Session
Begun and Held at the City of Washington
in the District of Columbia
on Monday the second day of December one thousand eight hundred and sixty one

An Act To aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Walter S. Burgess, William P. Blodget, Benjamin H. Cheever, Charles Fosdick Fletcher, of Rhode Island; Augustus Brewster, Henry P. Haven, Cornelius S. Bushnell, Henry Hammond, of Connecticut; Isaac Sherman, Dean Richmond, Royal Phelps, William H. Ferry, Henry A. Paddock, Lewis J. Stancliff, Charles A. Secor, Samuel R. Campbell, Alfred E. Tilton, John Anderson, Azariah Boody, John S. Kennedy, H. Carver, Joseph Field, , Benjamin F. Camp,Orville W. Childs, Alexander J. Bergen, Ben. Holliday, D. N. Barney, S. De Witt Bloodgood, William H. Grant, Thomas W. Olcott, Samuel B. Ruggles, James B. Wilson, of New York; Ephraim Marsh, Charles M. Harker, of New Jersey; John Edgar Thompson, Benjamin Haywood, Joseph H. Scranton, Joseph Harrison, George W. Cass, John H. Bryant, Daniel J. Morell, Thomas M. Howe, William F. Johnson, Robert Finney, John A. Green, E. R. Myre, Charles F. Wells, junior, of Pennsylvania; Noah L. Wilson, .Amasa Stone, William H. Clement, S. S. L'Hommedieu, John Brough, William Dennison, Jacob Blickinsderfer, of Ohio; William M. McPherson, R. W. Wells, Willard P. Hall, .Armstrong Beatty, John Corby, of Missouri ; S. J. Hensley, Peter Donahue, C. P. Huntington, T. D. Judah, James Bailey, James T. Ryan, Charles Hosmer, Charles Marsh, D. 0. Mills, Samuel Bell, Louis McLal1e, George W. Mowe, Charles McLaughlin, Timothy Dame, John R. Robinson, of California; John Atchison and John D. Winters, of the Territory of Nevada; John D. Campbell, R. N. Rice, Charles A. Trowbridge, and Ransom Gardner, Charles W. Penny, Charles T. Gorham, William McConnell, of Michigan; William F Coolbaugh, Lucius H. Langworthy, Hugh T. Reid, Hoyt Sherman, Lyman Cook, Samuel R. Curtis, Lewis .A. Thomas, Platt Smith, of Iowa; William B. Ogden, Charles G. Hammond, Henry Farnum, .Amos C. Babcock, W. Seldon Gale, Nehemiah Bushnell and Lorenzo Bull, of Illinois; William H. Swift, Samuel T. Dana, John Bertram, Franklin S. Stevens, Edward R. Tinker, of Massachusetts; Franklin Gorin, Laban J. Bradford, and John T. Levis, of Kentucky; James Dunning, John M. Wood, Edwin Noyes, Joseph Eaton, of Maine; Henry H. Baxter, George W. Collamer, Henry Keyes, Thomas H. Canfield, of Vermont ; William S. Ladd, .A. M. Berry, Benjamin F. Harding, of Oregon ; William Bunn, junior, John Catlin, Levi Sterling, John Thompson, Ellhu L. Phillips, Walter D. McIndoe T. B. Stoddard, E.H. Brodhead, A. H. Virgin, of Wisconsin; Charles Paine, Thomas A. Morris, David C. Branham, Samuel Hanna, Jonas Votaw, Jesse L. Villiams, Isaac C. Elston, of Indiana; Thomas Swan, Chauncey Brooks, Edward Wilkins, of Maryland; Francis R. E. Cornell, David Blakely, A. D. Seward, Henry A. Swift, Dwight Woodbury, John McKusick, John R. Jones, of Minnesota; Joseph A. Gilmore, Charles W. Woodman, of New Hampshire; W. H. Grimes, J. C. Stone, Chester Thomas, John Kerr, Werter R. Davis, Luther C. Challiss, Josiah Miller, of Kansas; Gilbert C. Monell and Augustus Kountz, T. M. Marquette, William H. Taylor, .Alyin Saunders, of Nebraska; John Evans, of Colorado; together with commissioners to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, and all persons who shall or may be associated with them, and their successors, are hereby created and erected into a body corporate and politic in deed and in law, by the name, style, and title of "The Union Pacific Railroad Company;" and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and shall be able to sue and to be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity within the United States, and may make and have a common seal; and the said corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to layout, locate, construct, furnish, maintain, and enjoy a continuous railroad and telegraph, with the appurtenances, from a point on the one hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, between the south margin of the valley of the Republican River and the north margin of the valley of the Platte River, in the Territory of Nebraska, to the western boundary of Nevada Territory, upon the route and terms hereinafter provided, and is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act as herein set forth. The capital stock of said company shall consist of one hundred thousand shares of one thousand dollars each, which shall be subscribed for and held in not more than two hundred shares by anyone person, and shall be transferable in such manner as the by-laws of said corporation shall provide. The persons hereinbefore named, together with those to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners, and such body shall be called the Board of Commissioners of the Union Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Company, and twenty-five shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The first meeting of said board shall be held at Chicago at such time as the commissioners from Illinois herein named shall appoint, not more than three nor less than one month after the passage of this act, notice of which shall be given by them to the other commissioners by depositing a call thereof in the post office at Chicago, post paid, to their address at least forty days before said meeting, and also by publishing said notice in one daily newspaper in each of the cities of Chicago and Saint Louis. Said board shall organize by the choice from its number of a president, secretary, and treasurer, and they shall require from said treasurer such bonds as may be deemed proper, and may from time to time increase the amount thereof as they may deem proper. It shall be the duty of said board of commissioners to open books, or cause books to be opened, at such times and in such principal cities in the United States as they or a quorum of them shall determine, to receive subscriptions to the capital stock of said corporation, and a cash payment of ten per centum on all subscriptions, and to receipt therefor. So soon as two thousand shares shall be in good faith subscribed for, and ten dollars per share actually paid into the treasury of the company, the said president and secretary of said board of commissioners shall appoint a time and place for the first meeting of the subscribers to the stock of said company, and shall give notice thereof in at least one newspaper in each State in which subscription books have been opened at least thirty days previous to the day of meeting, and such subsribers as shall attend the meeting so called, either in person or by proxy, shall then and there elect by ballot not less than thirteen directors for said corporation; and in such election each share of said capital shall entitle the owner thereof to one vote. The president and secretary of the board of commissioners shall act as inspectors of said election, and shall certify under their hands the names of the directors elected at said meeting; and the said commissioners, treasurer, and secretary shall then deliver over to said directors all the properties, subscription books and other books in their possession, and thereupon the duties of said commissioners, and the officers previously appointed by them shall cease and determine forever, and thereafter the stockholders shall constitute said body politic and corporate. At the time of the first and each triennial election of directors by the stockholders two additional directors shall be appointed by the President of the United States, who shall act with the body of directors, and to be denominated directors on the part of the government; any vacancy happening in the government directors at any time may be filled by thc President of the United States. The directors to be appointed by the President shall not be stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The directors so chosen shall, as soon as may be after their election, elect from their own number a president and vice-president, and shall also elect a treasurer and secretary. No person shall be a director in said company unless he shall be a bona fide owner of at least five shares of stock in the said company, except the two directors to be appointed by the President as aforesaid. Said company, at any regular meeting of the stockholders called for that purpose, shall have power to make by-laws, rules, and regulations as they shall deem needful and proper, touching the disposition of the stock, property, estate, and effects of the company, not inconsistent herewith, the transfer of shares, the term of office, duties, and conduct of their officers and servants, and all matters whatsoever which may appertain to the concerns of said company; and the said board of directors shall have power to appoint such engineers, agents, and subordinates as may from time to time be necessary to carry into effect the object of this act, and to do all acts and things touching the location' and construction of said road and telegraph. Said directors may require payment of subscriptions to the capital stock, after due notice, at such times and in such proportions as they shall deem necessary to complete the railroad and telegraph within the time in this act prescribed. Said president, vice-president, and directors shall hold their office for three years, and until their successors are duly elected and qualified, or for such less time as the by-laws of the corporation may prescribe; and a majority of said directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The secretary and treasurer shall give such bonds, with such security, as the said board shall from time to time require, and shall hold their offices at the will and pleasure of the directors. Annual meetings of the stockholders of the said corporation, for the choice of officers (when they are to be chosen) and for the transaction of annual business, shall be holden at such time and place and upon such notice as may be prescribed in the by-laws.

