Lesson 18

Word Cloud

What word(s) come to your mind when you think of the West

Life In the West

The Explorers

In the early 1800s, the United States wanted to learn more about the West. Many groups went on trips to explore. The most famous trip was led by Lewis and Clark. President Thomas Jefferson asked them to go.

 

There were a few reasons for this trip. One reason was to meet Indigenous groups who might want to trade. Another reason was to find the Northwest Passage. This was a legendary water path across the continent. Jefferson also wanted to know if Indigenous groups would be a threat to American settlers. In 1803, the U.S. bought Louisiana from France. The explorers wanted to see what the U.S. had bought.

Multiple Choice

What was one of the reasons for the Lewis and Clark expedition?

• To map the East Coast

• To establish colonies

• To discover gold

• To find the Northwest Passage

Multiple Choice

What did the U.S. purchase from France in 1803?

• Alaska

• Florida

• Louisiana

• Texas

In May 1804, the explorers left St. Louis, Missouri. There were 45 people in the group, and they traveled in three boats. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the trip. Lewis was Jefferson’s private secretary. The group included soldiers and frontiersmen. There was also an African American man named York who was enslaved by Clark.

The trip was hard from the start. They had to row against the strong current of the Missouri River. This made their hands hurt and their muscles sore. Mosquitoes bit their sunburned faces.

By summer, they reached Indigenous lands. Most Indigenous people were friendly. They were amazed by York because they had never seen a Black man before.

The explorers stayed for the winter near a Mandan village in what is now North Dakota. A French fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau joined them with his 16-year-old wife, Sacagawea. She was a Shoshone woman. Their baby son was with them too. Sacagawea had been kidnapped from her people by another Indigenous group and was forced to marry Charbonneau.

Multiple Choice

What was the main challenge the explorers faced when they started their journey?

• 
  Rowing against the strong current of the Missouri River

• Cold Weather

• Hostile Indigenous tribes

• Lack of food

In spring 1805, the explorers started again. They moved up the Missouri River. Rapids and waterfalls slowed them down. They had to carry their boats around these obstacles. Thorns from prickly-pear cactus hurt their feet. Grizzly bears raided their camps. It was hard to find food.

By late summer, they saw the Rocky Mountains ahead. They needed horses to cross the mountains before winter snow blocked the way.

Luckily, they reached Sacagawea’s childhood land. A group of Indigenous people came. Sacagawea was happy to see they were Shoshone. Her brother, Cameahwait, was now a Shoshone chief. She asked him for horses, and he helped them.

The explorers crossed the Rockies, but they were very tired. In Idaho, they met the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people. The Nimiipuu helped them survive. Warriors wanted to attack the explorers, but an elderly woman named Watkuweis stopped them. She had been helped by White settlers when she escaped slavery in Canada. She convinced her people to help the explorers.

 

As winter came, the explorers reached the Pacific Ocean. Clark carved on a tree, “William Clark December 3rd 1805 By Land from the U. States.”

Multiple Choice

What did William Clark carve on a tree at the Pacific Ocean?

• “William Clark December 3rd 1805 By River from the U. States.”

• “William Clark December 3rd 1805 By Sea from the U. States.”

• “William Clark December 3rd 1805 By Land from the U. States.”

• “William Clark December 3rd 1805 By Air from the U. States.”

After a wet and hungry winter in Oregon, the explorers went home. They returned to St. Louis in September 1806, two years and four months after they left. Lewis wrote to Jefferson, “We have reached the Pacific Ocean.”

 

They did not find the Northwest Passage because it did not exist. But they traveled about 8,000 miles and mapped a route to the Pacific. They started good relations with western Indigenous groups. They brought back important information about the West and its people.

Other explorers followed. They helped prepare for settling the West. In 1806, 26-year-old army lieutenant Zebulon Pike explored the southern part of the new Louisiana Territory. Pike and his group traveled up the Arkansas River valley into present-day Colorado, where Pikes Peak is located. They also explored along the Rio Grande. They called the West the “Great American Desert.”

 

Another famous explorer was John C. Frémont. He helped change the image of the West. Frémont was called “the Pathfinder.” In the 1840s, he mapped much of the land between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Ocean. He described it as a “land of plenty,” inspiring many families to move West.

 

Multiple Select

What was the legacy of the Lewis and Clark expedition? Select at least two accomplishments.

• They built the first transcontinental railroad.

• They mapped the western territories of the United States.

• They introduced a new system of government to the Native American tribes.

