WESTWARD SETTLEMENT

GREAT AMERICAN DESERT

As settlers moved west, they encountered a different climate and landscape

Great Plains-arid, scarcity and water and timber…traditional pioneer methods were not the norm

This was considered to be a barren barrier to cross on the way to the Pacific

Unfit for human habitation, but perfect for Indians…changed when resources were discovered there, realized it might not be a sterile desert, but rather, fruitful land with farming and irrigation

SETTLEMENT

In only 35 years, the Great Plains/frontier would change dramatically

An estimated 15 million bison, or buffalo were virtually wiped out by 1900 (buffalo provided Native Americans with food, clothing, shelter, even tools)

Open lands were now fenced in by homesteads and ranches Steel rails crisscrossed the landscape; completion of

transcontinental railroads New towns Frenzied rush for natural resources caused the near

extermination of the buffalo and damage to the environment Native Americans paid a high price/collapse of Indian resistence 3 groups of pioneers would settle the area: farmers, miners and

cattlemen and cowboys

MIGRANTS

Most settlers were relatively prosperous white, native-born families; due to the expense, very few poor could afford to relocate

¾ were men Foreign immigrants-many from northern

Europe and Canada; Chinese in CA. Thousands of African-Americans migrated

west with the collapse of Radical Republican rule in the South; “Exodusters”-made exodus from the South to escape racism and poverty

THE FARMING FRONTIER

During Civil War, the Homestead Act 1862 encouraged farming-offered 160 acres free to any family who would settle it for 5 years

About 500,000 families took advantage of it

5x that number had to purchase their land-best lands were given to rr co.’s and speculators

THE FARMING FRONTIER

First “sodbusters” (farmers) built their homes of sod bricks on the dry and treeless plains

Heavy sod broke many a plow; an iron-plow, or a sodbuster, was used to break the tough grass roots of the Plains…lightened the manual burden, as did many new inventions and machines, but added to the debt

used buffalo chips (dried dung) for fuel since wood was not readily available

Challenges: extremes in weather, plagues of grasshoppers, scarce water, non-existant wood for fences, and loneliness challenged pioneer families

Barbed wire by Joseph Glidden in 1874 helped farmers fence in their lands on the lumber-scarce plains

THE FARMING FRONTIER

Gigantic bonanza farms developed-large farms with large-scale operations and mass production

Ex. In North Dakota, 13,000 acres of wheat made a single field; another farm employed over 1,000 migrant workers to tend 34,000 acres

THE FARMING FRONTIER

Long spells of severe weather, falling prices for crops, cost of new machinery causes 2/3 of homestead farms on the Great Plains to close by 1900

Dams and irrigation would ultimately save many; people reshaped the rivers and physical environment of the west to provide water for agriculture

THE CATTLE FRONTIER

Economic potential of the vast open grasslands was realized by cattlemen and ranchers following the Civil War

Earlier cattle had been rounded up in Texas by Mexican cowboys, or vaqueros; traditions and techniques were borrowed from the Mexicans, as well as the cattle, the “Texas” longhorns

As Texas was cut off in the Civil War, approx. 5 million head of cattle roamed the Texas grasslands…easy to get into cattle business following the war

THE CATTLE FRONTIER

Railroads after the war opened up eastern markets for Texas cattle

Cow towns were established along the rr’s to handle cattle driven from trails out of Texas during the 1860s and 70s

Long drives came to an end in the 80s when overgrazing destroyed the grass and a blizzard killed about 90% of the cattle

THE CATTLE FRONTIER

Initially an open range and cattle ranchers worked out a code: cowboys would “ride the line” to keep as many of the animals as they could off adjoining ranches; in the spring, they would round up the herds and sort out any that got mixed up by identifying distinctive ranch symbols “branded” or burned, into the cattle

In 1873, when Joseph Glidden invented the first effective barbed wire, which ranchers used to fence off their claims at a low cost, that all changed…open range was no more

Farmers would crowd in and lay out homesteads, waged “barbed-wire wars” with ranchers-cutting their fences or policing their own

THE CATTLE FRONTIER

Closing down the cattle frontier:overgrazing-destroying the grassdrought of 1885-1886: killed 90% cattlehomesteaders-using barbed wire fencing to cut off access to the former open range

THE MINING FRONTIER

1848 discovery of gold caused the first flood of newcomers to the west…quest for gold and silver would continue well into the 1890s

Gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and South Dakota kept prospectors pushing west; gold near Pike’s Peak in 1859 brought many miners to Colorado

Discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 which produced over $340 million in gold and silver by 1890 was responsible for Nevada entering into the Union in 1864; Comstock Lode was the first major discovery of silver ore in the present U.S.

Other states were also granted statehood, largely because of the mining boom

THE MINING FRONTIER

Initially used a method called placer mining, or “panning,” using simple tools such as shovels and metal pans to look for traces of gold in mountain streams

Placer mining later gave way to more expensive equipment in deep-shaft mining, requiring resources of wealthy investors and corporations

THE MINING FRONTIER

Strikes created boomtowns almost overnight-famous for their saloons, dance-hall girls and vigilante justice

Some towns, such as Virginia City (NV) created by the Comstock Lode, added theaters, churches, newspapers, schools, railroads, etc.

