Photo locators denoted as follows: Top T, Center C, Bottom B, Left L, Right R Background Bkgd Opener: ©Corbis 3 ©James Randklev/Stone/Getty Images 4 ©Bridgeman Art Library 5 ©Bettmann/Co
Trang 1Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Compare
and Contrast
• Sidebars
• Captions
• Song
ISBN 0-328-14898-9
ì<(sk$m)=beijib< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
Fascinating Facts
before widespread mining stopped
(1851), British Columbia (1858), Nevada (1859–60),
Colorado (1850s and 1890s), South Dakota (1876–78),
and South Africa (1886)
something is real The original touchstone was a
black stone that, when rubbed with a piece of gold,
showed if the gold was pure
by Cynthia Clampitt
The Search for Land, Gold, and a New Life
Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Compare
and Contrast
• Sidebars
• Captions
• Song
ISBN 0-328-14898-9
ì<(sk$m)=beijib< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
Fascinating Facts
before widespread mining stopped
(1851), British Columbia (1858), Nevada (1859–60),
Colorado (1850s and 1890s), South Dakota (1876–78),
and South Africa (1886)
something is real The original touchstone was a
black stone that, when rubbed with a piece of gold,
showed if the gold was pure
by Cynthia Clampitt
The Search for Land, Gold, and a New Life
Trang 2manifest destiny blaze
mountain men wagon train annex gold rush prospector forty-niner
Write to It!
Select a person or topic mentioned in this book, then find additional facts—ones not included in this book—
about the person or topic You may use the library, an encyclopedia, or the Internet for your research Write two or more paragraphs about what you discover
Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet of paper.
ISBN: 0-328-14898-9
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Corbis
3 ©James Randklev/Stone/Getty Images
4 ©Bridgeman Art Library
5 ©Bettmann/Corbis
6 ©Corbis
8 ©Bettmann/Corbis
10 ©Bettmann/Corbis
12 ©Getty Images
15 ©Bettmann/Corbis
People had different reasons for coming to the United
States: escaping poverty, looking for adventure, and
dreaming of freedom As the United States expanded
its territory, people flooded into the areas that they
thought held the promise of a new life In this book you
will read about the people who crossed the sea or the
prairies, what they were looking for, and what they found
as the United States continued to grow
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
by Cynthia Clampitt
The Search for Land, Gold, and a New Life
Trang 3More Land, More People
In the 1800s the United States was growing People continued
to arrive from other lands, but more than just the population
was expanding The size of the country also increased as more
territories were gained By 1850 the United States stretched
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean
Many people had come to the United States to escape poverty
in Europe, only to find themselves still trapped in poverty in the
cities of the eastern United States They dreamed of having
farms and building homes Others dreamed of finding gold—a
less reliable dream than farming, but possibly a quicker road to
prosperity Following these dreams changed people’s lives and
the United States
The country’s growth was caused by more than dreams,
however Many Americans had begun to believe it was the
nation’s manifest destiny to grow More land meant greater
strength for the country and fewer borders to protect It
meant more opportunities for the poor and the immigrants
who continued to arrive Also, part of the West was a land
of freedom for escaped enslaved people The West had
to be opened up—hundreds of thousands of people were
depending on it
Unfortunately, this expansion had a cost American
Indians were often pushed aside as newcomers laid claim
to traditional land or gold miners took over waterways Also,
thousands of people died on the trails or during conflicts
However, these hardships did not stop people’s dreams and
hopes that the United States should grow and that anyone
could succeed here
No one believed John Colter when he described the geysers and other sights of Yellowstone.
