1. U.S. History Chapter 13 Notes Changes on the Western Frontier .
The culture of the Plains Indians declines as white settlers transform the Great Plains. Meanwhile, farmers form the Populist movement to address their economic concerns

2. Section 1 Cultures Clash on the Prairie
The cattle industry booms in the late 1800s, as the culture of the Plains Indians declines

3. Geography of the West
Area between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Mountains
Areas where settlers and Indians lived
By 1900 Indians had been forced off their lands
- Transcontinental Railroad opened up the west for settlement a. carried materials and people

4. Minors in the West
Gold found in the Rocky Mountains (Clear Creek near Pikes Peak)
- 1st found by George Jackson
Gold found in Nevada
- Lode produced 100s of millions of dollars worth of gold and silver
- Lode - a deposit of a valuable mineral buried between layers of rock

5. Mining Life Boom towns sprang up - They were rough towns
Women worked in the mining towns
- Cooked
- Laundry
- Dance halls
- Boarding towns

6. The Business of Mining Few prospectors became rich
Lack of technology prevented most people from becoming rich
- Most were placer mining - where people wash the sand and gravel from a stream

7. The Business of Mining More efficient methods developed in the 1870' s
- Water cannons were used to strip the dirt off the hillside
- Exposed gold
- Very harmful to the environment
Only companies had the money to use water cannons
Working conditions were brutal
- 100 degrees fairenhight in some caves
- Workers wore thick boots to protect against hot water
- Accidents such as cave-ins and dynamite explosions were common

8. Mining Boom Ends Most of the mining towns became ghost towns
Gold rush changed the geography of the United States

9. Mining Boom Ends
The population grew so much in some areas that they were able to become states
Nevada
Colorado
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana
Idaho

12. Lumber Industry Logging became a big business in the west
Pacific Northwest had an abundance of trees
-Redwoods
- Douglas fur
Settlers needed lumber for homes and mine timbers

13. Alaska
William Seward arranged for the purchase of Alaska from Russia
U.S. Senators didn't want to buy it
- Called it "Seward's Folly"
Gamble paid off
- Russia lost foothold in North America
Alaska was rich in natural resources
- Gold
- Copper
- Oil
-Timber

14. Government policy
Early 1800's Plains Indians lived and hunted between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains
- 1840' s - Whites begin to settle the west coast
- U.S. Gov. ask Indians to let settlers pass safely
- Asked the Indians to limit their hunting to certain are
- Indians had to move with buffalo
Mid 1800's - U.S. Gov changes policy
- Established reservations - special areas used by a specific group
- Indians agreed to live on reservations based on the promise that the land would be theirs forever (signed Treaties with the U.S. Gov.)
- They were also promised food, money and other help

16. Clash of culture Indians and settlers looked at the world differently
Settlers felt that the resources were their to be used
- Large scale hunting, mining, and farming
Plains Indians used only the resources they needed for their actual needs
- They saw the white settlers as being greedy and destructive

17. Fighting begins By 1860's - Treaties were being broken by both sides
Settlers continued to pass through areas where they were not allowed
Groups of Indians raided white settlements and wagon trains
Sand Creek Massacre
- Colorado militia attacked Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek
- Indians thought they were under the protection of a nearby government outpost
- Over 100 Indians were slaughtered (including women and children)

18. Fighting begins
Chief Red Cloud (Sioux:) defeated Captain W.J. Fetterman and 80 U.S. army soldiers
Led them into a trap and killed them

19. Fighting begins Little Bighorn (most famous battle of the Indian wars)
The Black Hills of South Dakota had been set aside for the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne
U.S. Army exploring party found gold
- Settlers went looking for gold
- Gov. tried to buy the Black Hills (Sioux considered land sacred)
and Sioux warrior left their reservations and united under the leadership of two Sioux chiefs (Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse)

20. Fighting begins
June 25, George Armstrong Custer and several hundred army soldiers found a Sioux camp near the Little Bighorn River
- Custer gained fame fighting in Civil War
- Admirers considered him a daring brilliant officer
- Critics considered him a dangerous showoff
Custer had orders to attack any Indians he came into contact with
When he attacked he was actually stepping into a trap
Custer and all of his men were killed
- Became known as "Custer's Last Stand"

21. Fighting begins
People in the East were shocked by the news of the Battle of Little Bighorn
- U.S. Gov. sent 1000's of troops to fight the Indians
The Battle of Little Bighorn was the last Indian Victory in the Indian Wars
U.S. Army defeated the Sioux
- Sitting Bull and his followers escaped to Canada
Crazy Horse was arrested
- He was fatally stabbed as he was being arrested
- Not sure if guard or another Indian stabbed him

