Lisa Greathouse - Crossing a Continent

0covercover.xhtmlCrossing a Continent Lisa Greathouse and Ted Faucecover1page0001page0001.xhtml22page0002page0002.xhtml33page0003page0003.xhtml44page0004page0004.xhtmlTable of Contents From Sea to Sea 4 Pioneers and Prospectors 6 A New Era 12 From Agriculture to Industry 22 A Shrinking World 26 Journal It! 28 Glossary 30 Index 31 Your Turn! 3255page0005page0005.xhtmlFrom Sea to Sea The United States was still a new country in 1800. President Thomas Jefferson had dreams of expanding it. France owned much of the land to the west. In 1803, France sold its land to the United States. This deal was known as the Louisiana Purchase. The United States paid $15 million for the land. Just like that, the young country more than doubled in size. The new land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The New Land and More Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis to explore the new land. Lewis and his co-captain, William Clark, saw plains, valleys, and forests. They did not stop when they reached the Rocky Mountains. They went all the way to the West Coast. At the time of their travels, the land west of the Rockies was claimed by Spain. Almost 20 years later, Mexico took control. Soon, the United States planned to expand and wanted that land, too. In 1846, the United States and Mexico went to war. After two long years, the United States won. The United States took over most of Mexico's land. This included California. The country now stretched from sea to sea. Lewis and Clark66page0006page0006.xhtml Manifest Destiny John O'Sullivan was a writer. In 1845, he wrote an article using the term Manifest Destiny. This term symbolized what many Americans felt at the time. It was their God-given right to expand West. He went on to say that it was the country's duty to spread democracy.77page0007page0007.xhtmlPioneers and Prospectors Some Americans wanted to go west. The most common ways people crossed the land were on foot, by wagon, or on horseback. Mountain ranges only had a few places where wagons could cross. These were known as trails. It took three to six months to travel across the land. Large wagons were needed to carry people and supplies. Six horses pulled each wagon. The trip was dangerous because of the rugged land, bad weather, and the threat of attacks by American Indians. It was much safer for wagons to travel together. So, people formed wagon trains. Free Land and Gold What lured people to move west? The cities in the East were very crowded. Factory work was hard and dangerous. Then, gold was discovered in California in 1848. Thousands of prospectors came on horseback. They wanted to get rich. Other people went west to claim land. These settlers were called pioneers. Settlers cross the Rocky Mountains in the mid-1800s.88page0008page0008.xhtml Land Rush of 1862 The government passed a law giving land in the West to anyone who lived and worked on the land for five years. This law was called the Homestead Act. During the first land rush, more than 50, 000 people lined up to claim land. Homestead Act of 1862 Unsettling the West Settlers in the West ignored the fact that the land already belonged to other people. American Indians were forced off their own land. They were moved to new places, called reservations, to make room for the settlers.99page0009page0009.xhtmlGold and Steam! As pioneers arrived in the West, they needed supplies. They wanted the goods from the East that they were used to having. Back East, the steam engine was being used to run machines and boats. Some people saw the possibility of using steam to travel over land, too. A steam engine could do the work of hundreds of men and dozens of animals. People would not have to stop for bad weather or hurt animals. They could keep traveling in all conditions. Before the steam engine could be realized, other methods of connecting the East to the West were tried. The Pony Express The Pony Express delivered mail from Missouri to California in 10 days. It was run like a relay race. A rider would travel 10 miles (16 kilometers) on a galloping horse and then switch to a fresh horse at an outpost. Each rider did this four to seven times a day, day and night.1010page0010page0010.xhtmlPony Express rider Tom Thumb Tom Thumb was the name of a steam train. Peter Cooper built it in 1830. It was the first steam train to pull a passenger car on a railroad. The success of Tom Thumb opened the country to the prospect and power of steam trains.1111page0011page0011.xhtmlBy Coach The Pony Express lasted less than two years. It was too costly and dangerous. People wanted more than their mail delivered to the West. They wanted to travel to the West, too. The stagecoach could do all of that. Each one could carry up to 15 people and mail. Four horses, donkeys, or cows were used to pull one stagecoach. It made regular stops. Stagecoaches improved many things, but it was still not perfect. For one, the stagecoach could not carry a lot of cargo. It also took about a month to get from the Midwest to California. The ride was neither safe nor pleasant. By Wire By 1844, the telegraph carried words over wires hung from poles. It used a different code for each letter. Electric sparks created the codes. Messages could be sent in a matter of minutes. That was extremely fast for the time. People were awed. But the telegraph required wooden poles with wires strung over long distances. Installing these poles across the country took time and money.