History Makers Met with Traders from the East
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CHAPTER 13 • SECTION 1 Jim Beckwourth, became famous for their adven- tures. Although perceived as rugged loners, the men connected economically to the businessmen who bought their furs. RESEARCH & One businessman, William Henry Ashley, Go online to explore WRITINGmore of the CENTER heated created a trading arrangement called the debate at ClassZone.com rendezvous system. At a prearranged site, trappers History Makers met with traders from the East. There, trappers bought supplies and paid in furs. The rendezvous James Beckwourth took place every year from 1825 to 1840, when Find links to biographies of James silk came into fashion and the fur trade died out. Beckwourth at the Research and Writing Many animals were killed off at the height of Center @ ClassZone.com. Born into the fur trade. This forced trappers to search for new slavery in Virginia, Beckwourth became streams where beaver lived. The mountain men’s one of the most famous mountain men History Makers explorations provided Americans with some of of his time. Considered the only African- the earliest firsthand knowledge of the Far West. This knowledge, and the trails the mountain men American frontiersman to record his life’s James Beckwourth 1798–?1867 blazed, helped later pioneers moving west. story, he published his autobiography (as For example, thousands of pioneers used the Not much is known about Jim Beckwourth’s family told to Thomas D. Bonner) in the United wide valley through the Rockies called South history. At the age of 25, he joined a group of fur States in 1856. It was later published in Pass. Smith learned of this pass, in present-day traders going west and in time became a daring Britain and France. A masterful storyteller, Wyoming, from Native Americans. Unlike the high mountain man. For several years, he lived with a many of Beckwourth’s accounts were first northern passes used by Lewis and Clark, South Crow tribe and earned the warrior name, “Bloody discounted as tall tales. Today, however, Pass was low, so it got less snow than the higher Arm.” Later, he worked as an army scout and passes. Also, because South Pass was wide and less many historians consider his autobiography gold prospector. In 1850, Beckwourth discovered steep, wagon trails could run through it. a valuable resource for understanding life a mountain pass across the Sierra Nevadas that on the wild frontier. enabled thousands of pioneers and gold seekers The Lure of the West To many the West, with its to reach northern California. This pass is still called vast stretches of land, offered a golden chance to CRITICAL THINKING ANSWER Beckwourth Pass. The Western Pacific Railway later make money. The Louisiana Purchase had doubled Sequence Events After Beckwourth used this route as a gateway to the West. the size of the United States. Some Americans discovered the pass, thousands of believed it was their right to take land away from pioneers and gold seekers could reach Native Americans who inhabited the territory but did not own it. northern California. The population CRITICAL THINKING Sequence Events How did Beckwourth’s discovery of a mountain pass People called land speculators bought huge areas increase ultimately resulted in statehood change the future of California and the nation? of land. To speculate means to buy something in for California—as a free state—in 1850. the hope that it will increase in value. If land value For more on on James Beckwourth, did go up, speculators divided their holdings into ONLINE go to the Research & Writing BIOGRAPHY smaller sections. They made great profits by selling More About . Center @ ClassZone.com those sections to the thousands of settlers who dreamed of owning their own farms. Traders also William Henry Ashley Answer: Early pioneers traveled west. Manufacturers and merchants hoped to earn money by making wanted to make money and selling items to settlers and markets opening up in new communities. Elected Missouri’s first lieutenant governor and settle on Native Others went to find jobs or to hide from the law. in 1820, Ashley started his fur-trading American land. Some were running from the SUMMARIZE Explain what motivated pioneers to undertake the hazardous business two years later. He then tried to law. journey into the rugged west. win the governorship, losing in 1824. A few years after his loss, however, Ashley had made enough money trading furs to 420 Chapter 13 retire—and return to politics. Although he would fail in another bid for governor, Ashley was elected to the U.S. Congress DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION three times—and became a leading advocate for further development of the West. Struggling Readers English Learners Land Speculation Role-Play Vocabulary: Pronoun Ask students to pretend that the Referents classroom is a large piece of land. Tell Point out the pronoun this in the them that you are a land speculator who sentence, “This forced trappers to search paid $100 for this land: for new streams where beaver lived.” Ask a student to play a settler. Role-play Make sure that students understand that selling a corner of the classroom for this refers to the killing off of animals. $100. After the deal, explain that you Then clarify the sequence of events that sold a little land for $100, exactly what helped pull people westward: animals you paid for all the land. Stress that land were killed off, which led mountain men speculation can lead to large profits, but to look for other hunting grounds farther also to losses. west; the trails the mountain men opened up helped the pioneers go west. 420 • Chapter 13 Settling the West CHAPTER 13 • SECTION 1 KEY QUESTION How did settlers make the difficult journey west? The success of early pioneers convinced thousands of families and individu- als to make the dangerous journey west. They traveled along a series of routes that led to New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. Once in these places, the new pioneers claimed the land and established settlements. Teach The Santa Fe Trail In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain. Settling the West Lands in the Southwest that used to belong to Spain now belonged to Mexico. Spain had kept Americans out of these lands, but Mexico opened Reader, Recorder, Reporter its borders to American traders. One adventurer who took advantage of this new policy was Missouri trader • Why did William Becknell look for a shortcut William Becknell. In 1821 he left Missouri for the customary route to Santa the second time he took the Santa Fe Trail? Fe, capital of the Mexican province of New Mexico. He made a large profit (He could not haul his loaded wagons over the because the New Mexicans were eager for goods. Back in Missouri, news mountain pass he had used on his first trip.) spread that New Mexico was a place where traders could become rich. • How did the Mormons make the Utah desert The following year, Becknell left Missouri with a group of traders and bloom? (they worked together to build dams pioneered a new route that became the Santa Fe Trail. Goods were hauled by covered wagons—rather than by pack animals. Becknell knew he could not and canals that brought water from the hills to haul wagons over the mountain pass he had used on his first trip. Instead, he (below) Chimney the farms in the valleys) found a cutoff, a shortcut that avoided steep slopes but it passed through a Rock, Nebraska was an • Main Ideas and Details What was Oregon important landmark on deadly desert to the south. As his traders crossed the burning sands, they ran the Oregon Trail. Fever? (the desire to start a new life in Oregon, out of water and were crazed by thirst. Finally, the traders found a stream inspired by glowing reports from early settlers) Unit 5 Resource Book N Blackfoot A1850 Trails West ri River R Nez Percé R Missou • Interdisciplinary Projects, pp. 97–98 Portland Colu mbia Flathead O Assiniboine O r E e C g D o A n K Crow T C OREGON r S a Trails West 1850 TERRITORY i Y UNORGANIZED A l C TERRITORY Fort Hall Teton S Fort nake S S South M atte a Pl R Laramie N Pass I c . Connect Geography History 4 r 0° Chimney A IOWA N a l old i O M m t L b R ra o Rock Council Bluffs m T P e . rm n u ia o Pawnee U t H rn n MAKE INFERENCES Ask students to explain o fo Tr Cali ai R Sacramento Great Salt Salt Lake City l N Nauvoo . why Independence, Missouri, was a good Lake T Osage S Ute A I UTAH TERRITORY T E Independence E r St. Louis place to set off for either Oregon or Santa Fe. R San e Cheyenne R R iv h A Francisco A is R G n Tr (It was on the Missouri River, at the western N a ail Fe Trail E p V S I a CALIFORNIA A t edge of what was the United States at that D o n A ld ad N a O lor S ff PACIFIC Co uto Navajo n C time.) S ro OCEAN ar m Kiowa NEW MEXICO Ci N e ANSWERS TERRITORY d Santa Fe Los Angeles n W a Connect Geography History r E G 1. Location Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail o TEXAS1. Location Which two trails share a portion S i R of the same route? 120°W MEXICO 2. Analyze Rivers provided water, food, 2. Analyze Why do you think some of the and often ran along valleys, allowing trails run along rivers? travelers to avoid rugged terrain.