Sec. 2. And he it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to said company for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line; and the right, power, and authority is hereby given to said company to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, earth, stone, timber, and other materials for the construction thereof; said right of way is granted to said railroad to the extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass over the public lands, including all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, and depots, machine shops, switches, side tracks, turntables, and, water stations. The United States shall extinguish as rapidly as may be the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operation of this act and required for the said right of way and; grants hereinafter made.

Sec 3. And be it further enacted, That there be, and is hereby , granted to the said company, for the purpose of aiding in the construction , of said railroad and telegraph line, and to secure the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores thereon, every alternate section of public land, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and within the limits often miles on each side of said ro1ld, not sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of by the United States, and to which a preemption or homestead claim may not have attached, at the time the line of said road is definitely fixed : Provided, That all mineral lands shall be excepted from the operation of this act; but where the same shall contain timber, the timber thereon is hereby granted to said company. And all such lands, so granted by this section, which shall not be sold or disposed of by said company within three years after the entire road shall have been completed, shall be subject to settlement and preemption, like other lands, at a price not exceeding one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to be paid to said company.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever said company shall have completed forty consecutive miles of any portion of said railroad and telegraph line, ready for the service contemplated by this act, and supplied with all necessary drains, culverts, viaducts, crossings, sidings, bridges, turnouts, watering places, depots, equipments, furniture, and all other appurtenances of a first class railroad, the rails and all the other iron used in the construction and equipment of said road to be American manufacture of the best quality, the President of the United States shall appoint three commissioners to examine the same and report to him in relation thereto; and if it shall appear to him that forty consecutive miles of said railroad and telegraph line have been completed and equipped in all respects as required by this act, then, upon certificate of said commissioners to that effect, patents shall issue conveying the right and title to said lands to said company, on each side of the road as far as the same is completed, to the amount aforesaid; and patents shall in like manner issue as each forty miles of said railroad and telegraph line are completed, upon certificate of said commissioners. Any vacancies occurring in said board of commissioners by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled by the President of the United States: Provided, however, That Do such commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the United States unless there shall be presented to him a statement, verified on oath by the president of said company, that such forty miles have been completed, in the manner required by this act, and setting forth with certainty the points where such forty miles begin and where the same end;; which oath shall be taken before a judge of a court of record.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That for the purposes herein mentioned the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon the certificate in writing of said commissioners of the completion and equipment of forty consecutive miles of said railroad and telegraph, in accordance with the provisions of this act, issue to said company bonds of the United States of one thousand dollars each, payable in thirty years after date, bearing six per centum per annum interest (said interest payable semi-annually,) which interest may be paid in United States treasury notes or any other money or currency which the United States have or shall declare lawful money and a legal tender, to the amount of sixteen of said bonds per mile for such section of forty miles; and to secure the repayment to the United States, as hereinafter provided, of the amount of said bonds so issued and delivered to said company, together with all interest thereon which .shall have been paid by the United States, the issue of said bonds and delivery to the company shall ipso facto constitute a first mortgage on the whole line of the railroad and telegraph, together with the rolling stock, fixtures and property of every kind and description, and in consideration of which said bonds may be issued ; and on the refusal or failure of said company to redeem said bonds, or any part of them, when required so to do by the Secretary of the Treasury, in accordance with the provisions of this act the said road, with all the rights, functions, immunities, and appurtences thereunto belonging, and also all lands granted to the said company by the United States, which, at the time of said default, shall remain in the ownership of the said company, may be taken possession of by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the use and benefit of the United States: Provided, this section shall not apply to that part of any road now constructed.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the grants aforesaid are made upon condition that said company shall pay said bonds at maturity, and shall keep said railroad and telegraph line in repair and use, and shall at all times transmit despatches over said telegraph line, and transport mails, troops, and munitions of war, supplies, and public storage upon said railroad for the government, whenever required to do so by any department , thereof, and that the government shall at all times have the preference in the use of the same for all the purposes aforesaid, (at fair and reasonable rates of compensation, not to exceed the amounts paid by private parties for the same kind of service ;) and all compensation for services rendered for the government shall be applied to the payment of said bonds and interest until the whole amount is fully paid. Said company may also pay the United States, wholly or in part, in the same or other bonds, treasury notes, or other evidences of debt against the United States, to be allowed at par; and after said road is completed, until said bonds and interest are paid, at least five per centum of the net earnings of said road "hall also be annually applied to the payment thereof.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That said company shall file their assent to this act, under the seal of said company, in the Department of the Interior, within one year after the passage of this act, and shall com-plete said railroad and telegraph from the point of beginning ,as herein provided, to the western boundary of Nevada Territory before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four: Provided, That within two years after the passage of this act said company shall designate the general route of said road, as near as may be, and shall file a map of the same in the Department of the Interior, whereupon the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the lands within fifteen miles of said designated route or routes to be withdrawn from preemption, private entry, and sale; and when any portion of said route shall be finally located, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the said lands hereinbefore granted to be surveyed and set off as fast as may be necessary for the purposes herein named: Provided, That in fixing the point of con-nection of the main trunk with the eastern connections, it shall be fixed at the most practicable point for the construction of the Iowa and Missouri branches, as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the line of said railroad and telegraph shall commence at a point on the one hundredth meridian of a longitude west from Greenwich, between the south margin of the valley of the Republican River and the north margin of the valley of the Platte River, in the Territory of Nebraska, at a point to be fixed by the President of the United States, after actual surveys ; thence running westerly upon the most direct, central, and practicable route, through the territories of the United States, the western boundary of the Territory of Nevada, there to meet and connect with the line of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad Company of Kansas are hereby authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line, from the Missouri River, at the mouth of the Kansas River, on the south side thereof, so as to connect with the Pacific railroad of Missouri, to the aforesaid point, on the one hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, as herein provided, upon the same terms and conditions in all respects as are provided in this act for the construction of the railroad and telegraph line first mentioned, and to meet and connect with the same at the meridian of longitude aforesaid ; and in case the general route or line of road from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains should be so located as to require a departure northwardly from the proposed line of said Kansas railroad before it reaches the meridian of longitude aforesaid, the location of said Kansas road shall be made so as to conform thereto; and said railroad through Kansas shall be so located between the mouth of the Kansas River, as aforesaid, and the aforesaid point, on the one hundredth meridian of longitude, that the several railroads from Missouri and Iowa, herein authorized to connect with the same, can make connection within the limits prescribed in this act, provided the same can be done without deviating from the general direction of the whole line to the Pacific coast. The route in Kansas, west of the meridian of Fort Riley, to the aforesaid point, on the one hundredth meridian of longitude, to be subject to the approval of the President of the United States, and to be determined by him on actual survey. And said Kansas company may proceed to build said railroad to the aforesaid point, on the one hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, in the territory of Nebraska. The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, a corporation existing under the laws of the State of California, are hereby authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line from the Pacific coast, at or near San Francisco, or the navigable waters of the Sacramento River, to the eastern boundary of California, upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as are contained in this act for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line first mentioned, and to meet and connect with the first mentioned railroad and telegraph line on the eastern boundary of California. Each of said companies shall file their acceptance of the conditions of this act in the Department of the Interior within six months after the passage of this act.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the said company chartered, by the State of Kansas shall complete one hundred miles of their said road, commencing at the mouth of the Kansas River as aforesaid, within two years after filing their assent to the conditions of this act, as herein provided, and one hundred miles per year thereafter until the whole is completed; and the said Central Pacific Railroad Company of California shall complete fifty miles of their said road within two years after filing their assent to the provisions of this act, as herein provided, and fifty miles per year thereafter until the whole is completed; and after completing their roads, respectively, said companies, or either of them, may unite upon equal terms with the first-named company in constructing so much of said railroad and telegraph line and branch railroads and telegraph lines in Luis act hereinafter mentioned, through the Territories from the State of California to the Missouri River, as shall then remain to be constructed, on the same terms and conditions as provided in this act in relation to the said Union Pacific Railroad Company. And the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, the Pacific Railroad Company of Missouri, and the first-named company, or either of them, on filing their assent to this act, as aforesaid, may unite upon equal terms, under this act, with the said Kansas company, in constructing said railroad and telegraph, to said meridian of longitude, with the consent of the said State of Kansas ; and in case said first-named company shall complete their line to the eastern boundary of California before it is completed across said State by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, said first-named company is hereby authorized to continue in constructing the same through California, with the consent of said State, upon the terms mentioned in this act, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and telegraph is completed; and the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, after completing its road across said State, is authorized to continue the construction of said railroad and telegraph through the Territories of the United States to the Missouri River, including the branch roads specified in this act, upon the routes hereinbefore and hereinafter indicated, on the terms and conditions provided in this act in relation to the said Union Pacific Railroad Company, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and branches and telegraph is completed.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That for three hundred miles of said road most mountainous and difficult of construction, to wit: one hundred and fifty miles westwardly from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and one hundred and fifty miles eastwardly from the western, base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, said points to be fixed by the President of the United States, the bonds to be issued to aid in the construction thereof shall be treble the number per mile hereinbefore provided, and the same shall be issued, and the lands herein granted be .set apart, upon the construction of every twenty miles thereof, upon the certificate of the commissioners as aforesaid that twenty consecutive miles of the same are completed and between the sections last named of one hundred and fifty miles each, the bonds to be issued to aid in the construction thereof shall be double the number per mile first mentioned, and the same shall be issued, and the lands herein granted be set apart, upon the construction of every twenty miles thereof, upon the certificate of the commissioners as aforesaid that twenty consecutive miles of the same are completed: Provided, That no more than fifty thousand of said bonds shall be issued under this act to aid in constructing the main line of said railroad and telegraph.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That whenever the route of said railroad shall cross the boundary of any State or Territory, or said meridian of longitude, the two companies meeting or uniting there shall agree upon its location at that point, with reference to the most direct and practicable through route, and in case of difference between them as to said location the President of the United States shall determine the said location; the companies named in each State and Territory to locate the road across the same between the points so agreed upon, except as herein provided. The track upon the entire line of railroad and branches shall be of uniform width, to be determined by the President of the United States, so that, when completed, cars can be run from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast; the grades and curves shall not exceed the maximum grades and curves of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad; the whole line of said railroad and branches and telegraph shall be operated and used for all purposes of communication, travel, and transportation, so far as the public and government are concerned, as one connected, continuous line; and the companies herein named in Missouri, Kansas, and California, filing their assent to the provisions of this act, shall receive and transport all iron rails, chairs, spikes, ties, timber, and all materials required for constructing and furnishing said first-mentioned line between the aforesaid point, on the one hundredth meridian of longitude and western boundary of Nevada Territory, whenever the same is required by said first-named company, at cost, over that portion of the roads of said companies constructed under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad Company of Missouri may extend its roads from Saint Joseph, via Atchison, to connect and unite with the road through Kansas, upon filing its assent to the provisions of this act, upon the same terms and conditions, inall respects for one hundred miles in length next to the Missouri River, as are provided in this act for the construction of the railroad and telegraph line first mentioned, and may for this purpose use any railroad charter which has been or may be granted by the legislature of Kansas ; Provided, That if actual survey shall render it desirable, the said company may construct their road, with the consent of the Kansas legislature, on the most direct and practicable route west from St. Joseph, Missouri, so as to connect and unite with the road leading from the western boundary of Iowa at any point east of the one hundredth meridian of west longitude, or with the main trunk road at said point ; but in no event shall lands or bonds be given to said company, as herein directed, to aid in the construction of their said road for a greater distance than one hundred miles. And the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad Company of Kansas may construct their road from Leavenworth to unite with the road through Kansas.