3
Opening Up the West
Before people could head west, the land had to be explored and trails had to be blazed, or marked It was the mountain men who opened up the West The mountain men were fur trappers, traders, and scouts They made the unexplored regions their home
They blazed the great western trails and created interest in this new land with their stories of vast forests and fertile valleys
Mountain man John Colter traveled with Lewis and Clark before becoming a trapper and scout He traveled on foot through the mountains in the area that is now Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming
In 1807 he became the first American to see the area American Indians called Yellowstone His tales of boiling mud and geysers shooting into the air were not believed People thought he had lost his mind
Trang 4Jedediah Smith was part of a group that opened a passage to
the Northwest in 1824 In 1826 Smith found a westward route
to California He and the traders he was leading became the first
Americans to enter California from the east Smith was also
the first American to reach present-day Oregon by traveling up the
Pacific coast
Smith’s adventures were often dangerous He nearly died of
thirst in the desert, and he was almost killed by a grizzly bear
He survived several attacks by American Indians, but was finally
killed by the Comanche in the Southwest
Jim Bridger’s name lives on in the Bridger Range in Montana,
Bridger Pass in southern Wyoming, and Bridger-Teton National
Forest in western Wyoming Bridger explored the territory ranging
from the Canadian border to New Mexico
Jedediah Smith, shown here leading a party of trappers through the desert, is
considered by many to have been one of the greatest of the mountain men
Jim Beckwourth was the son of an enslaved African American woman He headed west when he was given his freedom A pass
he found through the Sierra Nevada later became part of the overland trail to California
Kit Carson was a mountain man who became a folk hero
Carson joined a group of trappers and frontiersmen while he was still a teenager He became a scout for the United States military In 1854 he was appointed to be an American Indian agent and became well known for his fairness and sympathy for the problems faced by American Indians
The days of the mountain men were over by about 1850 By this time the West had been opened up Trails had been blazed
to Oregon and California, and people who were not explorers were now heading west
Jim Beckwourth, the son
of an enslaved person, enjoyed the freedom of being a
mountain man.
Trang 5Settling the Pacific Northwest
John Jacob Astor thought that opening a trading post in the
Pacific Northwest would increase his business He bought furs
and shipped them to Asia, where there was a great demand for
them He opened his trading post in 1811 at the mouth of the
Columbia River The British, however, controlled most of the fur
trade in the region, and his trading post failed
7
Increased activity by British fur traders worried the United States government However, in 1818 the two countries agreed
to share the part of the Northwest known as Oregon Country
This area included all of present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, and British Columbia In
1819 the United States and Spain signed a treaty setting Oregon’s southern border, and Spain agreed not to settle Oregon
Many settlers went west including Marcus Whitman, a young doctor, and his wife, Narcissa Prentice Whitman In 1836 the Whitmans set up a mission near present-day Walla Walla, Washington They taught the Cayuse how to build houses, plow fields, irrigate crops, and build mills to grind corn and wheat
Narcissa started a school for local children Dr Whitman cared for the Cayuse as well as missionaries and other people in the region
In 1842 the Whitmans learned that their assignment was going
to end Marcus Whitman made a three-thousand-mile journey on horseback to Boston to ask that their work be continued He also traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask federal officials to encourage settlement in Oregon
As Whitman returned to Oregon Country in 1843, he joined
a group of nearly one thousand immigrants who were headed west He guided their wagon train across the country, and it was because of his efforts that they succeeded in crossing the mountains to the Columbia River This event became known as the “great migration.”
This great migration convinced many people that the Oregon Trail was safe By the mid-1840s, six thousand settlers had moved to Oregon Country
Crossing the United States by wagon was not easy Mountains and rivers were among the many difficulties that settlers faced heading west.
Trang 6With so many people moving to the region, the United States
and Great Britain reconsidered their agreement about Oregon
Country The British suggested that the northern border of Oregon
be set at the same latitude as the rest of the United States and
the Canadian border
This decision encouraged many more Americans to move west
Wagon trains of as many as one hundred covered wagons were
soon crossing the continent Families loaded all their possessions
into these wagons before leaving on the two-thousand-mile journey,
which could take between four and six months to complete
Entire families, including children, traveled in the wagon trains
People had to bring their pets and farm animals with them.
