The cattle trails of the old west, including the Chisholm Trail and the Great Western Cattle Trail, were adventurous but also a business. The cattle of Texas and Oklahoma were not worth very much in Texas, because there were so many cows there. However, if cowboys could get their herds to the railroads in Kansas, then they could sell the cattle to people on the east coast who were willing to pay a much higher price for the cattle. It is an example of simple supply and demand. If the supply is high, then the price will be low, but if the supply is low, then the price will be higher.
The cattle trails began after the Civil War as a result of the railroads that were being built across the country. This improved transportation allowed them to make more money. It was a more simple invention that played a large part in ending the cattle drives. Farmers began using a new kind of fences on their land, barbed wire. As more and more ranches became fenced, it became more and more difficult to herd cattle across the plains.
Located on the Arkansas River in southwestern Kansas, Dodge City owes its location and much of its initial economic activity to its position as a "break in transport" where different forms of transportation meet. In September 1872, when the Santa Fe Railroad reached a point five miles east of Fort Dodge, a settlement originally known as Buffalo City emerged. For several years, hunters hauled bison hides by the cartload to Dodge City. By the late 1870s, ranchers were driving their cattle to Dodge City, whence they were shipped to feed lots and markets in the East. In 2000, Dodge City remained a regional center of the trade in livestock and other agricultural products, and its population was 25,176.
The Battle of Little Bighorn was fought by the 7th Cavalry led by General George Custer and a combined force of Sioux, Cheyenne & Arapaho Native Indians led by Chief Sitting Bull. The Battle of Little Bighorn was a major conflict in the Great Sioux War, the date of the battle was June 25 1876. It was a famous victory for the Native American Indians and crushing defeat that led to the deaths of General George Custer and his US Army battalion. Facts: Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 1:Duration: The Battle of Little Bighorn lasted for less than one hour
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 2: Where was it fought? The location was Little Bighorn River in MontanaBattle of Little Bighorn Fact 3: When was it fought? On June 25, 1876. It was a major conflict in Great Sioux War, also known as the Black Hills War, of 1876 - 1877
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 4: Who fought the conflict? The Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, all tribes of the Northern Plains, fought against the United States 7th Cavalry
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 5: How many fought in the conflict? 1500 Native American Indians against 700 soldiers of the US Army
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 6: Who were the leaders of the 7th Cavalry? General George Custer was in command. Other US officers involved in the conflict were Marcus Reno, James Calhoun and Frederick Benteen
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 7: Who were the leaders of the Native Indians? Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Chief Gall
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 8: What caused the conflict? The encroachment of white settlers on Indian land due to the discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the threat of relocation to Indian reservations
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 9: The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had guaranteed the Native American Indians exclusive possession of the Dakota territory. When the Indians refused to sell the land and the US broke the treaty
Battle of Little Bighorn Fact 10: George Custer made the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota in 1874
Shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) was a self-made multi-millionaire who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century. As a boy, he worked with his father, who operated a boat that ferried cargo between Staten Island, New York, where they lived, and Manhattan. After working as a steamship captain, Vanderbilt went into business for himself in the late 1820s, and eventually became one of the country’s largest steamship operators. In the process, the Commodore, as he was publicly nicknamed, gained a reputation for being fiercely competitive and ruthless. In the 1860s, he shifted his focus to the railroad industry, where he built another empire and helped make railroad transportation more efficient. When Vanderbilt died, he was worth more than $100 million.
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Born into modest circumstances in upstate New York, he entered the then-fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland, Ohio, refinery. In 1870, he established Standard Oil, which by the early 1880s controlled some 90 percent of U.S. refineries and pipelines. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors, in order to gain a monopoly in the industry. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court found Standard Oil in violation of anti-trust laws and ordered it to dissolve. During his life Rockefeller donated more than $500 million to various philanthropic causes.
Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was an American industrialist who amassed a fortune in the steel industry then became a major philanthropist. Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. While working for the railroad, he invested in various ventures, including iron and oil companies, and made his first fortune by the time he was in his early 30s. In the early 1870s, he entered the steel business, and over the next two decades became a dominant force in the industry. In 1901, he sold the Carnegie Steel Company to banker John Pierpont Morgan for $480 million. Carnegie then devoted himself to philanthropy, eventually giving away more than $350 million.
