The Pacific Railroad Act (1862)
Major goal of Manifest Destiny was linking East to West with a fast, reliable and efficient
transport system
New technology of steam locomotives and railroads offered the solution
Authorised the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad:
o The Central Pacific Company began building in Sacramento, California heading east
through the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains
o The Union Pacific company headed west across the Plains from Omaha, Nebraska
This had been made possible by the 1851- Fort Laramie Treaty which allowed prospectors
access to Indian Land (under army protection).
Effects of the Pacific Railroad Act:
The Pacific Railroad Act offered generous incentives to the companies who needed to
overcome huge distances and engineering challenges to build the line.
o Protection from Indians was promised- led to conflict and got rid of any rights to land
the Indians had on the route
o A loan of $16,000 for every mile built
o A grant of 10 sq. miles of land organised the track for every mile built- benefitted the
Union Pacific who could sell off homestead land and establish towns on the plains.
The two lines met at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10 th, 1869
National Impacts:
The transcontinental railroad connected east with west directly represented the
achievement of manifest destiny.
The economic benefits of transport and trade railways brought was huge.
Effects on Indians:
Indians moved away from railroads
The buffalo declined: trains brought hunters and disturbed their migration
Indians attacked railroad surveyors and builders- leading to conflict with the US army
Railroads led to increased settlement on Indian land
Impact on the Cattle Industry:
Texas cattlemen could transport stock to big eastern cities, driving growth in the cattle
industry.
Settlement and Farming:
Travelling west was cheaper, quicker, and easier for migrants
European immigration was encouraged
Transporting farm produce was easier
Towns grew rapidly. Every new station and terminus became an important, well linked town
Homesteaders could get new equipment and inventions from the industrial east
Plains Farming and New Technology:
Problems on the Plains:
The lack of trees meant there was little to burn or build with
Hot summers and low rainfall led to drought and crop failure
Extreme weather and wildlife destroyed crops
Deep grass roots broke ploughs
Cold winters made survival a struggle with little firewood
Solution 1: Wind Pumps-
Invented by David Halladay in 1854
Self-governing Windmill was able to pump water from underground by itself- pointed itself to
the wind
Water could be used for drinking, watering plants, animals and irrigation for fields
Wind pump could pump water out of wells up to 30ft deep
After 1870, steel blades made them more effective at withstanding howling plains winds.
By 1880 better, more powerful pumps which needed oiling only once a year were developed
, HOWEVER- many wells needed to be deeper than 30ft early pumps needed constant oiling
and maintenance.
Solution 2: Barbed Wire
Wood was scarce on the plains, so it was difficult to built large fences.
Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874
Allowed homesteaders to fence off their lands from animals
Also used by ranchers
Far cheaper, easier and quicker to build than wooden fencing- highly effective in keeping
animals (domesticated and wild) off of homesteads where they may damage crops.
HOWEVER- it took time for it to be widely used only from the 1880s was it common when it
was 1/10th the original cost of the wire from 1874 early wire rusted, and this was only
solved later with protective coatings.
Solution 3: Ploughs
Prairie grass roots grew deep and thick and often broke iron ploughs
Early ‘sodbuster’ steel ploughs worked better but were slow and expensive in the 1830s when
they were first used.
Invented in 1875, The sulky plough was effective in ploughing through tough weeds and
prairie grass
Strong, easy to operate and didn’t require the ploughman to push it along behind
First 6 years, 50,000 sulky ploughs were sold
HOWEVER- six times as many walking ploughs were sold people were more used to how
they worked, and they were a lot cheaper early sulky ploughs were unstable on bumpy
grounds and could dangerously tip over.
The Rise of the Cattle Industry:
Before the American Civil War- cattle in Texas had been driven by cowboys across the south to
be sold
The civil war meant many cowboys left to fight the unsupervised cattle multiplied
By 1866, the surviving cowboys came back to enormous herds (South) so many that they
could only be sold for $5
Meanwhile a cow in Chicago could be sold for $40 (North).
Needed to get herds from south to north
Joseph McCoy and Abilene:
In 1867, a branch line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad reached Abilene, Kansas.
By 1867, Kansas had relaxed quarantine rules combatting Texas Fever making it more
practical to drive cattle from Texas to Abilene
McCoy bought 450 acres at $5 an acre and built stockyards to load the cattle.
The Kansas pacific railroad agreed to favourable rates
A hotel for businessmen and was built a Cowtown was born
Cowboys could drive the cattle through grassland in Indian territory along an established trail:
the Chilsolm Trail which McCoy marked out.
The cattle could then be loaded directly on to the cattle boxcars.
Jospeh McCoy realised that Abilene would be an ideal place to load cattle for journeys to
Northern cities
$5000 was spent on marketing and 39,000 cattle were driven to Abilene in 1867.
The Goodnight-Loving Trail:
Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving recognised gaps in the beef market for new populations
in the West.
In 1866, government mismanagement was leading to starvation for the Navajo on
reservations near Fort Sumner.
Goodnight and Loving established the Goodnight-Loving trail through hostile Comanche
territory to supply the reservation.
With 18 cowboys, they drove 2,000 cattle north
It was a huge success- They sold 800 cattle for $12,000.
