Problems Faced by the Farmers, the Cowboys, and the Miners - Term Paper Example

Problems Faced by the Farmers, the Cowboys, and the Miners in the West Introduction During the 19th century, the west primarily consisted of three frontiers: the miners, the cowboys, and the farmers. These were very hard working people and spent a very tough time to meet the basic needs of their life. The end of the Civil War marked a new era of industrial revolution, business, and entrepreneurship in the US. This paper discusses the problems faced by the farmers, the cowboys, and the miners in the west. Problems Faced by the Farmers A lot of problems were caused by the movement of the farmers to the same area in large numbers. There was plentiful grassy land in the Great Plains, thus, providing the cattle with abundance of food to graze on and providing perfect conditions for the cultivation of crops, but there was scarcity of timber and water. The biggest challenge in front of the farmers in the absence of a reliable source of water was the irrigation of crops. Likewise, the farmers could not build homes because of lack of timber. “Because of the dry climate, western farmers needed to work a great deal of land to make a profit” (loc.gov, n.d.). To help the settlers with these issues, the government established the US Department of Agriculture in the year 1862. Problems Faced by the Cowboys When the Civil War ended, there occurred a great cattle boom. During those years, cowboys used to be a mixed group consisting of the Civil War veterans, Mexicans, freedmen, and the Mexican Americans. The cowboys represented a variety of races. The cowboys led very difficult outdoor lives whereas the earnings were insignificant as compared to their hard work. In order to herd the cattle toward the railroad, the cowboys had to gather the cattle from the open range and the individual ranchers had to identify their cattle by the brand that were usually symbols carved into the skins of the cattle. The cowboys needed to drive the cattle in large numbers for several hundred miles until they reached the railroad depots in Kansas. The cowboys had to face numerous challenges on their way to Kansas; the journey of several hundred miles was tiring, the cowboys had to bear all kinds of weather extremes during the journeys while having to take care of the cattle so that they did not stray from their herds. Sometimes, the cowboys had to cope with unexpected floods and hailstorms. The cowboys received very little money for this hard work. On top of that, whatever they received as wages, the cowboys would immediately spend on gambling and drinking, thus, leaving very little, if any, money for their families. All of the cowboys were men, but the women worked no less hard. The women not only had to administer their families, but also work hard at the ranch. Activities of the women included but were not limited to mending the clothes, cooking, taking care of the children, and providing the sick with care. The women were equipped with a lot of technical skills also. Women could fire the guns, fix broken things, herd the cattle, use the branding iron, and herd the animals to the pasture. There was a whole range of factors that caused the decline of the cattle boom in the year 1890. One of the main factors was the decline in the prices of beef as the supply of the cattle exceeded their demand because of the ranchers’ success. With the invention of the barbed wire, the ranchers could fence their lands off themselves to restrict other people’s access to their grassy property and the water sources. As a result of this, a vast majority of the farmers and ranchers were driven out of business. In addition to that, almost 90 per cent of all herds of the cattle were killed during the severe blizzards continued over seven months from the year 1886 to 1887 (Education.com, 2011). While most of the ranchers managed to survive by expanding the herds of sheep, the cowboy era was essentially over. Problems Faced by the Miners The Gold Rush in California of the year 1849 led to a mining era in the West. Around the mid of the 19th century, miners discovered gold on the Alaska Territory’s border in the Klondike district, that William Seward, the Secretary of State had acquired in the year 1867. The mining communities generally consisted of men. The conditions of mining were so tough that only the strongest amongst all could survive. The indigenous people of the US and territories forced the immigrant miners who had come from different parts of the world out. By horseback or rail, prospectors converged on the mountainous countryside seeking their fortunes in silver and gold. Overnight, makeshift homes and tents would spring up along hillsides in the great wilderness…It was a rough and dangerous existence. Bandits roamed the roads, seeking the precious metal at the owner’s expense. Vigilante law was established in many western towns, where the rope and gun ruled (Hawksworth, n.d., p.23). Lack of an authority of law enforcement caused the violence to erupt, the leaving the miners with no way but to settle their differences themselves. A vast majority of the prospectors in mining made a very unsubstantial living as the precious minerals’ pockets were rapidly vanishing. Conclusion Concluding, the miners, the cowboys, and the farmers faced a lot of challenges in the West in the 19th century. Issues common to all of these frontiers included, but were not limited to, excessive hard work, unsubstantial earnings, threat to survival because of the extremity of weather conditions in which they had to work, and poverty. The frontiers had to frequently migrate from one place to another for the work-related purposes whereas the compensation obtained in the end was far less worthy of such intense suffering and hard work. There was lack of legal protection of the rights of many of these frontiers and they had to work in risky conditions. References Education.com. (2011). Farming, Ranching, and Mining During the Westward Movement. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/study-help/article/us-history-westward-movement-farm-mining/ Hawksworth, R. (n.d.). The American Industrial Revolution. Retrieved from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachersguides/pdf/socialstudies/ul/the_american_industrial_revolution_tg.pdf loc.gov. (n.d.). History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/hist-am-west/history.html Read More