The Development of the Western Frontier between 1866 and 1890

The Trans-Mississipi atomic number 74 comprises the region that spans from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains (Client file, n. pag. ). It is estimated to be 1,000 miles long from eastward to western hemisphere and is about 1,500 miles from north to south (Client file, n. pag. ). The Trans-Mississippi west (also known as the extensive Plains, the westbound bourn or the prairie) was inhabited by more than 300,000 primordial Americans, collectively referred to as the Plains Indians (Client file, n. pag. ).Prior to the gracious War, the Western Frontier was by and large unpopulated by pioneers (although it was under the reckon of the United States government done the Louisiana Purchase in 1803) (Client file, n. pag. ). Some chute-the-chute trains did pass through the area en route to Oregon or California, but these were dedicate to do so unmolested (in sharp contrast to Hollywood films) (Client file, n. pag. ). In return, the payment of tributes in the form of cha nge state, jewelry, metal utensils or other items want by the tribes was required (Client file, n. ag. ). However, the homestead Act of 1862 (passed during the Civil War) encouraged expatriation to the Western Frontier (Client file, n. pag. ). Under the act, settlers can avail of a 160-acre plowshare of land for a small filing fee worth $10 (Client file, n. pag. ). In addition, they can obtain the full title to the land in spite of appearance five years if they were able to make significant improvements on it (planting crops, verbalism houses, raising livestock, etc. ) (Client file, n. pag. ).As a result, homesteaders, miners and ranchers trespassed on Indian lands and jeopardize the Plains Indians hunting and way of life (Client file, n. pag. ). This left the Plains Indians with no other woof but to use armed resistance (Client file, n. pag. ). The hostilities betwixt the Plains Indians and the US sawhorse (called on by the settlers to crush Indian opposition and to confin e tribes in government-controlled reservations) that ensued were eventually called the Western Indian Wars (1866-1890) (Client file, n. ag. ). Despite the attractive terms of the Homestead Act of 1862, around 60% of emigrants gave up on their homesteads before the terminal of the five-year period (Client file, n. pag. ). Reasons for doing so included lack of water supply, Indian attacks, sour winters, soil that was unfit for planting and nearlytimes-deadly conflicts with ranchers, who saw homesteads as a check-out procedure to cattle grazing (Client file, n. pag. ). On the other hand, those who remained endured extreme hardships just to survive.They worked very hard under sub-zero winters and summers that often reached more than a hundred degrees Fahrenheit(postnominal) (Client file, n. pag. ). Unable to afford houses made of wood, they lived in houses create of sod and cocksucker (Client file, n. pag. ). They also experienced infestations of locusts, which would eat their cr ops, as well as the drapes of their houses and their clothing (Client file, n. pag. ). Adding to their list of burdends were natural disasters such as storms and tornadoes (Client file, n. pag. ).The homesteaders privations were so great that annals professor Frederick Jackson Turner hypothesized in his thesis in 1890 that some(prenominal) of Americas free and democratic spirit was forged by the existence of an open frontier to the west (Client file, n. pag. ). A nonher important advancement in the Western Frontier was the transcontinental Railroad. The absence of a railway system in the region isolated Oregon and California (already states) from the rest of the US they stood completely at the edge of the country and were accessible simply by wagon train, ship or boat (Client file, n. ag. ). President Abraham Lincoln and the US social intercourse backed a line act which authorized the presence of a railroad across the continent, but it was not implemented until the end of the Civil War (Client file, n. pag. ).The construction of the railroad started in 1864 the Union Pacific was built westward from Omaha, Nebraska, while the Central Pacific was erected eastward from Sacramento, California (Client file, n. pag. ). even out if only 40 miles of track were laid by 1865, the pace of the multitude increased at the end of war (Client file, n. ag. ). Majority of the workers that were recruited for the building of the railroad were from minority groups such as blacks, Mexicans, Asians and Irish (Client file, n. pag. ). Despite delays in construction (storms, harsh winters, occasional Indian attacks, migration of large buffalo herds, etc. ), the Transcontinental Railroad was finally completed at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869 (Client file, n. pag. ). The Transcontinental Railroad boosted commerce in the Western Frontier, in particular the cattle industry (Client file, n. pag. ).Even though the cattle industry was already a major part of the western ec onomy, the lack of transportation hindered its expanding upon into the eastern part of the US (Client file, n. pag. ). Hence, the emergence of railroads in the Western Frontier (along with entrepreneurs such as Joseph McCoy, who promoted beef as tasty and healthy) increased the beg for beef in the east (Client file, n. pag. ). Cowboys would drive large herds of cows from Texas and bleak Mexico to railheads townspeoples on or near the rail line, such as outwit City, Abilene, Wichita and Colorado Springs (Client file, n. ag. ). Once in the railheads, the cattle would be kept in large pens or yards, where they would be fattened for market in the east (Client file, n. pag. ). During this time, a cowboy was paid unremarkably around $25-$30 per month (Client file, n. pag. ). Railheads (also known as railhead towns or cow towns) became prosperous not only because of the cattle industry, but also because of saloons or dance halls, where cowboys spent their capital on liqour, gambli ng and women (Client file, n. pag. ).It is likewise the saloon that gave railheads their reputation for lawlessness (Client file, n. pag. ). nevertheless it must be noted that this image was largely seen only in Hollywood films (Client file, n. pag. ). For one, most railheads were strict when it comes to accelerator pedal control (Client file, n. pag. ). Gun control laws in railheads were enforced by tough sheriffs or marshalls with shotgun-toting deputies one gun control law that they strictly implemented was that cowboys should surrender their guns to them while they were in town (Client file, n. pag. ).In addition, the saloon area in a railhead was unremarkably located in the opposite direction of the respectable side of the town to minimize the possibility of untoward incidents (Client file, n. pag. ). Lastly, contrary to Hollywood films, cowboys were not placed criminals but just regular and adventurous young men allow off steam after several months of hard work (Client f ile, n. pag. ). most gunfights were spontaenous events in a saloon or in the street between angry or drunken men who had not been relieved of their guns (Client file, n. pag. ).They usually fought over poker-related disputes, a woman, a perceived insult or some ongoing enmity between long-time adversaries (Client file, n. pag. ). In most railheads, the murder commit was acutally lower than the murder rate of many large American cities in the latter half of the twentieth century (Client file, n. pag. ). Furthermore, extensive research has turn up that in the period between 1870-1900, only five gun duels occurred in the entire Western Frontier (Client file, n. pag. ). It is true that emigration led to the development of the Trans-Mississipi west.However, it must be kept in mind that this progress did not come without a price the Western Indian Wars killed around 1,000 US Cavalry soldiers and led to the death and enslavement of millions of Plains Indians (McConnell, n. pag. ). It wo uld be fair to submit that the circumstances surrounding the expansion of the Trans-Mississipi west became one of the precursors for future instances of US political, economic and military aggression abroad. The strategy remains the same infract the country (or in this case, region) as much as you can, fill the peoples minds with deceiving propaganda and hack on off a few thousand heads when necessary.