22. Chief Joseph Led the Nez Perce people
Nez Perce lived in northwest (Oregon and Idaho)
- Fished for salmon, gathered food, and hunted
Chief Joseph refused to sell land to government
Gov. ordered the Nez Perce people to move to a reservation
- They fled and tried to evade the army
Captured about 40 miles south of Canada
- Chief Joseph made speech
- Said that he would fight no more

23. Southwest Indians
Navajo were forced to move to reservations in the east
- March called "The Long Walk"
Reservation was a failure
- Navajo allowed to return home
Mid 1870's - Apache were forced to move away from their traditional territory
- Geronimo - led his people off the reservation
- Evaded the army many times due to their knowledge of southern Arizona
Geronimo captured and forced to live far away from his people

24. Indians way of life destroyed
Whites killed buffalo
Indians depended on buffalo
Indians were unable to survive without the buffalo
Many Indians turned to the Ghost Dance Religion
- It taught that the spirits of the dead Indians would return to help the Indians reclaim their land
Many whites were fearful of this movement
- Asked the army for help
- Cavalry rounded up Sioux men on the Pine Ridge Reservation
- Place called wounded knee

25. Indians way of life destroyed
Wounded Knee Massacre
- 300 men, women, and children Sioux were killed
- Considered to be the last battle of the Indian Wars

26. Assimilation
Conditions grew worse as more Indians were forced on to reservations
Reformers began calling for changes
Many white though that only solution was to make the Indians become more like the whites
- Assimilation - to adopt the culture of the people around you

27. Assimilation
Dawes Act (1887) - intended to make Indians give up their traditions and accept White customs
- Reservation lands were divided up in farm plots for families and individuals (40 to 160 acres)
- Any remaining land was sold to white settlers
- Profits used to pay for Indian schools
- Indians who accepted the plots of land could become citizens for the 1st time
Dawes Act failed
- Many western Indians didn't want to settle down as farmers
- Lacked tools and training
- Many sold their plots to white settlers cheap
End 1800's - situation of the American Indians was tragic
- Lost land, people, and culture
- 20th century U.S. government finally realizes importance of Indian way of life

28. Cowboys 1/6 were Mexican American Some were black
- Nat Love - born in a slave cabin
- Moved west when he was a teenager
- Became famous performing in rodeos

29. Birth of the Cattle Industry
Cowboys' roots were in Texas
Small herds - (only sold cattle locally)
Joseph McCoy organized 1st cattle drive
- Drove cattle to Abilene Kansas (Railroad)
- Cattle sold for $40 per head in the east ($3 per head in Texas)
Dodge city also becomes a cattle town

30. Long drives Cowboys herded cattle over the open plains to cattle towns
12 cowboys 3000 head
Made sure that cattle had plenty of grass to eat along the way
Drives were tough
- Had to keep cattle together
- Watch for thieves

31. Wild West Cowboys ended drives in cattle towns - Were dirty and nasty
- Weren't always law abiding
- Had money to spend
Large spaces with little settlement made it hard to catch outlaws
- Frank and Jesse James became legendary bank robbers
- Belle Starr became famous cattle thief
Westerners formed vigilante groups
- Groups that took the law into their own hands

32. The End of the Open Range
Late 1800's -long drives end
Overgrazing, bad weather from 1883 to 1887 destroyed whole herds
Ranchers began keeping smaller herds that yielded more meat per animal
Tick fever caused land owners to cutoff land from the long drives
Fence land with barbed wire & turn open range into separate ranches

33. Section 2
Settling on the Great Plains Settlers on the Great Plains transform the land despite great hardships.

34. Farming the Plain Gov. encouraged western settlement
(1862) Homestead Act - Gov. offered 160 acres to head of family over age 21 in return for living on the land 5 years and improving it
to 1900 – 6000,000 families settled in the west

35. Farming the Plain
Exodusters - Southern African-American settlers in Kansas
Gov. created Department of agriculture
Introduced new crops (Russian wheat) that could survive harsh winters
Morrill Act of 1862, 1890 financed agricultural colleges

36. Life on the farming frontier
Lumber was scarce
Many settlers dug homes into sides of ravines or hills
Made soddy or sod home by stacking blocks of turf
- Snakes & bugs sometimes crawled into cracks
- Burned cow chips for fuel
Grew cash crops (wheat and com)
Had to fight year around battle against weather (blizzards and extreme heat)

