1. The West

2. Native Americans

3. Plains Indians Culture
Semi-nomadic hunting culture, centered around buffalo
Adaptations: horse & gun
By the 1840s, only 30,000 Native Americans remain east of the Mississippi
Major groups:
Sioux
Cheyenne
Blackfoot
Pawnee
Nez Perce
Apache

4. Indian Policy,
1850s, white movement into the Great Plains leads to conflicts with western tribes
Discovery of gold and silver in CA, CO, NV, MT
Homestead Act 1863 – 160 acres free land per settler
RRs – Pacific Railway Act 1862
Transcontinental RR built
Treaty of Ft. Laramie (1851): tribes accept “boundaries”, promised to leave emigrants alone on westward trails
Problem: no central tribal authority; many subgroups don’t accept terms

5. Indian Policy, (2)
By 1860s, whites encroaching on Indian lands
: 150,000 Minnesotans illegally move onto Sioux lands

6. Peace commisisoners gather at Ft Laramie

7. The Indian Wars
Sporadic warfare and raiding from 1860s to 1870s, tribes forced to relocate on reservations

9. Major Indian Conflicts
Sioux Uprising, 1862
Sioux Indians attempt to move back onto land in Minnesota.

11. Major Indian Conflicts (2)
Sand Creek Massacre, 1864
Col. John Chivington attacks a Cheyenne settlement (under a flag of truce) at Sand Creek.
Fetterman Massacre, 1866
US building a road through Sioux hunting grounds.
Sioux warrior Crazy Horse attacks the construction party and mutilates the bodies.
Sioux call off attacks and sign the Treaty of 1868, promising their land in the Black Hills will be protected.

12. Major Indian Conflicts (2)
Red River War,
US wages war on Comanche and Kiowa Indians who refuse to settle on a reservation.
Gen. Philip Sheridan: “destroy their villages, kill their warriors, bring back all women and children.”
Second Sioux War, 1876
Gen. George A. Custer investigates claims of gold in the Black Hills.
Settlers encroaching on Sioux land; US won’t protect Sioux, but offers to buy land.
War with Sioux results…ends tragically for George Custer athte Battle of Little Big Horn and for the Sioux who lose the war.

13. Wounded Knee, 1890
Wovoka: Sioux medicine man who promotes the “Ghost Dance” religion.
Apocalyptic: dance will bring about the return of buffalo and death of whites.
25,000 Sioux
At Pine Ridge Reservation, US troops attempt to disarm 350 Sioux indians at Wounded Knee Creek…a massacre results.
A Sioux “Ghost Shirt” worn by Indians performing the Ghost Dance. Some Sioux believed that those wearing these special garments would be impervious to bullets…a fact proven false at Wounded Knee.

14. Destruction of Indian Life
Extermination of the Buffalo
In 1865, over 15 million buffalo on the prairies: source of food, fuel, shelter, clothing, etc.
Railroads speed the extermination of the herds
buffalo seen as a nuisance: herds block tracks
labor gangs consume buffalo meat
William “Buffalo Bill” Cody shoots 4,000 in 18 months working for the Kansas Pacific RR
sportsmen pay to shoot buffalo out of train windows
By 1885 less than 3,000 buffalo remaining

17. Destruction of Indian Life (2)
Dawes Act 1887
a misguided attempt at reform
dissolves tribes, established private land ownership (160 acres per household)
funds from remaining reservation land used for education and “assimilation”
by 1900, Indians had lost 50% of the 156 million acres allotted under the act

18. Destruction of Indian Life (3)
A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson
Carlisle Schools (PA)

21. Three “Frontiers”
Cattle
Farming
Mining

22. The Cattle Frontier

23. Cattle Industry Longhorn Cattle
First brought to America by the Spaniards, along with horses
Those that escaped thrived on the southern plains

24. Prior to the Civil War, cattle ranching was limited
Ranchers sold hide and meat to local markets
1849 – some ranchers drive cattle to market in California to collect $25-$125/head
1854 – cattle driven to Muncie, Indiana and then shipped by rail to NYC. Stampede on 3rd Avenue!
Post Civil War – demand for beef grows, esp in cities
How to get cattle to market?

25. Joseph McCoy
Creates first stockyards in Abilene, KS
: 4 million steer driven north by hired hands (1/4 black; 1/10 Mexican)
Beef Barons: Swift, Armour industrialize
meat packing.

