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The West TransformedThe West Transformed(1860-1896)(1860-1896)

A California Gold Mine in 1849.

Where Americans settle and why

•http://mcdc-maps.missouri.edu/totalpop1790-2010/images/1910.jpg

Any of you ever been out West? Through Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas?

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4 things that have to happen to settle the West:

• Transportation

• Deal with the Native population “problem”

• Access to water

• Provide fencing

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The movement West Issue #1: Land grants

• Ex:1 The Homestead Act of 1862: offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who would cultivate it for 5 years

• Ex: 2 Oklahoma Sooners:– 1889, a major land giveaway; in less than 24

hours, settlers claimed 2 million acres, even before gov’t had declared it open for settlement

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• Never before in human history had the gov’t gone to such lengths to help people become landowners.

• WHY???

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African Americans

• The Exodusters– View The West

• Who are they?

• Where did they go and why?

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Many Americans were lured to the West by the chance to strike it Many Americans were lured to the West by the chance to strike it rich by mining gold and silver. The Western Mining boom had rich by mining gold and silver. The Western Mining boom had begun with the California begun with the California Gold Rush of 1849. In California, of 1849. In California, miners searched for new strikes of gold and silver. miners searched for new strikes of gold and silver.

gold

Issue 2. Mining

How did mining and railroading draw people into the West?

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In 1859, two young prospectors struck gold in the Sierra Nevada lands. Henry Comstock discovered a vein of gold called a lode.

The Comstock Lode attracted thousands of prospectors. Miners came across the United States, as well as from France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, and China. One of every three miners was Chinese.

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When the gold was gone the cities turned When the gold was gone the cities turned intointo ghost towns..

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To the Indians, the railroad was a terrifying monster, an “iron horse” letting out black smoke and moving at stunning speeds. A railroad train was called an “iron horse.”

Issue 3: The Railroads

Railroads open the West

• From 1850-1871, the gov’t gave 170 million acres in land grants for laying track.

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In 1863, two companies began the race to build the first transcontinental railroad. They were called the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad that stretched across the from the east coast to west coast.

• View “A Grand Anvil Chorus” from The West

And reading about the railroads:

1.What interrupted the building of the railroad?

2.What did Congress approve in 1862?

3.What is finished in 1869?

4.How does the railroad change the nation?

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Both companies building the railroad had trouble getting workers. Labor was scarce, backbreaking, and dangerous. The pay was also very low. Many of the railroad companies used immigrant workers to build the railroad. The railroad used thousands of workers from China, Ireland, Mexico, and Africa. Many workers were killed by snow storms and avalanches.

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The Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad met at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869. They hammered a golden spike into the rail that joined the 2 tracks. People in the country celebrated the goals achieved by the two railroads. Before long other major railroad lines will link to the West and East. Soon wherever rail lines went, towns and cities spring up all along the tracks.

The Transcontinental Railroad. The golden spike

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People of the PlainsIssue 4: Native Americans Struggle to Survive

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The Indians moved very often, following the Buffalo that roamed the plains. The buffalo served as a living grocery store for the Plains Indians.

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Buffalo meat, rich in protein, was the main item in the Indians diet.

The elimination of the buffalo was one of the major sources of conflict between whites and natives.

The Indians lived in tepees made from wooden sticks and Buffalo skins. The Plains Indians were dependent on the Buffalo for food, clothing, tools, and shelter.

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As the settlers moved As the settlers moved West, the United States West, the United States promised to protect the promised to protect the Indians hunting Indians hunting grounds. The United grounds. The United States Government States Government broke promise after broke promise after promise. promise.

View: View: A Wound in the A Wound in the Heart Heart

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In 1851, the Federal Government met with the Indian nations near Fort Laramie in Wyoming. The Government asked the Indians to stay in a limited area. In return, they promised money, domestic animals, agricultural tools, and other goods. The Native American leaders agreed to the government’s terms in the Fort Laramie Treaty.

