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The West: Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, and Native Americans, 1865-1914

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The Plains Indians

1The Great Plains is the region basically between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.1The Spanish introduction of horses in the 1600s changed the way of life of many Indian nations, since travel and buffalo hunting was made easier.1Horses were a form of currency

1The U.S. government made the Plains region an area reserved for Indians in the early 1834.1There was great diversity in the region, although most tribes relied upon the buffalo.

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Hunting for buffalo

Family Life

• Lived in small tribes• Moved around constantly (nomadic)• Men hunted, dealt with horses, played games

and relaxed• Women did everything else• Religions– Polytheistic– Rain gods, sun gods, etc…

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Railroad tracks were laid in the traditional grazing lands of the buffalo, which contributed

to their near-extinction by the end of the 1800s

Buffalo Bill Cody• Hired by railroads to kill

buffalo for meat for the workers.

• Killed 4280 buffalo in 18 months.

• 22$ per buffalo (skin & tongue)

• Averaged 60 a day.• White man killed 30+

million buffalo

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Hunting buffalo became a popular sport, encouraged by cattle ranchers who wanted the Great Plains for grazing

cows

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• ash fertilizer used in refining sugar

• $4-12 a ton• 100 animals

Settlers push West

• Whites believed land was theirs and it was their Divine right to take the land.– Manifest Destiny– Natives believed land belonged to no one

– Reasons settlers push West• GOLD and Silver• 1st discovered in California at Sutters Mill in 1848

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Government policy towards Plains Indians changed in the mid-1800s

Various gold and silver strikes, the transcontinental railroad, and the cattle industry brought many settlers into Indian lands.The government declared a policy of concentration, in which Native Americans were required to live within boundaries on the Plains.After the mid-1860s, wars over land broke out between Native Americans and U.S. troops in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and New Mexico.

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Reservation system

Oklahoma, first place for Reservations. ●Most tribes resisted

relocation ●New lands were far from

home and required a new lifestyle to survive

●Often located in areas unsuitable for farming

Oklahoma, 1891

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Dawes Act of 1887

CPart of the plan for assimilation of Native Americans and make them “white”CIts goal was to undo tribal ownership and place farmland in the hands of private individuals.C160 acres given to head of householdsCThis law resulted in what many call the end of the traditional Native American ways of life.

Senator Henry L. Dawes

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Several attempts were made to assimilate Indians into the American way of life during

the mid-1800s.

Indian school, Pine Ridge, SD

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Schools opened across the nation and were used to strip Native Americans of their traditional culture. Curriculum

focused on manual labor skills.

School at Pima reservation, AZ

Making tin utensils at Carlisle, PA

Cantonment, OK

Art class at Carlisle, PA

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Conflict erupted between whites and Indians in Colorado after gold was discovered during the

1850s and 1860sThe Cheyenne and Arapaho lived in the Rocky Mountain region, as negotiated in the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851.Miners entered their homelands during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858.During the Civil War, Indians attacked miners while U.S. troops were busy in the south.Governor John Evans of Colorado called for volunteer militiamen under Colonel John Chivington to suppress the Indians. Cheyenne

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Sand Creek Massacre, 1864ZTensions escalated throughout 1864.ZColonel Chivington ordered an attack on the camp on November 29. His troops murdered men, women, children, and the elderly. Killed over 150 people.ZThis atrocity angered many, and led to further violent conflict with other Native Americans.

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Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876Thousands of miners entered the Black Hills of Montana in search for gold beginning in 1874.The Lakota Sioux chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, angered by the invasion, declared war on the settlers.Colonel George A. Custer and about 250 of his soldiers were attacked on June 25 at the Little Bighorn River.Custer and his men were all killed in what is known as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

CusterSitting Bull

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Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890

Army troops followed the Indians to the Wounded Knee Creek.As the Lakota prepared to surrender, a shot was fired.Army troops shot and killed nearly 300 men, women, children and the elderly.This was the last major violent clash between the U.S. government and Native Americans.

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Growth of the cattle industry

As the population of the U.S. increased, a greater demand for meat led to growth in the cattle industry.

Huge profits could be made if the cattle could be driven overland to be transported to the east.

Today 100000 cows slaughtered daily and 23 million chickens daily.

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Cowboys

Diverse group of men including Americans, Mexicans, African Americans, Native Americans, as well as various European immigrants

Extremely demanding job, often requiring 18 hours a day in the saddle, harsh weather conditions, loneliness, low pay, and possibility of stampede or death by dragging or disease

Cowboys earned approximately $570 a month in 2006 dollars

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Most property claims were aligned with streams, no fences at first even though the land was publicly held. As the cattle industry grew, cowboys spent much time

“line riding,” containing their herds within their claimed property.

Prevention ofCattle theft

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Cattle drives

In order to get live cows to the east, ranchers needed to move them to the railroad.

This led to the “long drive,” where cowboys herded thousands of cattle to railheads.

Railheads were towns with railroad depots.

Chisholm Trail.

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Ranching became big businessProfits soared in the cattle industry

and attracted wealthy businessmen and foreigners to the industry.

The rise of “cattle barons” concentrated ownership of the herds in the hands of a few dozen large ranchers. Essentially had a monopoly.

The 1870s to the mid-1880s is referred to as the Cattle Kingdom.

Charles Goodnight, cattle baron

New Mexico cattle ranch

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Decline of the Cattle Kingdom

In the mid-1880s, the cattle ranching business

was devastated by several factors,

including:OverexpansionLowered prices due to overproductionBattles over land usage with farmers who used barbed wireBad weatherCattle diseases

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Winter of 1887-1888

One of coldest recorded winters on the Great Plains.

In Lincoln, NE, for example, 36 days of the winter were 0° or below.

Thousands of cattle died as a result of the freezing temperatures as well as starvation from lack of food.

This effectively ended the Cattle Kingdom.