9
The Whitman Massacre
In 1847 there was a severe outbreak of measles that affected both American Indians and settlers Dr Whitman cared for many sick children Unlike many of the settlers’ children, who recovered, many American Indian children had no immunity to the disease and died The Cayuse were angry and believed that the Whitmans were intentionally killing their children to make room for more settlers On November 29, 1847, the Cayuse attacked, killing Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and twelve other settlers, and kidnapping fifty-three women and children
The Whitman Massacre, as it was called, led to the United States government deciding to create the Oregon Territory, with a local government and soldiers to protect its citizens
While on the Oregon Trail—the trail that led from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon Country—people usually kept a regular
train would travel until 4 P.M., and then would stop so the travelers could prepare meals, make repairs, and feed their horses and cattle Children could play once their chores were done, and violins or guitars were sometimes brought out to provide entertainment
Mountains and rivers were difficult to cross Thunderstorms, strong winds, and snow could make traveling even more difficult and dangerous Contaminated water or food often caused sickness
Many people died, but the promise of a new life and the possibility
of escaping poverty made people push onward
During the 1840s about twelve thousand people used the Oregon Trail to reach the Pacific Northwest Of all the great overland routes to the West, the Oregon Trail was used the longest
Trang 7A Difficult Time for Mexico
The 1800s were a time of disorder and uncertainty in Mexico
In 1821 an army led by Agustín de Iturbide (ah gus TEEN day ee ter
BEE day) and Vincente Guerrero (vin CHEN tay ger AIR oh) took
control of most of Mexico Spain sent a new military governor, but
it was too late to regain control A treaty was signed on August
24, 1821, that gave Mexico its independence from Spain
Iturbide crowned himself emperor of Mexico in 1822, and the
United States gave formal recognition to the Mexican empire The
military, headed by Antonio López de Santa Anna, revolted against
the emperor in 1823 Iturbide was forced from power, and in 1824
he was arrested and shot
Santa Anna surrenders to Sam Houston, who was wounded in
the Battle of San Jacinto.
11
Santa Anna declared that Mexico was now a republic Men were given the right to vote, but government protections were removed for native peoples, who were now worse off than under Spanish rule Different military groups fought for control, and the government changed hands every year or two Mexico’s debts skyrocketed
In 1833 Santa Anna again took control of Mexico’s government, this time as president Santa Anna adopted a new constitution in
1836, one that eliminated states’ rights The people most affected
by this were the thirty thousand United States immigrants who had settled in the Mexican-held area known as Texas When the Texans revolted, Santa Anna crushed the first group he encountered at the Alamo in February 1836 Santa Anna’s army was then defeated by Sam Houston’s troops in April 1836, and Santa Anna was captured
In exchange for his freedom, Santa Anna promised not to try
to recapture Texas However, he refused to recognize Texas’
independence When the United States annexed Texas in 1845, the Mexican people removed Santa Anna from power because he had been willing to negotiate with the United States
The two countries could not agree on the southern boundary of Texas President James Polk tried to make peace by offering $30 million to Mexico for New Mexico and California Mexico needed the money badly but refused
United States troops who were protecting the southern border
of Texas were attacked by Mexican troops in April 1846 Polk saw it as an act of war, and the Mexican War began The war lasted until February 1848 The treaty that ended the war gave the United States a vast territory that included most of the American Southwest It also gave Mexico $15 million and granted citizenship to the seventy-five thousand Mexicans living in the Southwest
Trang 8Going for the Gold
In early 1848 a carpenter from New Jersey named James Wilson
Marshall picked up some yellow pebbles in a California stream
The pebbles were gold! John Sutter, a rancher from Switzerland,
owned the land where the gold was found Sutter knew that news of
the discovery could ruin everything he had built because people
would come by the thousands and overrun his land He asked
his workers to tell no one, but the news leaked out anyway There
were no telephones or telegraphs, so the news spread slowly
at first One friend told another friend, and everyone who had
heard about it headed for Sutter’s land By March 1848, several
newspapers had published the story of Marshall’s discovery The
news electrified the country and sped around the world
At the beginning of the gold rush, miners usually worked
on their own, panning in streams or digging nearby.
