The 19Th Century and Expansion

Mary Murphy, The West is US/U.S.

The 19th Century and Expansion  Will be going from the 19th C to the present. Wants to leave us with the question —How important is the West in the United States today. Wants time for discussion.  Beginning with FJTurner and the frontier thesis  Turner argued that “the existence of an area of free land….explain American development.”  Is a story that has made its way into the meta narrative of American settlement.  Trying to “plant” the thesis into our mind. Think of ways the thesis keeps rearing itself.  The thesis itself is what created America and kept American’ culture fresh and unique—if the process that has made this country what it is, sets off a crisis—so what then is America?  How do we explain everything that has happened since?  American Progress, the picture is the epitome of Turner’s idea  Over the years, we have discussed the experience and complexity of the West  Aside from the Civil War, western settlement was the most important story of the 19th C. Sometimes we forget that for many, many people, most people did not want nor desire to go west.  “I think that people who head West are just plain irresponsible, I mean, who are they running away from?”  What we must remember: The federal government subsidized the entire process!  Ever presence of the military—posts and forts  Low-level subtext to our understanding of western settlement  What is the question here with the push to turn public land into private hands  Demography is Destiny—Elliott West  Sheer numbers overwhelm the opposition  Process is very much supported by the federal government  Federal Acts, federal money used to promote

The Metropolitan West  What is incongruent with popular perceptions of the West, is the urban islands  Phenomenon of the Urban West and the development of the West after WWII  Western states had established cities since prior to American involvement  SW cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Vancouver, Portland  These cities were all “outposts of empire”  They were laboratories  From the 1840s-1930s there are Western cities growing very rapidly due to industrialization—have to concentrate labor and capital, have to have transportation  Growth of cities along Pacific Coasts; growth of cities that had access to the Rocky Mountain front, and growth of cities that were access points to the Great Plains (Omaha, NE)  By 1880—30% lived in cities. West was most urbanized part of the country in terms of who lived in cities  By the 1900s, many of these cities tried to “domesticate” themselves  Carl Abbott (PSU)—historian of the urban west  By the 1920s, western cities were so busy trying to become tame that they became boring  By 1990, 80% of westerners live in urban cities (city is considered 60K people)  Another 10% in towns or cities over 2500  1 in 10 live in the “real West”  How we conceptualize the West  We might have an idea of what the Western landscape should look like, but it is not a “lived” experience  1956/1957—Fortune Magazine to study an “exploding metropolis” San Jose  1950s and 1960s—LA became the frequent example of the ultimate city—where you could go to see what the future would look like  Low density sprawl with a core of high skyscrapers more today  1960s—space age, modern design (LAX)  WWII accelerated trends in the West and in western cities  What makes the land in the West so different was that it was public land  When the military needed places to do research and military—could turn to the SW—didn’t have to go out and purchase more land  Tradition of government investing in western infrastructure (Hoover dam from the 1930s)  Los Alamos New Mexico (secret place where the bomb is developed)  Large % of NV involved in the military-industrial complex  Vanport—Vancouver/Portland; new community designed to house ship builders  Federal government spent billions of dollars in the West during the second WW  Diversified economy—but dependent diversification (dependent on government as its primary market)  Many cities in the West were slow to embrace new economies in the 20th C  Remoteness and empty landscape became a boon for the military  Beneficiaries of the empty space and new development in the West—Atomic testing  Nuclear test sites: US Dept. of Energy **  In WWII, nearly all new plants are west of the MS—Defense Plant Corp est. in Aug. of 1940; largest investor in the economy of the west in history  So Cal becomes a huge airplane factory  By 1943, 280K employed in wartime factories in the West  Bank of America invested in western development—funneled money from the federal government; was willing to loan money to people that others did not  Original name of the Bank of America was the Bank of Italy  Nearly 2 million women went to work in defense plants (complicated the effort was at getting women into the workforce and getting them trained, then getting them to leave at the end  Lots of women from MT moved to SEA and PDX to work  Lots of women who joined the military or worked for defense contractors, never came back  A lot of young people and service men were involved; it was hard for working mothers; but if you were a young, single woman, this was fun and exciting  After WWII, the focus was on maintaining Defense during the Cold War  While WWII offered a quick ramp up of industrialization  Turnman known as the “father of Silicon Valley”  Partnered with Stanford to create the industry  Partnership between universities and the military complex  Hewlett and Packard students of Turnman  UCLA engineering school created in 1943 to support aircraft industry  By the 1960’s 80%? receiving government contracts because of these partnerships  By the 1980’s, 60% to CA and NM, and 30% to WA—etc.  Boon of military west was not evenly distributed  Heavily concentrated in the SW  TX HUGE!  TX A&M produced more officers than west point  In 1949, Carey McWilliams (Factories in the Field) was left—CA is not another American state, it is a revolution w/in the states—tipping the scales of wealth and power to the Pacific  Trends that come out of CA during the Post War period are what drives America —wartime production has to convert to domestic production—has to get people on board with ideas about wealth, material goods, etc.  1956 interstate highway act—funding to build interstate highways—Eisenhower —we need to have highways to evacuate cities quickly (result is suburbanization)  1949 traffic (land mass of LA that is asphalt)  LA becomes this ultimate American city  By 1949, LA has more automobiles than any other city in the US.  First drive in—Royce Haley’s pig stand in Dallas, TX 1920s also White Tower  McDonalds drive in 1st in San Bernardino; w/in 5 years there were 228  Bt 1945-1960 10,000 new shopping centers west of MS  Drive in’s, convenience stores, etc.  1955 Rev. Schuler began renting the drive in theater on Sunday mornings and delivered sermons at the drive in (“Worship as you are in the family car”)  People in the east wouldn’t think much of western industrial economy impacting them; we live with it every day—superfund sites--  1965 passed a new immigration law, which overturned the quota system— changed the West—Asian and Latino immigrants—issues of immigration are coming out of the West (labor)  Political, immigration, economy all come out of the West—The West IS U.S.