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That the said Union Pacific Railroad Company is hereby authorized and required to construct a single line of railroad and telegraph from a point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa, to be fixed by the President of the United States, upon the most direct and practicable route, to be subject to his approval, so as to form a connection with the lines of said company at some point on the one hundredth meridian of longitude aforesaid, from the point of commencement on the western boundary of the State of Iowa, upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as are contained in this act for the construction of the said railroad and telegraph first mentioned; and the said Union Pacific Railroad Company shall complete one hundred miles of the road and telegraph in this section provided for, in two years after filing their assent to the conditions of this act, as by the terms of this act required, and at the rate of one hundred miles per year thereafter, until the whole is completed: Provided, That a failure upon the part of said company to make said connection in the time aforesaid, and to perform the obligations imposed on said company by this section and to operate said road in the same manner as the main line shall be operated, shall forfeit to the government of the United States all the rights, privileges, and franchises granted to and conferred upon said company by this act. And whenever there shall be a line of railroad completed through Minnesota or Iowa to Sioux City, then the said Pacific Railroad Company is hereby authorized and required to construct a railroad and telegraph from Said Sioux City upon the most direct and practicable route to a point on, and so as to connect with, the branch railroad and telegraph in this section hereinbefore mentioned, or with the said Union Pacific Railroad, said point of junction to be fixed by the President of the United States, not further west than the one hundredth meridian of longitude aforesaid, and on the same terms and conditions as provided in this act for the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad as aforesaid, and to complete the same at the rate of one hundred miles per year; and should said company fail to comply with the requirements of this act in relation to the said Sioux City railroad and telegraph, the said company shall suffer the same forfeitures prescribed in relation to the Iowa branch railroad and telegraph hereinbefore mentioned.

Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That any other railroad company now incorporated, or hereafter to be incorporated, shall have the right to connect their road with the road and branches provided for by this act, at such places and upon such just and equitable terms as the President of the United States may prescribe. Wherever the word company is used in this act it shall be construed to embrace the words their associates, successors, and assigns, the same as if the words had been properly added thereto.

Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That at any time after the passage of this act all of the railroad companies named herein, and assenting hereto, or any two or more of them, are authorized to form themselves into one consolidated company; notice of such consolidation, in writing, shall be filed in the Department of the Interior, and such consolidated company shall thereafter proceed to construct said railroad and branches and telegraph line upon the terms and conditions provided in this act.

Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That in case said company or companies shall fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this act, by not completing said road and telegraph and branches within a reasonable time, or by not keeping the same in repair and use, but shall permit the same, for an unreasonable time, to remain unfinished, or out of repair, and unfit for use, Congress may pass any act to insure the speedy completion of said road and branches, or put the same in repair and use, and may direct the income of said railroad and telegraph line to be thereafter devoted to the use of the United States, to repay all such expenditures caused by the default and neglect of such company or companies : Provided, That if said roads are not completed, so as to form a continuous line of railroad, ready for use, from the Missouri River to the navigable waters of the Sacramento River, in California, by the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the whole of all of said railroads before mentioned and to be constructed under the provisions of this act, together with all their furniture, fixtures, rolling stock, machine shops, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and property of every kind and character, shall be forfeited to and be taken possession of by the United States : Provided, That of the bonds of the United States in this act provided to be delivered for any and all parts of the roads to be constructed east of the one hundredth meridian of west longitude from , Greenwich, and for any part of the road west of the west foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain, there shall be reserved of each part and installment twenty-five per centum, to be and remain in the United States treasury, undelivered, until said road and all parts thereof provided for in this act are entirely completed; and of all the bonds provided to be delivered for the said road, between the two points aforesaid, there shall be reserved out of each installment fifteen per centum, to be and remain in the treasury until the whole of the road provided for in this act is fully completed; and if the said road or any part thereof shall fail of completion at the time limited therefor in this act, then and in that case the said part of said bonds so reserved shall be forfeited to the United States.

Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That whenever it appears that the , net earnings of the entire road and telegraph, including the amount allowed for services rendered for the United States, after deducting all, expenditures, including repairs, and the furnishing, running, and managing of said road, shall exceed ten per centum upon its cost, exclusive of the five per centum to be paid to the United States, Congress may reduce the rates of fare thereon, if unreasonable in amount, and may fix and establish the same by law. And the better to accomplish the object of this act, namely, to promote the public interest and welfare by the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and keeping the same in working order, and to secure to the government at all times (but particularly in time of war) the use and benefits of the same for postal, military and other purposes, Congress may, at any time, having due regard for the rights of said companies named herein, add to, alter, amend, or repeal this act.

Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That the several railroad companies herein named are authorized to enter into an arrangement with the Pacific Telegraph Company, the Overland Telegraph Company, and the California State Telegraph Company, so that the present line of telegraph between the Missouri River and San Francisco may be moved upon or along the line of said railroad and branches as fast as said roads and branches are built; and if said arrangement be entered into and the transfer of said telegraph line be made in accordance therewith to the line of said railroad and branches, such transfer shall, for all purposes of this act, be held and considered a fulfillment on the part of said railroad companies of the provisions of this act in regard to the construction of said line of telegraph. And, in case of disagreement, said telegraph companies are authorized to remove their line of telegraph along and upon the line of railroad herein contemplated without prejudice to the rights of said railroad companies named herein.

Sec. 20. And he it further enacted, That the corporation hereby created and the roads connected therewith, under the provisions of this act, shall make to the Secretary of the Treasury an annual report wherein shall be set forth-

First. The names of the stockholders and their places of residence, so far as the same can be ascertained;
Second. The names and residences of the directors, and all other officers of the company;
Third. The amount of stock subscribed, and the amount thereof actually paid in;
Fourth. A description of the lines of road surveyed, of the lines thereof fixed upon for the construction of the road, and the cost of such surveys;
Fifth. The amount received from passengers on the road;
Sixth. The amount received for freight thereon;
Seventh. A statement of the expense of said road and its fixtures;
Eighth. A statement of the indebtedness of said company, setting forth the various kinds thereof. Which report shall be sworn to by the president of the said company, and shall be presented to the Secretary of the Treasury on or before the first day of July in each year.

[signature] Galusha A. Grow
Speaker of the House of Representatives

[signature] Solomon Foot
President of the Senate pro tempore

[signature] Abraham Lincoln

Approved, July 1, 1862.

Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Act of July 1, 1862 (Pacific Railroad Act), 12 STAT 489, which established the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

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Document

5/20/1862

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862, during the Civil War. The act provided that any adult citizen, or future citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land.

On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman made the first claim under the Act. Claimants were required to "improve" the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land. After 5 years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a 6-month residency and trivial improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, Union soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements.

In reality, few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire the necessary tools, seed, and livestock. Most of those who purchased land under the act came from areas quite close to their new homesteads (Iowans moved to Nebraska, Minnesotans to South Dakota, and so on). Unfortunately, the act was framed so ambiguously that it seemed to invite fraud, and early modifications by Congress only compounded the problem. Most of the land went to speculators, cattlemen, miners, lumbermen, and railroads. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders. Indeed, small farmers acquired more land under the Homestead Act in the 20th century than in the 19th.

Transcript

Rec[?] 21 May
Public 64

HR 125
Thirty-seventh

Congress of the United States
At the Second Session
BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON
In the District of Columbia

On Monday the [second] day of December one thousand eight-hundred and sixty-one
[line]
AN ACT to secure homesteads to actual, settlers on the public domain.
[line]

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and. sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying

for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry ; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry ; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death ; shall. prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne rue allegiance to the Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And provided, further, That in case of the death

of both father and mother, leaving an Infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall ensure to the benefit of said infant child or children ; and the executor,
administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving
parent, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children for the time being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be en- titled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office shall note all such
applications on the tract books and plats of, his office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof to the General Land Office, together with the proof upon which they have been founded.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the government.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be permit- ted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are

now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, one half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to im- pair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preemption rights: And provided, further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a preemption right prior to the passage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided, further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act en- titled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits, re- quired or authorized by this act.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be 80 construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the fir8t section of this act, from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtain- ing a patent therefor from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting preemption rights.

Galusha A. Grow
Speaker of the House of Representatives

Solomon Foot,
President of the Senate protempore

Approved, May 20, 1862
Abraham Lincoln

Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392)

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Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392)

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Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392)

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Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392)

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Document

1886

Upon arrival in 1886, these Chiracahua Apache students were photographed at the Carlisle Indian School, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. At Carlisle and other schools, Native American students were required to abandon traditional ways and learn a trade. Richard Henry Pratt, a former Army officer, founded this military-style school in 1879 to train American Indians to become leaders upon returning to their reservations.

You can also view a photograph of Chiracahua Apache students after training at the Carlisle Indian School.

Photograph of Chiracahua Apaches Arriving at the Carlisle Indian School

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Document

1886

These Chiracahua Apache students were photographed at the Carlisle Indian School, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, four months after their arrival. At Carlisle and other schools, Native American students were required to abandon traditional ways and learn a trade. Richard Henry Pratt, a former Army officer, founded this military-style school in 1879 to train American Indians to become leaders upon returning to their reservations.

You can also view a photograph of Chiracahua Apache children arriving at the Carlisle Indian School.

Photograph of Chiracahua Apache Indians After Training at the Carlisle Indian School

Page 1

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Impact of Westward Expansion on Native Americans | DocsTeach

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Worksheet Examine the documents and text included in this activity. Consider how each document does or does not support two opposing interpretations or conclusions. Fill in the topic or interpretations if they are not provided. To show how the documents support the different interpretations, enter the corresponding document number into the boxes near the interpretation.

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Transcontinental Railroad ‑ Construction, Competition & Impact

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In 1862, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies began building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies raced toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

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The first public proposal for such a line was made by the New York City merchant Asa Whitney in 1844. At that time the United States did not hold outright possession of land west of the Rockies, though it exercised joint occupation of the Oregon Country until 1846, when under a treaty with Britain it gained possession of the Pacific coast between the 42nd and 49th parallels. Whitney's Railroad Convention proposed a line from the head of the Great Lakes at Duluth, Minnesota, to the Oregon Country. The Mexican War, by adding California, Arizona, and New Mexico to the American domain, complicated the matter greatly. North-South sectionalism intruded when it was appreciated that west of the Missouri any rail project would require a combination of federal and private efforts, the American practice. In the hope of resolving the regional conflict, the Corps of Topographic Engineers was authorized in 1854 to undertake the Pacific Railroad Survey, which studied almost all the potential rail routes in the West.

