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Summary of Chapter 2 (Donner Party (Hastings Cutoff ('shorten journey…
Summary of Chapter 2
Donner Party
Set off from Independence, Missouri May 1846 going to California
Hastings Cutoff
'shorten journey to california'
Donners and some others headed for Fort Bridger and took HC
Mistake
Lost 4 wagons, oxen and cattle, and a month
Sierra Nevada
23 October
87 began climb
Snow came early, stranded near Truckee Lake in mount
Mid-December, food low, people dying
17 set off on foot to get help - 7 made it
Relief party in Feb 1847
Of 87, 46 survived
Emigration dropped
Development and Problems of White Settlement Farming
Early Settlers in Kansas
Both parties encouraged like-minded people to move into Kansas to gain control
1856 - two illegal, opposing governments formed
1856 - 700 pro-slavers smashed property in Lawrence
John Brown attacked Pottawatomie Creek - several deaths
More raids leaving 200 dead
1858, federal government stepped in, Kansas became a free state
Hostility from plains Indians and claim jumpers
After choosing land, settlers had 3 months to make claim after government survey made
No survey made
Settlers driven from land at gunpoint
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 opened up states for colonisation
Compromise between north and south states over slavery
Slavery left to people of each state to decide once they had an effective government
Nebraska wouldn't be a slave state
Why did the Mormons go west
Followers of Joseph Smith
Kirtland, Ohio
By 1831, 1000+ members
Worked hard and successful - made others envious
Bank - depression caused people to lose savings - forced to leave
Missouri
Against slavery in a slave state, unpopular
Sympathetic to Indians
Locals rioted and Mormons blamed
Leaders imprisoned and forced to leave
Nauvoo, Illinois
Built own independent city state
35,000 people
Defense - 4000 in Nauvoo Legion
1844, Smith said men could have more than one wife - divisions in community
Critics called smith false prophet in newspaper
Smith destroyed newspaper - 'dictator'
1844, Smith said he was standing for president
Smith arrested and jailed in Carthage
27 June 1845, mob attacked jail and Smith murdered
Mormon Migration 1846-47
Leaving the US
Brigham Young leader decided they couldn't live in US, so they would leave
Go to Great Salt Lake
Isolated
Water and land available
Live close together
In Mexico
Journey
16,000 Mormons across Great Plains
Prepared in winter of 1845-46
Feb 1846, first group set off across Mississippi to build chain of camps
Other groups would follow
Winter Quaters
Cabins built as Missouri river
Arrived by autumn
Food and fuel low, disease spread
Several hundred died and buried
In April, Brigham Young led a 'Pioneer Band' onward - 150 men and 70 wagons
Later Pioneers
By 1847, 2000 Mormons at Salt Lake Valley
Young returned to winter quarters to organize those making the journey the next year
Early travelers used ox-drawn wagons
Later, poorer used hand carts
Gold Rush of 1849
4th group of Americans to go west were miners, 'forty-niners'
Gold Discovered
1848, Sutter's Mill discovered gold
2/3 men in Oregon joined gold rush
Some went by sea or by California trail
Population went from 15,000 in 1848 to 250,000 in 1852
Chinese Miners
Taiping revolution - push factor
Credit Ticket System - Chinese companies paid for passage, so they worked for a certain time in the companies mines
Pick and shovel then washing pan then cradle
When new sources found miners moved
Companies came in with more sophisticated techniques
Built larges near where they worked for safety and prepared to move on quickly if faced with hostility
Mining town violence
Lawless
Under military control
Had to make own arrangements to settle disputes
Punishments ranged from flogging to banishment to hanging
By 1853, San Francisco had over 500 saloons
Disputes between miners and locals - racial tension
Why did early pioneers cross the Great Plains?
Manifest destiny
God's will that US should expand territory
Fur trappers
1st group to travel west
Important
Told enticing tales of farmland
Found routes
Jed Smith 1824, south pass
Territorial expansion
Texas
Settlers encouraged by Mexico
Southern farmers with slaves
Mexico had abolished slavery so tried to stop them
Rebellion - Texas became a republic in 1836
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848
After Mexican war, US gained Rio Grande, California, and huge area of land
Knight Family
Iowa in 1853
Joel, Amelia and 7 children
Problems faced
Cold, rivers, mud, rain, wind, no wood, desert, little food, hot, indians
The Mormons in the Valley of Great Salt Lake
Salt Lake Valley
Brigham Young listened to due to success of crossing plains
No ownership of land/water, assigned by Church
City Plan
Centre, temple and main square
Streets lined with plots of land for home/gardens/farms
Snowmelt water brought from mounts by irrigation ditches
Co-operative working allowed them to feed themselves and avoid claim-jumping
Self-sufficient in food, not so in industrial development
Education
Schools badly equipped
Parents resisted attempt to extend school year beyond 3 months - used them on farms
Utah
After Mexican-American war they ended back in US
Wanted a new state called Deseret and it to be admitted into union - US refused|
Territory of Utah created - Young appointed governor but some of other officials Genitles
Mormons established towns and settlements in parts of Utah where farming was possible
For each town, a mix of Mormons with sills selected to live there
Needed new settlers to make Utah into a state
Missionaries went to Europe and South America to gather converts
Generally poorer, so Perpetual Emigrating Fund established in 1849 to pay
Very successful - Mormons nearly self-sufficient so hoped to live in peace
Problems of Living and Farming on the Great Plains
Living Problems
Water shortages - difficult to keep clean
Extreme weather - hot/cold/little rain
Fuel - no wood, buffalo/cow dung
Dirt & disease - sod houses difficult to clean, illness common
Building materials
Wood scarce
Earth and roofed with boards, grass and sod
Could be warm in winter and cool in summer if well built
Farming Problems
Water shortages - failure of crops, wells possible but expensive and no guarantee of water
Extreme weather - drought/cold could damage crops
Ploughing - needed repairing often, slow and backbreaking
Protecting crops - no wood for fencing, animals stray/crops damaged/can't mark land
Growing crops - crops not suited to weather
Natural hazards - prairie fires, plagues