13
Chinese Immigration
The Chinese name for California was “Gum Shan” or “Gold Mountain.” News of the discovery of gold reached China in 1848, and by 1852 twenty-five thousand Chinese had reached Gold Mountain As was true of American miners, only a few struck it rich in the gold fields Many of those who did strike gold returned
to China with their wealth Of those who stayed, some continued
to mine Many found work as cooks, farmers, and merchants
Some opened stores or restaurants The first Chinese laundry opened in San Francisco in 1851, followed by many more
Most Chinese immigrants had left mining by 1868 Many of the former miners went on to help build the transcontinental railroad
California had never attracted large numbers of people Much of the state was dry, with little of the fertile land that drew farmers
to Oregon It was mountainous and hard to reach During the Mexican War, Mexico had hardly bothered to defend California
Now suddenly everyone wanted to go there The gold rush was on
As “gold fever” took hold, people left their homes and their jobs
Stores and schools were closed, and farms were abandoned In one year, eighty thousand men flooded into California Sutter’s fears proved correct, and within a few months his land was covered with tents and was being torn up by miners’ picks and shovels
Trang 9The first prospectors, or people who came searching for gold,
were called forty-niners because they arrived in 1849 There were
prospectors of many different nationalities, and most of those who
arrived in 1849 were men Life in the gold fields was not pleasant
Most miners lived in small tents, and there were few services such
as doctors or barbers Without any laws, government, or police,
mining camps were often dangerous places Few people wanted
to expose wives or daughters to these hardships—though a few
women did make the trip, and some even came to search for gold
Life was also hard for the region’s American Indians Some
joined the rush for gold, but many were driven off by hostile
prospectors Those who stayed found their lands and waterways
ruined as digging continued Californios, the Hispanics who lived
in California before it became part of the United States, also found
their land overrun Losing their land and livelihood would create
problems for the Californios for decades after the gold rush ended.
Darling Clementine
One of the best-known songs about the gold rush is
“Clementine.” In it a miner sings about his daughter who
drowned He could not save her because he could not swim
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating [digging] for a mine
Lived a miner forty-niner
And his daughter, Clementine.
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.
15
By 1853 a total of 250,000 fortune-seekers had arrived in California, which had become a state in 1850 By that time, many prospectors had left for the big gold rush in Australia in 1851
Many people who were disappointed by their lack of success moved back east However, California continued to grow as settlers replaced the miners The gold rush was over, but California was just getting started
Immigrants, Hispanic Californios, and American Indians
often worked together, at least when gold was plentiful.
Trang 10annex to add or attach
blaze to mark a trail, especially by cutting off a piece of
tree bark
forty-niner a nickname for a person who arrived in
California in 1849 to look for gold
gold rush the sudden movement of people to an area
where gold has been found
manifest destiny the belief that the United States should
expand west to the Pacific Ocean
mountain men scouts, fur trappers, and traders who
opened up the American West to westward settlement
in the 1800s
prospector a person who explores or examines a region,
searching for gold or other valuable resources
wagon train a common method of transportation to the
West, in which wagons traveled in groups for safety
16
Vocabulary
manifest destiny blaze
mountain men wagon train annex gold rush prospector forty-niner
Write to It!
Select a person or topic mentioned in this book, then find additional facts—ones not included in this book—
about the person or topic You may use the library, an encyclopedia, or the Internet for your research Write two or more paragraphs about what you discover
Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet of paper.
ISBN: 0-328-14898-9
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Corbis
3 ©James Randklev/Stone/Getty Images
4 ©Bridgeman Art Library
5 ©Bettmann/Corbis
6 ©Corbis
8 ©Bettmann/Corbis
10 ©Bettmann/Corbis
12 ©Getty Images
15 ©Bettmann/Corbis
People had different reasons for coming to the United
States: escaping poverty, looking for adventure, and
dreaming of freedom As the United States expanded
its territory, people flooded into the areas that they
thought held the promise of a new life In this book you
will read about the people who crossed the sea or the
prairies, what they were looking for, and what they found
as the United States continued to grow