The survey on the 49th parallel was in the mid-1890s transformed into the Great Northern Railway. A near neighbour, the 47th parallel survey, had in the early 1880s been followed by the Northern Pacific Railway. The 41st parallel survey, only a partial investigation, sketched the alignment on which was to be built the first transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific east of Great Salt Lake and the Central Pacific west thereof. The 35th parallel route became the Rock Island line from Memphis to Tucumcari, New Mexico, and westward from there the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway to Los Angeles. The southernmost route, the 32nd parallel, was to run from Shreveport, Louisiana, across Texas and then, through the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, to San Diego; this route became the Southern Pacific line from Los Angeles to El Paso.

Construction began in 1862 of the 41st parallel route, which had been selected to receive federal grants, but because of the outbreak of the Civil War relatively little was accomplished on the Union Pacific Railroad before the end of fighting in 1865. In California, little affected by the war, construction was more rapidly advanced. By 1865 the original juncture of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific was moved eastward; the meeting took place on May 10, 1869, at Promontory, Utah.

The opening of the Pacific railroad in 1869 demonstrated that the market for the profitable operation of such a line still lay somewhat in the future: one eastbound and one westbound train a week were adequate to meet the demands of traffic. It took almost a generation before additional rail lines to the west coast seemed justified. In 1885 the Santa Fe reached the Los Angeles basin and the Northern Pacific Railway reached Puget Sound. Each western railroad now had to shape a new economic and geographic strategy. In place of the natural territory gained through monopoly the western lines tried to accomplish regional ubiquity, under which the Southern Pacific (originally the Central Pacific), the Union Pacific, or the Santa Fe attempted to have a network of rail lines that reached to the Pacific Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and northern California; only the Union Pacific succeeded. The American rail network was essentially complete by 1910 when the last transcontinental line, the Western Pacific Railroad to Oakland, California, was opened.

Advances in traction systems

Diesel-electric locomotives appeared in the 1920s. Individual locomotive units provided up to 5,000 horsepower, a figure equal to all the steam-engine power in the United States in 1800. Locomotive units could be multicoupled and operated by a single engineer. It became routine to run " unit trains" containing 100 to 150 freight cars, semipermanently coupled together and operating over a single long run carrying a single commodity, most commonly coal but also other minerals or grains. Not only did diesel-electric locomotives make such routinization of freight operation possible but they also reduced labour demands greatly. Refueling engines required only pumping heavy fuel oil at infrequent intervals; locomotives frequently ran coast-to-coast with only changes of crew and refueling.

In the first third of the 20th century electrification of standard railroads (which came first on the B&O in 1895) proceeded. Never as widespread as in Europe, electrification today is particularly associated with the northeastern United States. This regional concentration of electrification has meant that only between Boston and Washington, D.C., where the federally assembled Amtrak system owns the infrastructure, is there potential to seek easy high-speed rail development. Experimental high-speed projects began in this northeast corridor in the 1960s when both the Pennsylvania Railroad with its electrically operated Metroliners and the New Haven Railroad diesel-electric Turbotrains began running, and since 2000 Amtrak has run its electric Acela Express trains between Boston and Washington. The Metroliners (phased out in 2006) attained speeds of 200 km (125 miles) per hour in the best sections, while the Acela Express trains are capable of reaching speeds in excess of 240 km (150 miles) per hour-though average operating speeds over the entire route are far lower, generally about 120 km (75 miles) per hour.
James E. Vance

Railway company mergers

Throughout the 20th century the ownership and organization of U.S. railroads changed. Mergers were common, and the bankruptcy of Penn Central Railroad in 1970 became the nucleus around which a number of northeastern railroads were joined into a nationally owned Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), established by the federal government under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. The new company's tracks extended from the Atlantic Ocean to St. Louis and from the Ohio River north to Canada. Although it was set up to be an independent profit-making corporation, in its early years, even with the aid of federal loans, it lost more than the bankrupt lines had lost before consolidation. In 1981 Conrail turned a profit for the first time, and in 1987 the government put its stock up for sale to the public. After several years of profitable operation, the assets of the company were purchased in the late 1990s by two other rail companies, CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Within months after the Penn Central bankruptcy, a number of railroads applied for Interstate Commerce Commission permission to abandon intercity passenger service. From about the early 1960s, the railroads had lost millions of dollars annually on their passenger lines as a result of a steady decline in their ridership and increases in their operating costs. In 1950, for example, there were approximately 9,000 passenger trains in service, and these lines carried just under 50 percent of all intercity traffic. By 1970, however, there were only about 450 trains still in operation, with a total share of the passenger traffic amounting to a mere 7 percent. Freight service was still modestly profitable, but passenger service was, as virtually everywhere else in the world, possible only with substantial government subsidies. At this point Congress founded the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or Amtrak, which in 1971 assumed control of passenger service from the nation's private rail companies. More than a century earlier, land grants had been given to railroads to spur completion of the transcontinental line, but the creation of Amtrak marked the first time that rail passenger service had received any form of direct financial assistance from the U.S. government. The new corporation was set up to pay the railroads to run their passenger trains and also compensate them for the use of certain facilities, including tracks and terminals. It bore all administrative costs, such as those incurred for the purchase of new equipment, and managed scheduling, route planning, and the sale of tickets. Income from passenger fares has never been sufficient to pay for operating and capital-improvement costs, and, as a result, Amtrak has regularly received subsidies from the federal government-in addition to constant scrutiny of its operating and budgetary practices and periodic threats from Congress to reduce or even eliminate funding.

By the turn of the 21st century, rail was estimated to account for only about 1 percent of intercity traffic in the United States. Amtrak was responsible for some 33,800 km (21,000 miles) of track around the country, though by far most of its ridership was found in so-called urban corridors, short- or medium-distance routes that linked centres of high population. The Northeast Corridor in particular became Amtrak's most important service area. In this megalopolis, extending roughly from Boston through New York City to Washington, D.C., the dense population presented a market that could be exploited by a fast modern rail passenger service. In 1976 Amtrak took over the route, assuming direct ownership of the tracks and facilities. At the same time, a federally funded Northeast Corridor Improvement Project was begun to upgrade the route for high speed and extend electrification over the entire route. By 1991 the route between New York and Washington could be run at high speed by Metroliner, which were hauled by lightweight 7,000-horsepower electric locomotives of Swedish design. The Metroliner was replaced between 2000 and 2006 by the Acela Express, whose passenger cars and electric power cars were built by Bombardier Inc., a Montreal-based builder of aircraft and transportation equipment, in partnership with the French company Alstom, a manufacturer of electric motors and other power equipment. In the face of severe airline shuttle competition, Amtrak's frequent train service has become the dominant public passenger carrier in the New York-Washington corridor. In 2010 Amtrak claimed more than one-half of the combined rail and air passenger market between the two cities and also between New York and Boston.
James E. Vance Thomas Clark Shedd Geoffrey Freeman Allen

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Railroad - The transcontinental railroad

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Railroad - Railroad - The transcontinental railroad: The first public proposal for such a line was made by the New York City merchant Asa Whitney in 1844.

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A Brief History of the Pacific Railway - The Transcontinental Railroad

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The Linda Hall Library Transcontinental Railroad website was created with generous support from the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Foundation. The site offers visitors a brief history of the building of the transcontinental railroad as well as information on the history and technology of 19th century railroads.

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Amendment XIV

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

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All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Fourteenth Amendment, amendment (1868) to the Constitution of the United States that granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the American Civil War, including them under the umbrella phrase "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." In all, the amendment comprises five sections, four of which began in 1866 as separate proposals that stalled in legislative process and were later amalgamated, along with a fifth enforcement section, into a single amendment.