Some would become ghost towns years later when gold and silver ran out; others would serve the mines and become major commercial centers, such as San Fran., Sacramento and Denver

THE MINING FRONTIER

As mines developed, many experienced workers from foreign nations

About 1/3 of the miner’s in the 1860s were Chinese immigrants; native-born Americans resented the competition

Hostility to foreigners took form:-Miner’s Tax-in CA., $20/month on all foreign-born miners-Chinese Exclusion Act-1882-prohibited further immigration to the U.S. by Chinese laborers…first major act of Congress to restrict immigration on the basis of race and nationality

THE MINING FRONTIER

Other effects: -vast increase in the supply of silver created a crisis over the value of gold and silver-backed currency-environmental scars-disastrous effect on Native Americans (lost land to miners’ pursuit of riches)

CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER

The OK Territory, once set aside for Native Americans was made open for settlement in 1889

Hundreds of prospective homesteaders took part in the last great land rush in the West (OK Sooners)

1890-the U.S. Census Bureau declared the entire frontier (every square mile) was inhabited/settled

CONFLICT WITH NATIVE AMERICANS

INVASION?-THE MOVE WEST

Farmers Land speculators-people who bought

land at a cheaper price with intent to sell at a higher price…era of big business (public land)

Miners/gold prospectors (Black Hills) Cattle ranchers/cowboys

ASSIMILATION

Emphasized formal education, training, conversion to Christianity

Boarding schools, like the Carlisle School in PN. Were set up to segregate Native children from their people and teach them white culture, farming and industrial skills

ASSIMILATION

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)-divided the tribal lands into plots of 160 acres or less, depending on family size; U.S. citizenship granted to those who stayed on the land for 25 years and “adopted the habits of civilized life,” also agreed to break up tribal organizations

47 million acres of land were distributed to Native Americans

CONFLICT-BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN “Custer’s Last Stand” Approx. 6000 Indians encamped along the Big Horn River (2000-2500 fight) vs.

approx. 210 soldiers from U.S. Army led by General George A. Custer (Civil War hero) Arapaho, Sioux, Cheyenne all take part in LBH…Crow serve as scouts for the U.S.

Army (stay dressed as Indians…note afterlife beliefs) Sunday, June 25-Custer saw a white blur on the valley floor, afraid he was spotted

and pushed to attack, although was advised to await reinforcements His men, outnumbered, exhausted…should have scouted first…thought the Indians

were moving to escape, so Custer ordered the attack Crazy Horse, one of the leaders of the Sioux, leads the warriors to attack Custer at

LBH Sitting Bull, chief of all the Lakota tribes (largest sub-division), had a vision before of

what was going to happen (becomes a reality)-he is recovering from over 100 slashes to his flesh and therefore can’t fight because he is too swollen, but still leads his people

U.S. Army, outnumbered 4 to 1 are defeated (approx. 263 die in Custer’s group, including Custer-note afterlife beliefs)

Great Indian victory

CONFLICT

Sitting Bull managed to elude capture for a time..relentless search for Indian bands that participated in the fight

Sitting Bull and several hundred followers cross into Canada, but life was lonely and hard (few buffalo)

Many started returning to their friends…surrendered in 1881 and was a virtual prisoner to the govt. for the next 2 years…toured with Buffalo Bill Cody for a season in 1885

Still mistrusted and feared by the federal govt.

CONFLICT-FLIGHT OF THE NEZ PERCES Led by Chief Joseph Refused to give up fertile land in Washington and Oregon…being forced on to a

reservation, in 1877, after being ordered to the reservation, tried to flee to Canada, but U.S. Army pursued

Fled more than 1000 miles across Idaho and Montana, battling U.S. Army all along the way

Caught approx. 40-70 miles from border, with fewer than 500 of his people remaining, Chief Joseph surrendered, they were moved to OK. By train

“I will fight no more forever” speech-delivered partly to his subordinate chiefs to explain why he was doing so; shows the lack of desire for many Natives to continue fighting after doing so for so many years“I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed…The old men are all dead…It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are-perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”

CONFLICT-GHOST DANCE/WOUNDED KNEE

Ghost Dance-religious movement-to bury the whites, restore the prairie and the buffalo, Ghost Dance shirts to protect them from the bullets of the Army; spread through Sioux villages of the Dakota reservations, revitalizing Indians and bringing fear to the whites-led by an Indian prophet Wovoka

Large numbers embraced the religion-regarded by govt. officials as militaristic and anti-white

Geronimo, a leader of the Apache tribe who fought against Mexico and the U.S. (Apache Wars) for expansion into their territory began the Ghost Dance; the Sioux pick it up

Campaign to suppress the movement, an order went out to arrest Chief Sitting Bull as he was advocating the Ghost Dance religion-he was killed in the attempt in 1890

Chief Big Foot was next…he led his people south to seek protection at the Pine Ridge Reservation; U.S. Army intercepted them at the edge of Wounded Knee (in the Dakotas)

Wounded Knee-Dec. 1890-200-300 Sioux men, women and children were gunned down; 25 soldiers lost their lives

Marked the end of the Indian Wars

AFTERMATH-U.S. POLICY IN THE 20TH CENTURY

1924-federal govt. granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, whether they complied with the Dawes Act or not (policy of forced assimilation failed)

1930s New Deal under FDR-Indian Reorganization Act (1934)-promoted the reestablishment of tribal organization and culture

Today, over 1.8 million Natives live both on and off the reservations, belong to 116 different tribes, each consisting of 1000 or more members