1. By Adyson Holt
&
Matt Pence

2. -The Americans moved west because of a hat. The “High Hat”
made of water-repellent beaver fur. It was popular in the U.S.
and in Europe.
-John Jacob Aster created one of the largest fur businesses,
the American Fur Company, after the “High Hat” was made.
-Mountain Men were fur traders and trappers. They traveled
by canoes, flat boats, horseback, and by riding trains.
-There was a yearly meeting called „Revendous‟
where fur trappers sold there fur to fur-company
agents.
-Easterners poured into Oregon County in the
1840‟s.

3. The Oregon Trail was • The Mormon trail is 1,300 miles long •The Santa Fe Trail was about 780 miles
2,000 miles long and it and it took 536 days to make the initial trip. and it usually took about 6 weeks to
usually took 4-6 months travel.
to travel. •In 1830, Joseph Smith founded the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Western New •It led from Independence, Missouri, to
•The cost was about $600 per family of York. The members were knows as Mormons. Santa Fe,
four, which was high at the time when New Mexico.
a typical worker usually made $1.50 •The book of religious teachings were called the
per day. ‘Book of Mormon’ •American traders loaded their wagon
•An anti-mormon mob murdered Smith in 1844. trains with
•They gathered in wagon trains , there •Brigham Young took his place. cloth and other manufactured goods to
could be as many as 10 wagons or as •Young chose Utah for the Mormons new home. exchange for horses, mules, and silver
many as several dozen in a wagon from
train. The wagons were pulled by Mexican traders in Santa Fe.
oxen, mules or horses. Pioneers often
walked to save there animals strength. •The U.S. government helped protect
traders by
Sending troops to ensure that Native
Americans
were not a threat.
•The Old Spanish Trail was 2,700
miles long and usually took 180-225
days.
•The trail to California which has become known as
the Old Spanish Trail apparently was not opened
until 1829. The misnomer arose from the fact that
parties going from New Mexico to California by the
northern route naturally traveled as far as the
Colorado River along the Old Spanish Trail, and
were, therefore, said to have gone
to California by way of that trail. The name thus
became applied to the entire trail to California
instead of just to the first portion of it.

4. •In September 1810,Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Mexican priest,
led a rebellion of about 80,000 poor Indians and Mestizos, or people of
Indian and Spanish ancestry.
•Hidalgo’s revolt failed, but the rebellion he started grew.
•In 1821 Mexico became independent.
•At the time empresarios were called agents.
•In 1822, one young agent, Stephen F. Austin, started a colony on the
lower Colorado River. The first 300 families became known as the old
three hundred.
•Mexico’s general was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He soon
suspended Mexico’s republican constitution and turned his attention to
the growing unrest in Texas.

5. •On March 2,
1836, Texans
declared their
independence
from Mexico.
•Texas elected
their own
president, David
Burnet, and
Lorenzo de
Zavala as vice
president.
•Sam Houston
was head of

6. -Jackson did recognize Texas  In the Battle of San
as in Independent nation. Jacinto, the Texans
France did so in 1839. captured Santa
Britain in 1940. Anna and forced
him to sign a treaty
giving Texas its
independence.
Alamo; an abandoned mission near San Antonio
that became an important battle site in the Texas Revolution.
-Volunteers from the U.S, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and
Colonel Jim Bowie, joined the Alamo’s defense.
-Mexican Army overcame the Texans

7. •Acquiring New
Manifest Territory
Destiny, or •In 1846, Great Britain
obvious fate, and the United States
to settle signed a treaty that
gave the United
land all the
States all Oregon
way to the land south of the
Pacific Ocean forty-ninth parallel.
in order to This treaty drew the
spread border that still
democracy. exists today. Oregon
became an organized
U.S. territory in
February of 1848.

8. •During early Spanish rule the mission system had dominated much of the
present-day southwest.
•Some Native Americans were willing to the missions, others were not. They
were not allowed to leave once they arrived. They had to adopt the clothing, food,
and religion of the Spanish priests.
•In 1833, Mexico ended the mission system in California. Mission lands were
broken up, and huge grants were given to some of the wealthiest California
settlers, including Vallejo.
•They created vast ranchos, or ranches, with tens of thousands of acres of land.
•Vaqueros or cowboys, managed the large herds of cattle and sheep.

9. •California only had about , colonists
by the early 1820’s. They were called
Californios.
•Mariano Guadalupe Vallego
•He was the richest man in California,
owning enormous amounts of land and
livestock.
•Vallego served at the state
constitutional convention, as well as in
the first state senate.