Dale Martin –Atomic West  Persia/Britain to convert navy to oil ships, but didn’t have any oil, so struck a deal with Persia to have first dibs. When Persia became Iran, became British Petroleum  BP bought Standard Oil in the 1970s; also bought Arco and all the liability and waste that came with this—including the Anaconda Copper Company  Before 1909, had to rely on nitrate from Chile to extract nitrogen and guano to make gunpowder—that is why these places were so important. Had to have them in your own country or have a close ally.  In the 19th C, technology was iron, steel, timber, coal, oil—for the military and industrial technologies of the time, the U.S. had the materials  By the end of the 19th C there was a 3rd Industrial Revolution in which the technology changed again. Need strategic resources or allies that could provide. These had to do with Special Steels, Electricity  Special Steels include Stainless Steel (wouldn’t corrode) need Nickel—no Nickel deposits in the U.S.  Canada has large deposits of Nickel—Nickel (Ni) Armor  High Speed Steels—can work extremely fast; work tough metals, get hard, and hold their shape: Vanadium—just a small portion makes speed steels  During the 20th C, the U.S. became increasingly reliant on deposits that  During the Cold War, many of these metals came from Soviet Union; U.S. buys from countries that are politically unstable; do not value civil liberties or civil rights  During wartime, you have to get ships filled with them across oceans  Manganese (Mn) used in combination with Iron—adds strength after shape o Main places before WWI was in Georgia, the Caucuses, and Brazil o Before WWI, the main source in Georgia were shut down, drove the U.S. to try to be self-sufficient in mineral acquisition o Gv’t had to subsidize to justify the high cost of mining o MT has two deposits—Philipsburg and Butte-Emma Mine o Once the wars ended and it was safe to ship metals across oceans, then these mines were shut down  Potash important—1913, came from Germany; towns grew up in Western NE to mine for Potash; by 1919, these towns were abandoned  Chromium (Cr): in small amounts it can add to the strength and durability of steel —stainless steel, were sources in Turkey and South Africa—cut off before WWII o ACMC (Anaconda Copper Mining Company)—Mouat Mine (now Stillwater Mine) Even before war ended, allied Navy drove Germany out of those shipping routes  1930s Uranium was largely a by-product of other mining activites; by-product of Radium—Curie discovered—research and for killing cancer (60-100K a gram) o Found in the Czech Republic; found in Carnotite in the Colorado Plateau  Uranium--During the 1940s, government needed a lot of uranium (U-235 is the unstable version and that is what was used on Hiroshima) or use Plutonium, which is what is used on Nagasaki o Vanadium mines in Southern CO o Had to be very secretive—had to go to dumps from Radium and Vanadium mines o By 1944 and 1945, had enough to build two bombs  During the Cold War, there was an arms race and needed a LARGE amount of uranium  Government encouraged people to get Geiger Counters and go out and walk around so they would  Hanford WA, making the bombs and Rocky Flats, CO (Places that are most contaminated are not where the mines are, but where they were processed)  Hanford Site and the West—Processing Uranium requires enormous amounts of electricity and water  Columbia river by that time had three dams—Grand Coulee, Bonneville, and Rock Island (Wenatchee) so already had electricity and water when they needed to start processing the uranium  Jeffery City, WY—in 1970, there was no city; by 1980, they had 2000 people; in 1980s uranium prices collapsed (Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl) Uranium prices fell. High school bond passed, built a high school—sitting empty ½ dozen people living there.  Atomic West and Mining West—the metals are here and someday the world will need it—the hope never dies  Nuclear waste can be repossessed ??  Radon mine outside of Boulder, CO (inert gasses)  Tantilum –Computer/TV screens Southern Zambia; Cobalt  Radium paint on watches—1913s began during WWI and trench warfare

For further study:  History of minerals  Study that takes it on is waiting  Mining history  Much is local and specific—place and company  Use changes—Might mine lead in 1910 and again in 1930, but what it is mined for is different  Mining histories are more about engineering and process; most are narrow and specific and do not analyze political, cultural, and intellectual consequences