Major goal of Manifest Destiny was linking East to West with a fast, reliable and efficient
transport system
New technology of steam locomotives and railroads offered the solution
Authorised the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad:
o The Central Pacific Company began building in Sacramento, California heading east
through the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains
o The Union Pacific company headed west across the Plains from Omaha, Nebraska
This had been made possible by the 1851- Fort Laramie Treaty which allowed prospectors
access to Indian Land (under army protection).
Effects of the Pacific Railroad Act:
The Pacific Railroad Act offered generous incentives to the companies who needed to
overcome huge distances and engineering challenges to build the line.
o Protection from Indians was promised- led to conflict and got rid of any rights to land
the Indians had on the route
o A loan of $16,000 for every mile built
o A grant of 10 sq. miles of land organised the track for every mile built- benefitted the
Union Pacific who could sell off homestead land and establish towns on the plains.
The two lines met at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10 th, 1869
National Impacts:
The transcontinental railroad connected east with west directly represented the
achievement of manifest destiny.
The economic benefits of transport and trade railways brought was huge.
Effects on Indians:
Indians moved away from railroads
The buffalo declined: trains brought hunters and disturbed their migration
Indians attacked railroad surveyors and builders- leading to conflict with the US army
Railroads led to increased settlement on Indian land
Impact on the Cattle Industry:
Texas cattlemen could transport stock to big eastern cities, driving growth in the cattle
industry.
Settlement and Farming:
Travelling west was cheaper, quicker, and easier for migrants
European immigration was encouraged
Transporting farm produce was easier
Towns grew rapidly. Every new station and terminus became an important, well linked town
Homesteaders could get new equipment and inventions from the industrial east
Plains Farming and New Technology:
Problems on the Plains:
The lack of trees meant there was little to burn or build with
Hot summers and low rainfall led to drought and crop failure
Extreme weather and wildlife destroyed crops
Deep grass roots broke ploughs
Cold winters made survival a struggle with little firewood
Solution 1: Wind Pumps-
Invented by David Halladay in 1854
Self-governing Windmill was able to pump water from underground by itself- pointed itself to
the wind
Water could be used for drinking, watering plants, animals and irrigation for fields
Wind pump could pump water out of wells up to 30ft deep
After 1870, steel blades made them more effective at withstanding howling plains winds.
By 1880 better, more powerful pumps which needed oiling only once a year were developed
, HOWEVER- many wells needed to be deeper than 30ft early pumps needed constant oiling
and maintenance.
Solution 2: Barbed Wire
Wood was scarce on the plains, so it was difficult to built large fences.
Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874
Allowed homesteaders to fence off their lands from animals
Also used by ranchers
Far cheaper, easier and quicker to build than wooden fencing- highly effective in keeping
animals (domesticated and wild) off of homesteads where they may damage crops.
HOWEVER- it took time for it to be widely used only from the 1880s was it common when it
was 1/10th the original cost of the wire from 1874 early wire rusted, and this was only
solved later with protective coatings.
Solution 3: Ploughs
Prairie grass roots grew deep and thick and often broke iron ploughs
Early ‘sodbuster’ steel ploughs worked better but were slow and expensive in the 1830s when
they were first used.
Invented in 1875, The sulky plough was effective in ploughing through tough weeds and
prairie grass
Strong, easy to operate and didn’t require the ploughman to push it along behind
First 6 years, 50,000 sulky ploughs were sold
HOWEVER- six times as many walking ploughs were sold people were more used to how
they worked, and they were a lot cheaper early sulky ploughs were unstable on bumpy
grounds and could dangerously tip over.
The Rise of the Cattle Industry:
Before the American Civil War- cattle in Texas had been driven by cowboys across the south to
be sold
The civil war meant many cowboys left to fight the unsupervised cattle multiplied
By 1866, the surviving cowboys came back to enormous herds (South) so many that they
could only be sold for $5
Meanwhile a cow in Chicago could be sold for $40 (North).
Needed to get herds from south to north
Joseph McCoy and Abilene:
In 1867, a branch line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad reached Abilene, Kansas.
By 1867, Kansas had relaxed quarantine rules combatting Texas Fever making it more
practical to drive cattle from Texas to Abilene
McCoy bought 450 acres at $5 an acre and built stockyards to load the cattle.
The Kansas pacific railroad agreed to favourable rates
A hotel for businessmen and was built a Cowtown was born
Cowboys could drive the cattle through grassland in Indian territory along an established trail:
the Chilsolm Trail which McCoy marked out.
The cattle could then be loaded directly on to the cattle boxcars.
Jospeh McCoy realised that Abilene would be an ideal place to load cattle for journeys to
Northern cities
$5000 was spent on marketing and 39,000 cattle were driven to Abilene in 1867.
The Goodnight-Loving Trail:
Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving recognised gaps in the beef market for new populations
in the West.
In 1866, government mismanagement was leading to starvation for the Navajo on
reservations near Fort Sumner.
Goodnight and Loving established the Goodnight-Loving trail through hostile Comanche
territory to supply the reservation.
With 18 cowboys, they drove 2,000 cattle north
It was a huge success- They sold 800 cattle for $12,000.
