Chapter 28The West and Agricultural Revolution

Indian Barrier to West

Civil war ended and country was still heading west

From Texas to Canada the line headed N. Then far west, in between nothing

1000 mile square By 1890 the frontier

was closed

1860 360,000 Nomadic, Spanish

Horse Whites coming from

CA and from E, trapping Natives

Disease and ecological abuse will lessen the numbers

Tribes fight tribes over good land

Treaties signed to protect

Fort Laramie: 1851 Fort Atkinson:1853 Beginning of

Reservation movement

Signed by Chiefs Indian Agents, more

concerned with money then job

1868-90 incessant warfare

Immigrants and Af/Ams made up troops

Natives better armed, trained and prepared

Receding Native Population

Indians being shot on sight Sand Creek Massacre Chivington 400 natives thought they had

immunity Unspeakable mutilation Cruelty begot cruelty Fettermen Sioux attacked Calvary 81 soldiers 105 arrows in one soldiers face

Treaty of Fort Laramie: 1868 Tried to settle prob. By

abandoning Bozeman trail

1874 Custer Black Hills Science

expedition Finds gold, many

come to get rich 7th Calvary

assigned to take natives back to res.

2500 natives surprised Custer

264 wiped out Little Big Horn,

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

Nez Perce 1878 Gold in Idaho

brings whites Chief Joseph three

month trek across Continent to CA

Was sup. To meet SB Promised ancestral

lands, but sent to KS40% die on Reservation

Eventually returned to Idaho

Apache› Arizona and NM› Geronimo› Women exiled

in FL so surrendered

› Successful stock farmers in OK

Reservations

Ghettoized human zoos

Not farmers Move bcz of

Railroads Farmers,

cattlemen, sheepherders

Diseases Extermination of

Buffalo

Bison

1865 15 million still roaming

RR slowed and dangerous

Cody shot 4000 himself (18 months)

Used for food for RR

Robes were fashionable, tongues just for eating

1865 less then 1000

End of the Trail

Jackson writes a Century of Dishonor 1881› Ramona (love story of

CA Natives) Humanitarian debate

sparked Christian reformers

withheld food until they converted

Outlaw certain dances: Sun and Ghost

Wounded Knee: 1890› 200 natives killed

Dawes Act 1887

Dissolved tribes titles

Wiped out tribal ownership of land

Set up family with 160 acres

Behaved and get title and 25 years citz.

Did not happen finally citz. In 1924

Reservation land sold

Money went to civilizing

Kill the Indian save the man

Indian Boarding schools

Took individualists from Indian

By 1900 50% of land lost

Indian Reorg. Of 34 reverses

1887 243,000 natives left

1990 1.5 million

Mining

1859 Gold rush in CO 59 and Pikes Peakers Many failures: BBG Busted by Gosh Nevada: Comstock

Lode 1864 340 million Kings of

Comstock Nevada: rush statehood Crime, prostitution,

liquor, needed law Ghost town vs. Boom

Town Iron Ore: next rush

› Needed big business for this

Beef and the Drive

Texas had Longhorn cattle

Transcontinental made moveable, but far from railheads

Had to drive across land until refrig. Cars invented

As time went on and Sheepherders and farmers got in middle of drive led to range wars

Fences had to be incorporated

Barb wire

Free land for families

Homestead act 1862› 160 acres› Five years, need

to improve it› Nominal fee $30› Alternate: 6

months 1.25 and acre

› Encourage growth and settlement

› Fraud rampant

Taming the Desert

RR great tamer of W Entice immigrants to

buy land Myth of W: Prairie

perfect for farming after crust broken

But only certain parts Wheat in demand,

East part good Dry farming Glidden Barb Wire Dams

Far West comes of age

Still some West left Oklohoma Sooners Natives evicted

1890 Frontier closed Frederick Jackson

Turner

Folding Frontier› West more then place,

state of mind› Frontier was safety

valve› America’s romantic

image

Farm becomes factory

Role of farmer changing

New crops Single money crop Montgomery Ward

Catalogue Farmers become

specialists Tied in with banking

and RR Larger and

mechanized Business, not just

single farm Many farmers end up

working their own land

Deflation Dooms Debtor

1880 prices skidded hurt one crop farmers

Not enough dollars to go around– delflation

1880 ¼ all famers operate as tenants

Landless in a landed country

Unhappy Farmers

Lots of challenges to be farmer› Grasshoppers› Boll weevil› Floods, erosion,

fertilizers› Taxes› Tariffs› In God we trusted in KS

we busted› Sold stuff cheap in

world market but paid top dollar at home

› Coroporations and Processors take bite of farmers

› Trusts, middlemen› RR: Freight rates

Farmers take stand

Farmers join together Roots in Greenback labor

party 1868 price sag:

demanded inflation of paper money

National Grange of the patrons of Husbandry 1867

Kelley head of it Stimulate minds: Social

at first Opened to women Cooperatives Harvesting equipment Politics: influence RR,

Warehouses and Grain elevators

State legislation

Grange had most success in states

Granger Laws: badly drawn and failed

Ran Weaver for Pres 1892

Brought realization of problems

Farmers Alliances evolved, White and Black (N and S)

Led to development of People’s party or Populists› Worked to stop

foreclosure on farms› Led by Mary E. Lease› Scared established party