In his 84 years, Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1,093 patents (singly or jointly) and was the driving force behind such innovations as the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb and one of the earliest motion picture cameras. He also created the world’s first industrial research laboratory. Known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” for the New Jersey town where he did some of his best-known work, Edison had become one of the most famous men in the world by the time he was in his 30s. In addition to his talent for invention, Edison was also a successful manufacturer and businessman who was highly skilled at marketing his inventions–and himself–to the public.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-born American scientist best known as the inventor of the telephone, worked at a school for the deaf while attempting to invent a machine that would transmit sound by electricity. Bell was granted the first official patent for his telephone in March 1876, though he would later face years of legal challenges to his claim that he was its sole inventor, resulting in one of history’s longest patent battles. Bell continued his scientific work for the rest of his life, and used his success and wealth to establish various research centers nationwde.
Wilbur and Orville Wright were American inventors and pioneers of aviation. In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical airplane.
African-American educator and agricultural researcher George Washington Carver (c. 1864-1943) grew up in Missouri with the white family that originally kept his mother as a slave. After earning his master’s degree in agriculture from Iowa State College in 1896, he headed the agricultural department at Booker T. Washington’s all-black Tuskegee Institute for nearly 20 years. Carver’s research and innovative educational programs were aimed at inducing farmers to replace expensive commodities, and he developed a variety of uses for crops such as cow peas, sweet potatoes and peanuts. Carver had abandoned both teaching and agricultural plot work by the late 1920s, though he continued to advise farmers and students.
Roosevelt was famous for leading the Rough Riders in a battle at San Juan Hill in Cuba. While he was president he gained the nickname The Trust Buster for breaking up large companies called monopolies. His most famous quote is "Speak softly and carry a big stick".
In September of 1901, President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became president. As president, Roosevelt worked hard to improve the quality of life for the average American. He took on large corporations that had formed monopolies or trusts. These trusts enabled companies to keep wages low and prices high. Roosevelt broke up many of these trusts and earned the nickname "the trustbuster". Other major accomplishments: He won the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in negotiating peace between Russia and Japan. He established the U.S. as the "police power" for the Western Hemisphere stating that the U.S. would protect threatened countries in North and South America. This was called his "Big Stick Diplomacy". He helped to increase the government regulation and safety standards of food and medicine with the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. He worked on conservation by setting aside large areas of land out west for national forests and public use. He saw to it that the Panama Canal was built, creating a short cut between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.
President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term United States goal—a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. To that end, in 1850 the United States and Great Britain negotiated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty to rein in rivalry over a proposed canal through the Central American Republic of Nicaragua. The Anglo-American canal, however, never went beyond the planning stages. French attempts to build a canal through Panama (province of Colombia) advanced further. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps—the builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt—the French began excavating in 1880. Malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases conspired against the de Lesseps campaign and after 9 years and a loss of approximately 20,000 lives, the French attempt went bankrupt. In spite of such setbacks, American interest in a canal continued unabated. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 abrogated the earlier Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and licensed the United States to build and manage its own canal. Following heated debate over the location of the proposed canal, on June 19, 1902, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of building the canal through Panama. Within 6 months, Secretary of State John Hay signed a treaty with Colombian Foreign Minister Tomás Herrán to build the new canal. The financial terms were unacceptable to Colombia’s congress, and it rejected the offer. President Roosevelt responded by dispatching U.S. warships to Panama City (on the Pacific) and Colón (on the Atlantic) in support of Panamanian independence. Colombian troops were unable to negotiate the jungles of the Darien Strait and Panama declared independence on November 3, 1903. The newly declared Republic of Panama immediately named Philippe Bunau-Varilla (a French engineer who had been involved in the earlier de Lesseps canal attempt) as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. In his new role, Bunau-Varilla negotiated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903, which provided the United States with a 10-mile wide strip of land for the canal, a one-time $10 million payment to Panama, and an annual annuity of $250,000. The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama. Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal symbolized U.S. technological prowess and economic power. Although U.S. control of the canal eventually became an irritant to U.S.-Panamanian relations, at the time it was heralded as a major foreign policy achievement.