This so-called Reconstruction Amendment prohibited the states from depriving any person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" and from denying anyone within a state's jurisdiction equal protection under the law. Nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment, the section of the Constitution apportioning representation in the House of Representatives based on a formula that counted each slave as three-fifths of a person was replaced by a clause in the Fourteenth Amendment specifying that representatives be "apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed." The amendment also prohibited former civil and military office holders who had supported the Confederacy from again holding any state or federal office-with the proviso that this prohibition could be removed from individuals by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress. Moreover, the amendment upheld the national debt while exempting the federal government and state governments from any responsibility for the debts incurred by the rebellious Confederate States of America. Finally, the last section, mirroring the approach of the Thirteenth Amendment, provided for enforcement.

The full text of the amendment is:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Among those legislators responsible for introducing the amendment's provisions were Rep. John A. Bingham of Ohio, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, Rep. Henry Deming of Connecticut, Sen. Benjamin G. Brown of Missouri, and Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. The Congressional Joint Resolution proposing the amendment was submitted to the states for ratification on June 16, 1866. On July 28, 1868, having been ratified by the requisite number of states, it entered into force. However, its attempt to guarantee civil rights was circumvented for many decades by the post-Reconstruction-era black codes, Jim Crow laws, and the U.S. Supreme Court's "separate but equal" ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn.

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Fourteenth Amendment | Definition, Summary, Rights, Significance, & Facts

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Fourteenth Amendment, amendment (1868) to the Constitution of the United States that granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the Civil War, including them under the umbrella phrase 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States.'

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National Constitution Center - The 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

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The 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

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SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

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Written by: Andrew Fisher, William & Mary

By the end of this section, you will:

Explain the causes and effects of the settlement of the West from 1877 to 1898

Suggested Sequencing

Use this Narrative to give students a greater understanding of cowboy culture and the roles cowboys and ranchers played in the economic and environmental transformation of the West.

The cowboy is at once the most familiar, beloved, and mythologized symbol of the North American West. Images of a man on horseback, Stetson on his head and six-gun on his hip, have been branded on our collective memory by generations of artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, advertisers, and other purveyors of popular culture. From Buffalo Bill to the Lone Ranger, cowboys are widely seen as the embodiment of core American values freedom, honesty, individualism, opportunity, self-sufficiency as well as the model of American masculinity. Representations of the classic cowboy are always male, always white, and always on the side of what is right and good.

The historical truth, of course, is considerably more complicated and often less romantic than the legends we associate with the "Cattle Kingdom" of the late nineteenth century. The heyday of open-range ranching and long trail drives lasted only about 20 years, and the cowboys of this period were generally wage workers rather than independent cattlemen. They were also a more diverse lot than we imagine, including men of many different races and ethnicities, as well as some women. Their lives and labor, though not usually as exciting as a western movie, played a significant role in the economic and environmental transformation of the western United States.

Cowboys did not gallop suddenly into the American landscape and then just as suddenly ride off into the sunset. Spanish settlers first introduced both cattle and horse-mounted vaqueros to the Southwest during the seventeenth century. By the early 1800s, several million cattle roamed the range from California to Texas, tended by Hispanic herders whose language contributed many words to the vocabulary of modern ranching, including bronco, chaparajos or "chaps," corral, lariat, lasso, rodeo, and rancho. Anglo-American immigrants to the region adopted these traditions along with the hardy Texas longhorns that became a staple of the cattle industry after the Civil War. That conflict temporarily disrupted the market for Texas beef that had developed by 1850, but the market boomed again with the postwar expansion of railroads across the Great Plains and the explosive growth of eastern cities.

Many of the tools and practices used by North American cowboys, including the use of horses, were derived from methods that Spanish-speaking vaqueros had used since the 1500s.

Long-distance cattle drives to bring animals to market developed in response to a combination of economic and ecological factors. After the war, competing railways established depots in Kansas to attract the business of cattle ranchers who had previously taken their stock to Louisiana or Missouri. These railheads had to be established to the west of more densely populated farming regions, because longhorns carried a tick that transmitted splenic fever(commonly called Texas or Spanish fever), which ravaged other breeds of cattle; thus, several states were encouraged to ban longhorn cattle or establish quarantine zones. The first cattle town, Abilene, lay beyond the line that Kansas drew to keep longhorns away from settled areas. Connected to eastern markets by the Kansas Pacific Railroad, Abilene shipped out millions of longhorns that had been driven north on the Chisholm Trail. The Santa Fe Railroad soon established competing railheads at Wichita and Dodge City, the destination for herds moving along the Western Trail from central Texas. Later drives took cattle up the vast Goodnight-Loving Trail as far as Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Such lengthy trips were feasible because semi-wild longhorns endured them well and fetched high prices at the stockyard despite their lean, tough meat. Steers bought for $10 a head or less in Texas could be sold for $25 or more at a railhead in Kansas. The cattle towns, in turn, could make money selling supplies, alcohol, and sexual companionship to the cowboys who congregated there at the end of the drive.

Herding cattle on these trails entailed a lot of drudgery, discomfort, occasional danger, and huge amounts of dust. On a typical drive, a crew of only 10 to 15 drovers would be responsible for moving approximately 2,000 steers and 100 to 150 horses across hundreds of miles of open prairie in all kinds of weather. For their trouble, they received $40 a month and a steady diet of beans, biscuits, hard cheese, and coffee from the chuckwagon. Stampedes, Indians, and rustlers created the occasional thrill, but gunfights were rare and gunshot wounds usually accidental.

What cowboys most often battled were boredom, fatigue, and nature. Dust from trampling hooves coated men as "thick as fur," except when heavy rains transformed the trail into a mass of sticky mud. Despite the bandanas that shielded their faces, cowboys could cough up dirty phlegm for weeks after a drive. Hours in the saddle each day caused blisters and back problems, aggravated by nights of sleeping on the ground in the cold and damp. To pass the time, cowboys told raunchy jokes, held "stag dances," and sang about the miseries of life on the trail. Some also took out their frustrations on the animals they rode and tended, pushing horses and cattle to the limits of their endurance and punishing them cruelly if they balked.

Racial diversity and discrimination were also regular features of cowboy culture. Of the approximately 35,000 men who pursued that occupation between 1867 and 1887, the majority claimed Euro-American ancestry and came from Louisiana or Texas, where prejudice against African Americans and Mexican Americans ran deep. Trail bosses often hired black and Hispanic hands, however, because they did the same work, or better, for lower wages than whites would. Mexican vaqueros, in particular, had a well-deserved reputation for being excellent riders and ropers. American Indians also joined cattle drives, especially on the trails through Indian Territory, and at least one cattleman praised his Pawnee wranglers as "the best in the world."

By some estimates, as many as a quarter to a third of all drivers in this period were African American, Mexican American, or American Indian. Few of them rose to the level of trail boss or ranch owner, due to entrenched racism that held them back even when they possessed superior skills. Yet to former slaves such as Nat Love, life on the open range offered a degree of freedom unknown to black sharecroppers at the time. Similarly, some Indians preferred herding cattle to scratching out a scant existence as farmers on poor reservation lands. Many others subsisted on rations of government-issued beef that had been purchased on contract from cattle herders.

Many cowboys were former slaves who were able to find jobs out west as cattle herders. This photograph was made in Texas in 1913.

By 1880, with the Indian Wars ending and the bison nearing extinction, the focus of the Cattle Kingdom shifted to the northern plains. Instead of taking herds to Kansas, cowboys increasingly drove them to Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, where cattle companies hoped to fatten improved breeds on the free grass of the public domain. Low costs and high prices promised dependable profits of 40 percent annually, encouraging a stampede to cover every acre of the former "buffalo commons" with cows. In 1885, an estimated 7.5 million cattle roamed the prairies north of New Mexico and Texas, with some areas containing four times as many animals as the range could support. Overstocking produced severe overgrazing, which wrecked native grasslands and weakened cattle, but no one cared much about conservation.