In the next 20 years, 250,000 pioneers passed through Indian territory with less than 400 killed, and not all by Indians.

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In 1858, gold was struck at Pikes Peak in Colorado. The gold strike brought miners onto the land the government promised to the Indians. In 1860, the Indians were forced to give up the land around Pikes Peak.

Native Americans refused to give up their land. They attacked trains, burned, and killed many soldiers and common people. Colonel John Chivington, of the United States Army, attacked the Indians. When the Indians surrendered he ordered his men to destroy the village and take no prisoners. He slaughtered about 150 Indian men, women, and children. This was called the Chivington Massacre.

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The Indians in the Northern Plains also signed a treaty. They agreed to live on reservations that included all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River.

In 1867, the Southern Plains Indians signed a new agreement with the United States Government. The Indians were promised the land in the territory called present-day Oklahoma. The Indians were unhappy with the new treaty, had little choice but to move.

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2. Buffalo hunting became a fashionable sport and commercial hunters shot Buffalo to make hide blankets.

End of the Buffalo

1. Hired Hunters killed thousands of buffalo to provide food for the railroad crews laying tracks across the prairie.

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Many Americans forced the Indians off Many Americans forced the Indians off their lands by force.their lands by force.

In 1876, In 1876, Sitting Bull, an Indian chief , an Indian chief wrote the to the United States Army wrote the to the United States Army troops when they drove him off his land. troops when they drove him off his land.

“ “ I want to know what you are doing to I want to know what you are doing to the land. You scare the Buffalo way. I the land. You scare the Buffalo way. I want to hunt in this place. I want you to want to hunt in this place. I want you to return back from this place. If you return back from this place. If you don’t, I will fight you!”don’t, I will fight you!”

Sitting Bull

Indian People in Retreat

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Chief Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse fought back against the Americans invading their lands in 1876. This war between the settlers and Indians was called the Sioux War. Colonel George Custer led his soldiers against the Indians. George Custer attacked the Indians was only 225 men. He lost the battle. This battle was called the Battle of Little Bighorn. Chief Sitting Bull and

George Custer

Last Stand for Custer and the SiouxEven on reservations, the Indians were not left in peace. In 1874 gold was found on a plains Indian Reservation in the Black Hills region.

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Apache Indians fiercely resisted the loss of their lands by the settlers setting up ranches. One leader Geronimo continued to fight the longest.

A Century of Dishonor

• Book by Helen Hunt Jackson that documented history of whites breaking the Indian treaties.

• Spurred gov’t action……

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Wounded Knee December 1890

• Officers sent to arrest Sitting Bull; his body guard shot one. Police returned fire, killing Sitting Bull. Several days later, Custer’s old regiment rounded up 350 Sioux and took them to a camp. They demanded they give up weapons; one Indian refused and fired. Within minutes, they had slaughtered 300 unarmed Native Americans, including children. They left their corpses to freeze. This was the last of the Indian wars.

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Dawes Act--1887• Turn nomadic Indians into farmers

• Each family 160 acres

• Instead of reservation policy for tribal nations, giving land to individuals

• Offered citizenship

• By 1900, all Indians who were still “tribal” were put on reservations

• 147 million acres on reservations in 1887; 54 million acres by 1960.

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Bellwork1. Which action represents the major change in U.S. policy toward American Indians after the Civil War?

A) Relocation to distant territories.

B) Granting of citizenship.

C) Peaceful negotiations with hostile tribes.

D) Giving tribal property to private individuals/families.

2. What piece of legislation supported this policy?

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When the Spanish conquistadors bring the longhorns to the New World, the herds begin to thrive on the Mexican grassy plains, then eventually on the plains in the US.

5. The Cattle Kingdom

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In response to the need for meat, ranchers began rounding up the herds of longhorns. They drove the herds hundreds of miles (cattle drives.) The Chisholm Trail became the most famous cattle trail. Ranchers employed cowhands to tend the cattle and drive the herds to the market. Their job was to keep the cattle moving and round up strays. Most of these cow hands were Spanish—Vaqueros-- or skilled riders who herded cattle on ranches in Mexico.