• They brought back information about the West and its peoples.

The
Latter-Day
Saints

In 1846, a group of pioneers traveled west in a wagon train. They were looking for a new place to live. When they saw the shiny surface of Great Salt Lake in what is now Utah, their leader, Brigham Young, said, "This is the place!"

The area didn't look very promising. One pioneer described the valley as a "broad and barren plain... blistering in the rays of the midsummer sun." A woman wrote, "Weak and weary as I am, I would rather go a thousand miles further than remain." But because no one else wanted the valley, Brigham Young thought it was a good place for his followers, the Latter-day Saints, to settle.

The Latter-day Saints were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith started the church in New York in 1830. He said he received a sacred book, The Book of Mormon, from an angel. He wanted to create a community of believers who would serve God faithfully.

Smith's followers lived closely together. They worked hard and shared their goods. But wherever they settled, their neighbors treated them badly. This happened in New York, then Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.

Many people didn't like the Latter-day Saints' teachings. They especially didn't like their acceptance of polygamy, which means having more than one wife. Others were upset by their growing power and wealth. In 1844, this anger turned into violence. A mob in Illinois killed Joseph Smith. After Smith died, Brigham Young became the leader. He decided to move the community to Utah, where they could practice their faith in peace.

Multiple Select

What are the two reasons the Latter-Day Saints choose to settle in Utah?

• Because it had great farmland

• Because no one else wanted the valley

• Because they read about it in a book

• To escape from violence

Brigham Young was a practical leader as well as a religious one. He said, "Prayer is good, but when baked potatoes and pudding and milk are needed, prayer will not supply their place."

Young planned every detail of the journey to Utah. The pioneers stopped along the way to build shelters and plant crops for those who would come later. Even with all this planning, the journey was hard. "We soon thought it unusual," wrote one Latter-day Saint, "to leave a campground without burying one or more persons."

When Young arrived at Great Salt Lake, he started the first settlement, which became Salt Lake City. By the time he died in 1877, Utah had 125,000 Latter-day Saints living in 500 settlements.

To survive in the dry land, the Latter-day Saints had to learn new ways to farm. They built dams, canals, and irrigation ditches to bring water from mountain streams to their farms in the valley. With this water, they made the desert bloom.

Multiple Choice

What did the Latter-Day Saints build to help them farm in the desert?

• Greenhouses
• Windmills
• Aqueducts
• Irrigation systems

The Latter-day Saints were the first Americans to settle the Great Basin. They developed farming methods that later settlers used in this dry region. They also helped other travelers heading west. Salt Lake City quickly became an important stop for people needing food and supplies.

To the Latter-day Saints, their greatest legacy was the faith they planted in the Utah desert. From its center in Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown into a worldwide religion with more than 17 million members.

Open Ended

Who do you think made a bigger contribution? Lewis and Clarke, or the Latter-Day Saints? Why?

The Forty-Niners

Not the football team. This is who the football team was named after.

In 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall was building a sawmill on the American River in northern California. Suddenly, he saw something shiny in the water. "I reached my hand down and picked it up," he wrote later. "It made my heart thump, for I felt certain it was gold."

News of Marshall's discovery spread quickly. People all over California stopped what they were doing and rushed to the goldfields. "All were off to the mines," wrote a minister, "some on horses, some on carts, and some on crutches."

Word Cloud

How would you feel if you were the one that found the gold in the river?

By 1849, tens of thousands of people from around the world had joined the California gold rush. About two-thirds of these "forty-niners" were Americans. But the chance to find gold also brought people from Mexico, South America, Europe, Australia, and even China.

The first challenge for the forty-niners was just getting to California. From China and Australia, they had to cross the rough Pacific Ocean. From the East, many traveled by ship to Panama in Central America. They crossed through dangerous jungles to the Pacific side and then boarded ships north to San Francisco. Others made the tough journey overland.

Most forty-niners were young men. When Luzena Wilson arrived in Sacramento with her family, a miner offered her $5 for her biscuits just to have "bread made by a woman." When she hesitated, he doubled his offer. "Women were scarce in those days," she wrote. "I lived six months in Sacramento and saw only two."

Open Ended

Why did so many people move to California after 1948?

Wherever gold was found, mining camps appeared overnight. They had names like Mad Mule Gulch and You Bet. At Coyote Diggings, Luzena found "a row of canvas tents." But a few months later, "there were two thousand men... and the streets were lined with drinking saloons and gambling tables." Merchants made lots of money. They sold eggs for $6 a dozen. Flour went for $400 a barrel.