Disaster struck in 1886 and 1887, when a vicious cycle of summer droughts and bitter winters caused massive losses across the Great Plains. In the northern region, the cattle mortality rate approached 90 percent, and rotting carcasses piled high along the trails and fences. The Big Die-Up, as it was known, graphically illustrated the "tragedy of the commons," which is the idea that people acting independently in their own self-interest negatively affect the common good by depleting or spoiling a resource through their actions, and the failure of the western ranching industry to regulate itself to safeguard resources for sustainable use in the future. As one newspaper lamented, "range husbandry is over, is ruined, destroyed, and it may have been by the insatiable greed of its followers." The scientific management of resources in the West later became a core conservationist goal during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration.

In fact, the western ranching industry did not die out but rather changed with the times. After 1887, cowboys continued to tend vast herds on the public domain, and railroads continued to supply the increasingly mechanized slaughterhouses of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. From there, western beef traveled in refrigerated railroad cars to feed the growing populations of industrial cities all over the Midwest and East Coast. As the Great Plains filled with homesteaders, though, large cattle companies grudgingly gave way to family-owned ranches that raised higher-quality beef on fewer acres.

There was still conflict over access to the open range, including the infamous Johnson County War of 1892, which pitted big stockmen against sodbusters and small ranchers in Wyoming, among them former cowboys who had built their own herds. Such clashes added to the romantic allure of the "Wild West," and they seemed to support Frederick Jackson Turner's thesis that the closing of the frontier would trigger class conflict in American society because there was now a limited amount of land to settle. Cowboys and trail drives became symbols of that fading era and the national character it had supposedly fostered, an exceptional culture based on meritocracy and rugged individualism.

Cowboys also became a source of nostalgia for a country rapidly moving from its rural-agrarian roots into an urban-industrial future. By the early twentieth century, their mythic significance had eclipsed their actual role in making the modern United States. To quote the famous western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The public may have preferred it that way because of the appeal of American ideals of individualism and independence, especially in an age of industrial, urban, and social regimentation during the twentieth century.

Review Questions

1. The legendary cattle towns of the late nineteenth-century resulted from

2. Which of the following best describes the trail drives between 1867 and 1887?

3. After the Big Die-Up of 1886-1887, the western ranching industry

4. Cowboys are symbols of American culture for all the following reasons except

5. During the early cattle drives, several western railheads were located in

6. Which was an important effect of long trail drives on the Western environment?

Free Response Questions

1. Explain the rise and fall of the Cattle Kingdom between 1867 and 1887.

2. Compare the mythic image of the cowboy with the historical realities of the ranching industry in the late nineteenth century.

AP Practice Questions

"Approaching a party who were eating their breakfast, I got to speak with them. They asked me to have some breakfast with them . . . During the meal I got a chance to ask them many questions. They proved to be a Texas outfit, who had just come up with a herd of cattle and having delivered them they were preparing to return. There were several colored cow boys among them, and good ones too. After breakfast I asked the camp boss for a job as cow boy. . . . So he spoke to one of the colored cow boys called Bronko Jim, and told him to go out and rope old Good Eye, saddle him and put me on his back. Bronko Jim gave me a few pointers . . . I told Jim I was a good rider and not afraid of him. I thought I had rode pitching horses before, but from the time I mounted old Good Eye I knew I had not learned what pitching was. This proved the worst horse to ride I had ever mounted in my life, but I stayed with him . . . After the horse got tired and I dismounted the boss said he would give me a job and pay me $30.00 per month and more later on. He asked what my name was and I answered Nat Love"

Nat Love, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, 1907

Refer to the excerpt provided.

1. Freedman Nat Love being asked to join the group of "cow boys" signals what development in the identity of the American West?

2. Events such as those depicted in the excerpt demonstrated that the American West was a region where

3. Which development contextualizes the situation described in the excerpt?

Primary Sources

Love, Nat. The Life and Adventures of Nat Love. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/natlove/natlove.html

Siringo, Charles A. A Texas Cow Boy. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38309

"Western and Cowboy Songs." Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/popular-songs-of-the-day/western-and-cowboy-songs/

Suggested Resources

Abbott, E.C. "Teddy Blue," and Helena Huntington Smith. We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

Dary, David. Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989.

Dykstra, Robert. The Cattle Towns. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.

Hine, Robert V., and John Mack Faragher. The American West: A New Interpretive History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.

Jordan, Teresa. Cowgirls: Women of the American West, An Oral History. Lincoln, NE: Bison Books, 1992.

Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G. North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers: Origins, Diffusion, and Differentiation. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1993.

Moore, Jacqueline. CowBoys and Cattle Men: Class and Masculinities on the Texas Frontier, 1865-1900. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

Nugent, Walter. Into the West: The Story of Its People. New York: Knopf, 1991.

Savage, William W. Jr., ed. Cowboy Life: Reconstructing an American Myth. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1975.

Savage, William W. The Cowboy Hero: His Image in American History and Culture. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.

Slatta, Richard W. The Cowboy Encyclopedia. New York: ABC-CLIO, 1994.

Slatta, Richard W. Cowboys of the Americas. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.

Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

White, Richard. " Its Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

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Cowboys and Cattle Drives - Bill of Rights Institute

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By the end of this section, you will: Explain the causes and effects of the settlement of the West from 1877 to 1898 Use this Narrative to give students a greater understanding of cowboy culture and the roles cowboys and ranchers played in the economic and environmental transformation of the West.

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National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

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Throughout the 20 th century, from Teddy Roosevelt to Larry McMurty, writers have lamented the passing of the American Cowboy. Yet cowboys are still out there, tending to daily ranch chores, coming together with neighbors to brand calves, throwing a loop at weekend roping, or exercising a cutting horse. Those looking for a mythical figure need to leave the urban world and view the West anew. They will find a ranching lifestyle in which tradition and innovation blend as men and women sustain a deeply rooted heritage of raising cattle and horses.

The ranch life is more than occupation, but a love and custom ranchers have for not only preserving, but also conserving their land for generations to come. Richard Spencer, a New Mexican rancher, shares his insight into ranching and what the life means for him.

For more information on the tradition of ranching, visit the Dickinson Research Center.

Tags: Cattle, Documenting Native American Life, Documenting Western Life, horses, Livestock, Ranch, Tools

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The Ranch Life - National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

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Throughout the 20 th century, from Teddy Roosevelt to Larry McMurty, writers have lamented the passing of the American Cowboy. Yet cowboys are still out there, tending to daily ranch chores, coming together with neighbors to brand calves, throwing a loop at weekend roping, or exercising a cutting horse.

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We take all levels of riders on out cattle drives, however, you must be physically fit, able to trot for potential extended periods. Hanging out at camp is not an option unless you fall off of your horse and are literally unable to ride. You are expected to complete the cattle drive as a member of the crew. We are riding out in the open, with no mounting blocks available, therefore you must be able to mount a 15 hand horse from the ground without assistance. Unless you ride regularly for multiple hours at a time, you WILL hurt and be sore, guaranteed!

If you are not willing to bear pain and push through (cowboy up in western terms) and you have doubts about being able to complete the requirements of the Old West Style cattle drives, please know that you are always welcome at Burnt Well for a regular ranch stay. There, we can tailor your stay to your needs and wishes. As stated above, regular ranch stays can include as much riding as our Old West Style cattle drives. There's always the need to drive cattle but on a regular ranch stay, we are much more laid back and able to be more flexible.
View All-Inclusive Ranch Stay packages "

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Sleep Under the Stars - Authentic Old West Style Cattle Drives

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We take all levels of riders on out cattle drives, however, you must be physically fit, able to trot for potential extended periods. Hanging out at camp is not an option unless you fall off of your horse and are literally unable to ride.

