Chapter 26

The West and the Agricultural Revolution

Frontier Moving West Very few people in

middle of west Except Mormon,

trading camps, gold mines and Spanish Mexican settlements

The Great West Spanned 1,000 miles Variety in landscape Indian, buffalo,

desert, mountains Carved into states by

1890 Pioneers carve up land

and subdue the Indians

Indians in Great West 360,000 lived in

Great West in 1860

March of whites and progress lead to confrontation Destroy the

hunting ground of Native Americans

Plains Indians Become superb

rider and hunters of buffalo

Turned into nomadic hunters Tried to separate

tribes by boundaries

Whites set off environmental cycle1. Spread disease2. Kill off buffalo3. -Tribes fought

over the scarce hunting grounds

4. -Sioux displace the Chippewas

5. -Crows being moved by the Sioux

6. -Pawnees seek refuge on Indian Territory

Fort Laramie and Fort Atkinson (1851 & 1853)

Sign treaty with chief of different tribes

Beginning of reservation system

Whites misunderstood Indian organization

Indians did not recognize any outside their families or elders

Did not understand nomadic Plains Indians

Reservations Sioux in Dakotas Indian Territory of

Oklahoma Indians promised to

be left alone and given provisions Often corrupt agents Gave defective

provisions or sold provisions on black market

White Guilt Disregarded treaty

promises Seize Indian lands Slaughter Indian

game Sioux killed

Americans during Civil Was only to be caught and hung

1868-1890 Continuous War between Whites and Indians

Hundreds of engagements

Many Civil War veterans 4 black units 1/5 are black• Generals Sherman

and Custer in the West

• Indians usually better horsemen and better armed

Receding Native Populations

Sand Creek Massacre Col. Chivington

Massacres unarmed Indians

1864 in Colorado

Indians react with cruelty Sioux ambush

Captain William J. Fetterman-All killed and mutilated

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

Great Sioux reservation guaranteed to Sioux

Gold in Dakotas Custer and his

army discover gold Gold seekers rush

into Dakotas Sioux retaliate Sitting Bull

creates plan to defeat Americans

Little Big Horn 1876 Colonel Custer

attacked at little big horn

254 killed Shocks the East

Nez Perce Federal government

wanted to take 90% of there land when gold was found in Idaho

Chief Joseph finally surrenders after a 1,700 mile trek from army

Sent to Kansas“I will fight no more

forever”Eventually allowed to return to Idaho

Apaches Led by Geronimo Pursued into

Mexico by US troops

Move women from his reservation to Florida from Oklahoma

Indian subdued and moved to reservations Cheaper to feed

them the fight them

Ignored for years Factors that tamed

Indians• Railroad• Diseases• Extermination of

buffalo

Bellowing Herds of Bison

Buffalo in the Great West Indians count on

Buffalo fir survival 15 million at close

of Civil War Killed off by

railroad Buffalo Bill kills

over 4,000 in 18 months for railroad

Buffalo killed by the railroad Hides were

valuable and fashionable

Tongues or choice cuts of meat

Many left to rot 1885 fewer than

1,000 buffalo remain

End of the Trail

A Century of Dishonor 1881-Helen Hunt Jackson

Records the governments dealings with the Indians

Stirred American moral sense

What should be done?

• Make them live like the white race

• Forced containment and punishment

Ghost Dance Movement Secret Indian

movement that promised revival of the Indian traditions and revenge on the white man

Outlawed Ended with that

Battle of Wounded Knee

Dawes Severalty Act 1887 Dissolve tribes and

Indian traditions Give each Indian

family 160 acres Get title to land

and citizenship if stayed on land for 25 years

Land not used by Indians would be sold to railroad and settlers

Proceeds go to education of Indians

Carlisle Indian School (1879) Teach the ways of

whites “Kill the Indian and

save the man”