There were no police to keep order, so the camps were rough places. Miners often fought over the boundaries of their claims. They took it upon themselves to punish crimes. "In the short space of twenty-four hours," wrote Louise Clappe, "we have had murders, fearful accidents, bloody deaths, a mob, whippings, a hanging, an attempt at suicide, and a fatal duel."

Digging for gold was hard and boring work. Soon, the easy-to-find gold was gone. "The day for quick fortune-making is over," wrote a miner in 1851. "There are thousands of men now in California who would gladly go home if they had the money."

By 1852, the gold rush was over. While it lasted, about 250,000 people came to California. For California's Indigenous groups, this invasion was terrible. Warfare and disease reduced their number from about 150,000 in 1848 to just 30,000 in 1870. This was true for groups like the Shasta, Washoe, and Nisenan peoples. Also, many Californios lost their land to the newcomers.

By 1850, California had enough people to become the first state in the far west. These new Californians helped change the Golden State into a diverse land of economic opportunity, often at the expense of Indigenous groups.

Multiple Choice

What was the effect of the California Gold Rush?

• California lost much of its population

• California went to war with Canada

• California grew in size

Chinese Immigrants

In 1848, people in southern China called California "Gam Saan," which means "Gold Mountain." To the poor and hungry Chinese peasants, Gam Saan sounded like a dreamland. They heard that in California, "You will have great pay, large houses, and food and clothing of the finest description … Money is in great plenty." By 1852, more than 20,000 Chinese people had traveled across the Pacific Ocean to California. That year, 1 out of every 10 people in California was Chinese. Most of them came from a region called Guangdong.

Open Ended

Why did the so many Chinese people immigrate to the U.S.?

At first, the Chinese were welcomed. Lai Chun-Chuen, an early immigrant, said they "were received like guests" and "greeted with favor." In 1852, the governor of California praised Chinese immigrants, calling them "one of the most worthy classes of our newly adopted citizens."

However, gold mining became harder, and people's attitudes toward immigrants began to change. A miner from Chile complained, "The Yankee regarded every man but … an American as an interloper [intruder] who had no right to come to California and pick up the gold." Chinese immigrants also faced attacks.

American miners wanted the government to remove foreigners from the goldfields. In 1852, the state legislature passed a law requiring foreign miners to pay a monthly fee for a license to mine. As tax collectors arrived in the camps, most non-American miners left. One traveler saw them "scattered along the roads in every direction," like refugees fleeing an invading army.

Multiple Choice

What happened to most non-American miners after the tax collectors arrived?

• They protested against the law.

• They continued mining without paying.

• They left the camps and scattered along the roads.

• They were arrested by the government.

The Chinese, however, paid the tax and stayed. When the miners' tax didn't drive away Chinese workers, Americans tried to force them to leave. White people cut off the long braids, worn by Chinese men. They burned the shacks of Chinese miners, and beatings followed the burnings.

Discouraged, Chinese immigrants left the mines and opened restaurants, laundries, and stores in California's growing cities. "The best eating houses in San Francisco," one miner wrote, were those opened by Chinese people. So many Chinese people settled in San Francisco that local newspapers called their neighborhood Chinatown. Today, San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest and largest Chinese community in the United States.

Other Chinese people used their farming skills. They drained swamps and dug irrigation ditches to water dry fields in California's fertile Central Valley. Over time, they helped turn California into America's fruit basket and salad bowl.

Open Ended

What is the name of the oldest and larges Chinese community in the U.S.?

Most Chinese people who came to California for gold hoped to return to China as rich men. A few did, but most stayed in the United States. They continued to face prejudice. Despite this, their hard work, energy, and skills greatly helped California and other western states. "In mining, farming, in factories and in the labor generally of California," a writer noted in 1876, "the employment of the Chinese has been found most desirable." Later, Chinese immigration faced more challenges with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Chinese immigrants helped build the West. More than that, they made it a more interesting place to live. Wherever they settled, Chinese immigrants brought with them the arts, tastes, scents, and sounds of one of the world's oldest and richest cultures.

Multiple Choice

What was one contribution of Chinese immigrants to the United States?

• Mapmaking

• Sports traditions

• political systems

• cultural influence

Poll

Which group of people do you think were the most interesting?

• The Explorers

  Lewis and Clark

• The Latter-Day Saints

• The Forty-Niners

• The Chinese Immigrants