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When the American Civil War ended, the era of the big western ranches began. There were large ranches prior to the war but not many. The King Ranch of southeast Texas is probably the largest ranch of note prior to the war. Being located in Texas at the time of the war, the King Ranch and it's owner, Richard King, were indeed involved in the conflict.

King's ranch was raided several times by Union forces in Texas. They considered it a stopping off site for traveling and resupply for Confederate forces. In fact, Union forces arrived at one time with orders for Kings arrest. Lucky for King he was learned in advance of the raid and fled.
Female Contributions to the Western Expansion / Rancher Women of the Old West

Women were certainly a part of the western frontier and they made very important contributions. There are some interesting stories about the introduction of women on the American western frontier and particularly as wives of ranchers. The women we are referring to here are not the typical cowgirls.

What the frontier woman did do was work hard in difficult settings and contributed in a big way to the civilizing of the west. To understand the settling of the American frontier outside of Hollywood stereotypes, a look at how the wives of ranch owners adapted to their new surroundings is quite enlightening. The presence of someone in the old west who could cause a cowboy to act more gentlemanly had to be appreciated.

For the most part, women married to ranchers were brought into the frontier " after " the male established himself. Conditions were rough in the decade after the Civil War and the man striving to get a herd together and start a ranch had all he could do to provide suitable living conditions for himself.

Most aspiring ranchers thought the conditions just too harsh and dangerous for their wife or new bride. The idea at the time was to establish oneself in the ranching industry and then return to one's hometown to find yourself a bride, or if you had a wife, make arrangements to take her out west. This was the beginning of adventure for many a frontier woman.
Mrs. Charles Goodnight
In the book "Cattle Kings" by author Lewis Atherton, several observations are made as to the type of woman that a rancher seemed to gravitate towards. For the most part, they chose a like minded wife. The rancher himself was a strong individualist, one of the reasons he turned to ranching in the first place, and many times this was the type of partner they preferred.

A good example was Charles Goodnight, one of the more successful ranchers in the Texas Panhandle region. Before settling in Texas, Goodnight established a ranch in Colorado and married for the first time only after the ranch was operating. Mrs. Goodnight was an adventuresome pioneer woman and the ranch life in Colorado seemed to satisfy her. Everything however was disrupted due to the financial panic of 1873. This bankrupted the Goodnights. While Charles took care of the ranch debts he sent his wife to live in California.

Rancher Charles Goodnight planned on reestablishing himself of which he eventually did in the area of Pala Duro Canyon, just outside present day Amarillo, Texas.

Not shying away from adventure it seems that Mrs. Goodnight spent much of her time as a frontier woman patching the clothes of cowboys and tending to the small and non-luxurious home. Mrs. Goodnight did enjoy adventure and didn't shy away from the hardship remote living brought. Futures were not guaranteed. The hope was that after a few years of hard work in inhospitable surroundings, prosperity would eventually come and the days ahead would be better. Ranching was a gamble and the rancher preferred a wife who understood the situation.

How successful a rancher was pretty much dictated what the rancher's wife had to endure. The wives of some of the bigger ranchers no doubt had workers present who do a lot of the chores for them. In other cases, life could be tough. Cooking, sewing, fetching what water was available for washing and in many cases helping her husband with regular cowboy duties could be required. It really was a life of voluntary sacrifice with the hope of better days ahead.
Alice Littlefield
Another western rancher of the post Civil War era was George Littlefield. The ranch / farm was in the area of Gonzales Texas.

In the year 1869 the Littlefields were struggling earning about $150 per year by farming. Littlefield was an ex Confederate officer and Mrs. Littlefield came from a southern plantation and was accustomed to rural life. Becoming a frontier woman may not have represented that big of a change.

Alice Littlefield lived a tough life on the Littlefield farm but circumstances changed dramatically after they became involved in cattle ranching. The Littlefields represented what the successful, and perhaps lucky, rancher could achieve.

Over the early 1870's Littlefield drove cattle to Kansas rail heads and expanded his enterprise. Over the years he had several ranches throughout Texas and into New Mexico with the LIT being one of his biggest. At one time his cattle branded LFD grazed over an area of Eastern New Mexico the size of the state of Rhode Island.

Alice enjoyed being involved with philanthropy and was responsible to a large degree for George's many charitable contributions. The Littlefields were one of the founders of the University of Texas in Austin. The Littlefields had two children but unfortunately both were lost during infancy. Most likely as a result of their misfortune they were very close to his extended family, paying for the college education for all of his many nieces and nephews.
You may also enjoy the Trips Into History Stories on the links below... The National Ranching Heritage Center Battle of Pala Duro Canyon Texas Excellent Venues to Learn About the Frontier Ranch Life The National Cowboy Western & Heritage Museum- Oklahoma City, OK The King Ranch Museum- South of Corpus Christi, Texas The National Ranching Heritage Center- Lubbock, TX
MacGregor Ranch Museum- Estes Park, CO
The Farm and Ranch Museum- Elk City, OK New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum- Las Cruces, NM
(Article and photos copyright Trips Into History)

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When the American Civil War ended, the era of the big western ranches began. There were large ranches prior to the war but not many. The King Ranch of southeast Texas is probably the largest ranch of note prior to the war.

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Cattle droving emerged in 18 th century Scotland as a legitimate profession. It took great skill to captain a cattle drive down through the highlands, there was unpredictable weather, steep mountains to navigate and firths and lochs to swim your cattle across. There were cattle thieves from rival clans waiting and watching for an opportunity to poach your livelihood.

As with the fur trade a century earlier, the qualities of ruggedness, adventurousness and familiarity with the land allowed Scots to excel in this demanding profession and they were in demand as cowboys. Both the perils and practices of the New World would have been familiar to those who had come from the Old.

In the 1870's, western cattle ranching experienced a frenzy of speculation. This resulted in large cattle companies financed mainly by overseas Scots, like the Earl of Rosslyn, and English investors who formed joint-stock companies. A young Theodore Roosevelt got caught up too, moving to a western cattle ranch at a point in life when his spirit was shattered after losing his wife and mother on the same day. Roosevelt stated "It was here the romance of my life began". Roosevelt's insights and western experiences were crucial to the rise of conservatism today.

Fueled by the cattle boom, at one time Cheyenne, Wyoming had the largest median per capita income of any city in America; it became one of the haunts of the19th century wealthy, like the French Riviera or the hill stations of India; with its cattlemen dressing for dinner in black tie, smoking Cuban cigars and quaffing French grand cru vintages.

The bubble burst around 1884 with declining beef prices, rising freight charges and more and more cattle competing for the grass of the open range. Then there was the killing blow, the apocalyptic, blizzard winter of 1886-87, known as the Big Die-Up. Roosevelt's losses were representative; more than half of his herd perished. The Big Die-Up led not just to financial ruin among the cattle barons but, for the elite members of groups like the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, to desperate actions. The Johnson County War, sparked when the open-range gentry rose up to form a vigilante army against cattle thieves and encroaching settlers, inspired the movie Shane. It took the US Army's involvement to resolve the conflict.

Second to cattle, the Scots most affected western agricultural life in the realm of sheep. Sheep ranching had long been part of Scottish history. Consequently sheep herding skills were several levels above those of American ranchers and it is not surprising Scotsmen ended up dominating this profession in the Old West. In Wyoming, this dominance continued until the arrival of the Basque sheepherders.

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Cowboys, Cattlemen & Sheep Ranchers - Wyoming Highlanders

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Cattle droving emerged in 18 th century Scotland as a legitimate profession. It took great skill to captain a cattle drive down through the highlands, there was unpredictable weather, steep mountains to navigate and firths and lochs to swim your cattle across.