Effects of Dawes Act Tried to make farmers

out of Indians Ignored Indian culture By 1900 Indians had

lost 90% of their land Remains until Indian

Reorganization Act of 1934 Indian population

increase slowly

Mining:From Dishpan to Ore Breaker

Miners swarm to West Pikes Peak in 1858

59ers move to Colorado

Comstock Load Nevada 1859 $340 million mined between 1860 and 1890

Montana, Idaho and other western states

Boomtowns Saloons Frontier justice Cities vacated as

fast as they were set up

Gold becomes big business Takes expensive

machines to mine for gold

Corporations replace single miner

Mines help subjugate West• Attracted

population and wealth

• Women moved into the West

• Some gained voting rights

Mines help Finance war Build railroad Inject silver issue to

politics Wealth gives west

influence in government

Added to American folklore and literature

Beef Bonanza and the Long Drive

The Long Drive Heard of cattle driven

north to railroads Herds graved on free

government land Herds moved Abilene,

Dodge City, Ogallala, and Cheyenne where the railroads were

Wild Bill Hickock Killed in 1876-

Marshall of Abilene

Profitable business Had to avoid

Indian raids Grazing was cheap 4 million cattle

moved between 1866 and 1888

Profits of 40%

Railroad hurts cattle industry Brought the

sheepherder and homesteader

Barbed wire fences close cattle routes

Bad weather effects cattle industry

Over expansions and overgrazing

Cattle becomes big business

Breeders learn to fence there ranches

Better feeding and stock

Bigger and meatier animals

Organized and influenced or controlled state legislator

Hey day of the cowboy Many blacks found

freedom on the range

Contributed to American folklore

Free Land For Free Families

Homestead Act of 1862 Settles could get

up to 160 acres for living on and improving land for 5 years for $30

After 6 months for $1.25 an acre

Encourages rapid settlement of the west

Provide stimulus for family farm “ The Backbone of democracy”

Half a million families took advantage

5 times as many purchased there land from the railroad

Homestead Act was a bust for many

Poor farm land in some areas

Many starved or left

Fraud in Homestead Act Promoters buy

land Fake improving the

land Deceit cost

government and needy families much of the land

Taming Western Deserts

Railroad and western development

Profitable marketing for crops

Encourage immigrant to buy cheap government land

Great American Desert Myth of the desert

Land was tree less and couldn’t support heavy crops

Iron plow breaks sod

Sodbusters pour into plains

100th Meridian John Wesley Powell

said agriculture beyond this point was impossible without massive irraigation

Drought bust farmers in Kansas, Colorado and Montana in 1880s

Dry farming Help cultivate arid

west Destroyed soil and

led to Dust Bowl Wheat strands

from Russia and other drought resistant crops grow easily

John F. Glidden Perfected the barb

wire to fence the plains

Irrigation Federally financed

dams on Missouri, Colorado and Columbia Rivers

45 million acres irrigated over 17 states

Helped more to settle west than many other things

The Far West Comes of Age

New states join The Union Colorado in 1876 6 new states 1899-

90 Utah in 1889 Population of West

growing rapidly

Oklahoma Territory Opened in 1889 Land Rush on April

22, 1889 Sooners jump gun

to get good land early

1890 the frontier was gone Fredrick Jackson

Turner “The Significance of the Frontier on American History” 1893

Many still moving west Government still

owns land in West that can be homesteaded

Irrigation keeps homesteading alive

Protecting Natural Resources

Yellowstone in 1872 and Yosemite and Sequoia in 1890

The Folding Frontier

Safety Valve Theory When hard times

hit the city you could move west and farm

Very few take advantage Didn’t know how to

farm or didn’t have money to get started

Free land does move people West

Industry raised wages to stop labor from moving West

City becomes real safety valve for failed farmers

West is Unique Native Americans

made their fought for the West

Anglo and Southwest culture clashed

Asian Americans come to west coast

Environment controls social and political life

Federal government gets involved in settling west

West become Part of the American Myth

Writers romanticize the West

Painters capture its growth

American experience tied to West Since Columbus

landed people have been pushing West across the hemisphere