26. Demise of the Cattle Drive’
Population of west grows; farmers and ranchers don’t want herds trampling over their land.
Barbed wire – Joseph Glidden.
Invented in 1874 – 10,000 lbs sold.
By 1878 – 27 million lbs sold
Great Freeze Up of 1887
Temps below -68 F
Overgrazing and drought
Cattle breeding/ranching

27. The Farming Frontier

28. Farming Expands West Homestead Act 1862 Railroads –
160 acres per settler free IF
A settler can live on and improve land for 5 years
Pays $30
Also authorizes the immediate sale of land a low cost ($1.25/acre)
Purpose: rapid settlement; not $ is the goal.
500,000 families move west under the HA
Railroads –
Railroad boom
Railroads given land grants to pay cost. Land then sold to settlers, many are immigrants.
Transcontinental RR completed in 1869 – Union Pacific and Central Pacific.
Oklahoma Land Rush 1889
2 million acres given away in 24 hrs.
“boomers” and “sooners”

29. Factors encouraging settlement
Cheap, accessible land
Railroads
New railroads help bring settlers out and send crops to eastern markets
RRs given land by gov’t as payment; sell land to immigrants
Technologies
Steel plow
Dry farming techniques
west of 100th meridian, rainfall drops from 20-30in/yr to 10-20in/yr
Drought resistant crops (Russian wheat, etc) used
Windmills pump water up from wells
Barbed wire
McCormick’s Harvester-Thresher
Can cut and thresh wheat in one pass
1830: takes 180 minutes to produce a bushel of grain; by 1900: 10 min
Seed drill
High prices.
Wheat and corn prices up due to crop failures in Europe in the 1860s and Civil War in America

31. A dugout (above) and a soddy (below)
Life in the West
Hardships
Lonely existence
Difficult conditions: heat, wind, dust, insects, rattlesnakes, drought, and harsh winters.
Locusts
Lack of water and trees
Adaptations
Dugouts and Soddies
Locusts used as a food source
Buffalo chips (dung) used as fuel
A dugout (above) and a soddy (below)

32. The Cycle of Debt Bonanza Farms Railroads
High prices for crops encourage investment.
Farmers get loans to purchase machinery to produce more.
Drops in the prices in the 1870s make it difficult for farmers to repay loans.
Bonanza Farms
High prices encourage massive investment
Huge farms run by corporations and investors
Some had 10,000+ acres in cultivation
Many fold because of droughts in the 1880s/90s.
Railroads
Farmers grow upset at railroad rates that charge western farmers more then eastern farmers, and sometimes charge more for hauling items short distances than they do long distances.

33. The Farmer’s Movement
In response to hardships, debt, and discontent, and anger at railroad monopolies, farm organizations emerge.

34. The Grange (1860s-70s) Farmers Alliance (1880s) Populist Party (1892)
Originally a communal organization
Cooperative efforts: grain elevators, negotiated rates with RRs
Political efforts: Granger Laws
Farmers Alliance (1880s)
Political organization (a modern day P.A.C.)
Endorses candidates: Alliance Yardstick
Southern Alliance; Colored Farmer’s Alliance.
Populist Party (1892)
Significant 3rd party that challenges the Dems and Republicans in 1892 & 1896
A grain elevator.

35. Schematic of a Grain Elevator

36. Farmer’s Alliance & the Populist Party
Alliance Yardstick
Populist Party Platform
Gov’t regulation or ownership of RRs, pipelines, telegraphs 
Graduated income tax
Free coinage of 16:1
Lower tariffs
Direct election of senators
Gov’t sub-treasuries (to hold grain off the market) & loans
8-hr workday
Australian ballot
Restriction of immigration

37. Populist Party & the Election of 1896
Populist successes in 1892 and discontent over the Panic of 1893 pave way for a major campaign in 1896
Central issue: bi-metallism
Gold bugs vs. silverites
“Popocrats” – a fusion ticket
Populist Party nominates William Jennings Bryan (NE) and VP Tom Watson (GA)
Democrats nominate WJB and VP Arthur Sewall (a Maine banker)

38. Election of 1896 GOP nominates William McKinley (OH)
Protectionist
Marcus Hanna (Cleveland) runs the campaign
Backed by wealthy industrialists
Bryan campaigns vigorously, speaking in 27 states and traveling over 18K miles
McKinley’s campaign targets industrial workers, immigrants, and business interests.

40. The Mining Frontier

41. Mining Gold Rush Mining in the West
Gold discovered in California in 1848
Most surface gold is gone by the 1850s.
Mining in the West
1858 – Gold and silver discovered in Pike’s Peak, Colorado.
1859 – The Comstock Lode is discovered;
$340 million dollars of gold and silver mined
Settlers pour into the western states of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Montana, and Idaho.
Industry becomes highly mechanized, with large businesses dominating.
Mining towns “boom” then “bust”
“Helldorados” – 1 in 3 buildings is a saloon.

42. Map illustrating the location of mining and supply towns in the western US in the late 19th century