37. Life on the farming frontier
Homesteaders were virtually alone (Had to be self-sufficient)
Women did men’s work (plowing, harvesting, shearing sheep)
- Also did traditional work (carding wool, making soap, canning vegetables)
- Some worked for communities (sponsor schools, churches)

38. Farmers in Debt
Railroads, investors created bonanza farms (huge, single-crop spreads)
1885 to droughts bankrupted single-crop operations
Rising cost of shipping grain pushed farmers into debt

39. Closing the Frontier
1872, Yellowstone National Park created to protect some wilderness
1890s - No frontier left
- miners, ranchers, and farmers had swelled the population
April 22, Governemt gave signal for settlers to settle the Oklahoma territory
- It was laid out within the day
- 60,000 people lived there by the end of the year
Sooners - some people snuck into Oklahoma before the Gov. gave the signal

40. Section 3
Farmers and the Populist Movement Farmers unite to address their economic problems, giving rise to the Populist movement.

41. Unrest in Rural America
The growth of urban America made possible because farmers were so productive
Farmers felt poor compared to city people
Farm life seemed boring compared to the exciting opportunities of the city

42. Hard Times for Farmers
Oliver H. Kelley started the Patrons of Husbandry (Grange)
- Hoped to fight the loneliness of farm life and farming methods
- Open to both men and women
Meetings were held at local schools
- Both social and educational
Late 1800's - most farmers weren't self sufficient
- Grew cash crops
Most were in debt
- Western farmers owed banks money for their land and equipment
- Southern farmers had taken on debt to rebuild farms destroyed in the Civil War

43. Low Prices and High Cost
Farmer's lives were hard
- droughts, floods, insects, and animal diseases
1870's - faced another problem
- Low prices for their crops
- Sank farther into debt
Caused by overproduction
- More people became farmers
- Farming methods improved
Became more expensive to operate a farm
- Tariffs on imported farm equipment
- Railroads raised prices

44. The Granger Movement
Turned their attention to economic and political issues
Economic goal - avoid using middlemen
- People who made a living storing, transporting and selling product
- Cut into farmers’ profits and added to cost for buyer
Grangers created cooperatives
- An organization owned and operated by those who use its services
- They shared crops in some places
- Allowed them to set their prices
Politically - they elected legislatures that put limits on railroad and storage prices
- Called Granger laws

45. The Populist Party 1880's - Several political parties combined
Populism - movement of the people
Populist Party wants reforms
Economic: increase money supply, graduated income tax, & federal loans
Political: Senate elected by popular vote, secret ballot & 8-hour day
Populist candidates elected at different levels of government
Democratic Party eventually adopted platform

46. Debate Over Money Policy
Pitted debtors against creditors
Debtors wanted more money to be put into circulation
Wanted the government to coin more silver (bimetallism)
Bimetallism - system using both silver and gold to back currency
Silverites - would create more money, stimulate economy
Creditors wanted to limit the amount of money
- Favored gold standard
Gold standard - backing currency with gold only
Paper money considered worthless if cannot be exchanged for metal
Gold bugs - gold only would create more stable if expensive currency

47. Election of 1892
Populist nominate James B. Weaver for president
He had the following proposals
- Wanted Gov. to control and operate railroads, telegraph and telephone systems
- Wanted secret ballot in elections
- Wanted graduated income tax
- Wanted U.S. senators to be elected directly by the people rather than state legislatures
- Demanded shorter working hours for labor
Grover Cleveland won 1892 election

49. The Panic of 1893 Railroads expanded faster than markets
- Some went bankrupt
Government’s gold supply became depleted
- Led to rush on banks
- Businesses, banks collapse
- Panic became depression

50. Election of 1896 Money was the central issue
Republicans nominated William McKinley
- Supported big business (gold standard)
Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan
- Supported silver
Populists endorsed Bryan & chose own VP to maintain party identity

51. Election of 1896 Candidates ran different campaigns
- McKinley didn't go out and campaign
- Considered undignified
- Accepted visitors at his home Bryan launched something like a modem campaign
- Traveled by train made speeches
Bryan carried the south and west (except California)
McKinley carried northeast and California
- Won more electoral votes
Urban America defeated rural America

53. The End of Populism 1896 - McKinley elected president
Populism collapsed
Left legacy:
- Showed the powerless could organize & have political impact
- Agenda of reforms enacted in 20th century