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The cattle industry lasted from the 1860’s to the 1880’s. The region dominated by the cattle industry and its ranches, trails, and cow towns came to be called the cattle kingdom. Ranching spread north from Texas across the plains. A rancher could buy a young calf for five dollars and sell a mature steer for sixty dollars. Soon cattle grazed on the grassy plains from Kansas to the present day Montana.

Important developments;

• Discovery during Civil War that cattle could survive harsh winters of the high plains. Then they could be rounded up and taken to the stockyards in the railtowns.

• Barbed wire fence.– 1874: $20/100 lbs, 10,000 lbs produced– 80.5 million lbs produced

• Would cost the lives of many in WWI!

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Cattle drives ended in cow towns. In cow towns the cows were held in large pens until they could be loaded on large trains and shipped to markets in the East. Towns such as Abilene, Kansas, Topeka and Dodge City sprang up. Cow towns attracted settlers that wanted to build stable communities where families could strive. Each town had a main street where people conducted business. Every town had a general store that sold tools groceries and clothing.

The Wild West-Cow Towns

The End of the Cattle Kingdoms

• From Episode 7, view: Hell Without the Heat– Why does the cattle industry decline?

• Gunpowder– Describe Buffalo Bill’s show: is it an accurate

depiction of the “wild” west? What role does Sitting Bull play and why?

• Final Vision37

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In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act. Under the act, the government gave 160 acres of land to anyone who farmed for 5 years. The government wanted to encourage farmers to settle in the West. They also wanted to give poor people in the East a chance to own their own farm.

6. Farming in the West Homesteading

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Many Easterners rushed to accept this offer for free land. These people who accepted acquired free land from the government were called homesteaders. By 1900, half a million farmers have settled on the Great Plains under the Homestead Act.

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African Americans joined in the rush for land. In 1879, a group of African Americans decided to move to Kansas. They called themselves the Exodusters. They took their name from the Bible. White Southerners did not want to lose a cheaper labor supplied by the African Americans. To prevent the African Americans from leaving, whites stopped the boats carrying the African Americans up the Mississippi. Despite the danger, between 40,000 and 70,000 African Americans moved to Kansas in 1881.

The Homestead Act had its problems. Only about 20% of the homestead land originally went to small farmers. Big land owning companies took large areas of land illegally. They divided the land and then resold it to farmer’s high price.

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Plows made of steel enabled farmers to break up the ground for planting. It enabled sodbusters, or the plains farmers, to cut through the sod and reach the soil below.

Many farmers made their homes from soil because wood was rarely found on the plains. They called these homes sod homes.

A Hard Life on the Plains- New Farming Methods

Important innovations

• Barbed wire (boundaries, protects crops)

• Steel plow (hard sod)

• Reaper (faster harvest)

• Steel windmill (irrigation)

• Fertilizers, tractors (steam then gasoline)

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RESULTS

• Agriculture machinery increased productivity over 400%

• Cheaper, more plentiful and higher quality food (to US and overseas)

• Growth of agriculture industry

• View: “Farming Becomes a Business”

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Last Rush For LandIn 1889, 100,000 people formed a line in Oklahoma City to claim 2 million acres of for land that once belonged to the Native Americans. Fights broke out over the land. A few people known as Sooners, had already sneaked on the land and claimed it as their own land. One year later the U.S. government said no more land was available.

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In the 1860’s farmers began to work together to improve their farming conditions through economic cooperation and political action.

They formed an organization called the National Grange.

The Grange helped farmers set up cooperatives. In a cooperative, farmers pooled their money together to make large purchases of tools, seed, and other supplies at a discount.

Farmers Organize

• View “The Frontier Passes into History”

• Reading of “This Isn’t History”

• Study Guide—you’re welcome

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