Explorers – Reasons
• The Lewis and Clark expedition
explored the West
– to make friendly contact with Indian groups
that might want to trade,
– to find the Northwest Passage - a water route
across North America,
– and to explore the territory the United States
had just purchased.
Explorers – Hardships
• Some of the hardships the Lewis &
Clark expedition faced were
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
sunburn,
mosquitoes,
blistered hands,
sore muscles,
rivers and waterfalls,
cacti,
grizzlies,
lack of food
Explorers – Legacies
What did they leave behind?
• Some of the legacies the Lewis &
Clark expedition left behind are
– they established a route to the Pacific,
– established good relations with Western
Indians, and
– brought back information about the West and
its peoples.
Californios – Reasons
• California was established when Spanish
priests went to establish Missions
• The government gave land to soldiers
and settlers to help settle the land.
Californios – Hardships
• Californios lived on land called a rancho.
You would often find them growing food,
raising cattle, having fiestas, or displaying
their horsemanship.
• One of the hardships they faced was that
the ranchos were often a day’s travel from
each other, so loneliness was a big problem.
• Another was that government officials were
unskilled, dishonest & corrupt.
Californios – Legacies
• Legacies that the Californios left behind
include
– Spanish place names for cities like Los
Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco
– new food crops – like grapes, citrus
and olives
– opening California to other settlers.
Mt. Men – Reasons
• Lewis & Clark’s expedition created
interest in an old industry – the fur trade.
Manuel Lisa hoped to find beaver in the
Rocky Mountains.
Mt. Men – Hardships
• Mountain men
– faced attack by fur thieves,
– Indians, wolves, and bears;
– death from accidents and disease.
Mt. Men – Legacies
• The mountain men’s legacy includes
– exploring the West,
– establishing the Oregon and California Trails,
– setting up trading posts that later became supply
stations for settlers,
– recording their stories in personal journals.
Missionaries – Reasons
• Missionaries moved west to convert
American Indians to Christianity.
Missionaries – Hardships
• Crossing the steep Rocky Mountain
terrain in wagons was difficult, but
proved that women were capable of
making the journey.
• The missionaries were sometimes
attacked by hostile Indian warriors.
Missionaries – Legacies
• Many Indians died of the diseases that
missionaries, and the settlers that
followed them, brought to the West.
• Missionaries helped open the West to
settlement.
Pioneer Women – Reasons
• Some single women moved west in
search of homesteads, husbands, or
other new opportunities.
Pioneer Women – Hardships
• Women faced
– having to leave valuable possessions behind on
the trail;
– cooking, washing clothes & caring for children
while traveling 15-20 miles a day was hard work;
– disease, accidents, drowning killed their loved
ones;
– rare Indian attacks,
– buffalo stampedes,
– prairie fires,
– and freezing temperatures.
Pioneer Women – Legacies
• Tabitha Brown was 66 years old when she
established one of the first colleges on the
west coast.
• Mother Joseph, a nun from Canada,
designed and built the Northwest’s first
schools & hospitals.
• By 1900, women were voting in 4 western
states – and celebrating their freedom &
sense of equality.
Mormons – Reasons
• Mormons had views that offended some
people in the 1800s, and they were
driven from their homes in the East.
• Religious Freedom
Mormons – Hardships
• Many Mormons died on the journey
west.
• When those who survived finally settled,
they had to learn how to farm in a very
dry environment.
Mormons – Legacies
• The Mormons
– pioneered new farming methods for dry
regions,
– helped many settlers on their journey west,
– and established a large Mormon community
in the West - Utah.
49ers – Reasons
• People moved to California to find their
fortune after gold was discovered in
1848.
49ers – Hardships
• Forty-niners faced
– a difficult journey west;
– high prices made it hard to get ahead;
– there were no police to keep order so camps were
rough & dangerous;
– mining was very hard work;
– the gold was soon gone, leaving many with
nothing.
49ers – Legacies
• For California Indian: Warfare & disease
reduced the Native American population.
• For Californios: Many lost their land to
American settlers.
• For Forty-niners: Their arrival brought
enough people to California to make it
the first state in the West!
Chinese – Reasons
• Reports that they would have great pay,
large houses, and fine food and clothing
motivated Chinese to travel to California.
• Gam Saan – Gold Mountain
Chinese – Hardships
• They had to pay a tax for foreigners to mine, so
they left.
• Many Americans abused the Chinese to cause
them to leave the mines.
Chinese – Legacies
• The Chinese helped build such industries
as mining and farming in California; and
they introduced their rich culture to the
West.
• Some Chinese moved into California’s
growing cities to open restaurants and
laundries.
• Left their rich culture
Debriefing
To be completed on a
separate piece of paper to
be handed in & graded
1. Identify at least 3 reasons that groups of settlers
moved to the west in the 1800s?
2. If you lived during this time, which of these reasons
may have caused you to move to the West? Why?
3. Choose one of the groups we just learned about…
Do you think their lives improved as a result of
moving to the West? Why or why not?
4. What are some important legacies of these groups?
5. How do the histories of these groups in the West
affect our lives today? Cite at least two specific
examples.