10. • General Taylor led troops to Rio Grande Mexican commander
told Taylor to withdraw from Mexican territory.
• Taylor refused.
• Two sides clashed and several U.S. soldiers werekilled.
• Two days later, congress declared war on Mexico. The
president at the time was James k. polk .
• August 18, General Stephen Kearney,
took Santa Fe, the capital city, without a
fight. He claimed New Mexico for the
United States.

11. •Bear Flag Revolt, the Americans declared California to be an independent
nation.
•Above town, rebels made a flag with a grizzly bear facing a red star.
•John C. Fremont, U.S. army captain, joined American settlers in there revolt
against Californios.
•During revolt, Californios were taken prisoner. Mariano Vallego was. After
release wrote a history of California, that included his time as a bear flag
prisoner.
•Bear Flag was quick to fall.
•In August, U.S. Navy commodore Robert Stockman claimed California for the
U.S.

12. •Battle of Buena Vista- 2
day battle, American army •In February 1848, The U.S and Mexico signed
gained control of northern the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which
officially ended the war and forced Mexico to
Mexico. turn over much of its Northern territory to the
U.S. known as the Mexican Cession, this land
included California, Nevada, and Utah, and
some of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and
Wyoming.
•U.S. also won area claimed by Texas north of
the Rio Grande.
•Mexican Cession increased size of U.S. by
25%.

13. Gadsden Purchase was when the U.S. government paid mexico
$10 million.. In exchange the U.S. received the southern parts
of what are now Arizona & New Mexico.
With this purchase, the existing boundary with Mexico was
Finally fixed.

14. CULTURAL
Water Rights
SURGE OF AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS
SETTLERS  There was a lot of Bringham Young
 A lot of Americans trade with Indians. established a strict
moved southwest  The Navajo created code for the
after the war. blankets to sell. Morman community.
 It was hard to get  Americans, brought
food. manufactured
 Sometimes Indian & goods and money
Americans fought to the southwest.
over land.

15. When Mexicans controlled California they gave swiss immigrant John Sutter
permission to start a colony.
-The Donner party was a group of western travelers who went to California but were
stranded in the sierra Nevada mountains during winter.
-Rescue party found the starving and freezing group in February 1o847. of the
original 87 travelers,42 died.

16.  In January 1840,Sutter sent carpenter James Marshall to build a
sawmill beside a nearby river. He found gold. They agreed to keep it a
secret.
 A native american found gold too. He was shouting “oro” (gold) Oro!
Oro!
 In 1849, about 80,000 gold seekers came to California, hoping it to strike
rich.
 These they were called 49-ers.
 It was hard to get to California.
 California had a huge population increase, by like 25,000 by 1850.

17.  The 49-ers would be prospect, or search for gold,
along the banks of streams or in shallow.
 The first person to arrive at a site would “stake a
claim”.
 Plaur miners used pans or other devices to wash
gold nuggets out of loose rock and gravel.
 To reach gold deposits buried in the hills miners
had to dig shafts and tunnels.
 These tasks were usually pursued by mining
companies rather than by individuals.
 In 1853 California’s yearly gold production peaked
at more than $60 million.

18.  Mining camps sprang up wherever enough people gathered to look
for gold. These camps had colorful names, such as Hang man or
Poker Flat.
 Miners in the caMps’ caMe froM Many cultures and backgrounds.
 Most miners were young, unmarried men in sedum of adventure ,
only around 5% of gold-rush immigrants were women or children.

19. The lure of gold in California attracted miners from around the world.
Many Chinese men came to California hoping to find wealth, them return home to China.
They were known as gam, saan haak, or ”travelers to gold mountain”.
Chinese immigrants soon discovered that many American’s did not welcome them. In 1852, California forced immigrants to pay
a high monthly tax if they wanted to search for gold.
Some Chinese men opened businesses, as well other foreigners.
In 1849 alone, about 20,000 immigrants arrived in California. Most left, but some made businesses, like Levi Strauss, a
German immigrant earned a fortune by making tough denim pants for miners known as “Jeans”.

20. IMPACT ON CALIFORNIA
 California‟s booming  California faced an obstacle to
population made it eligible growth. The state has isolated
from the rest of the country. It was
for statehood only 2 years difficult to bring in and ship out
after being aquired by the goods.
U.S.. In 1850 California  The answer to the isolation
became the 31st state. problem was to bring the railroad
all the way to California.
Californians had to wait almost 20
years for that. Completion of the
Transcontinental railroad in 1869
gave Californians the means to
grow a stronger economy.