SETTLING THE WEST Chapter 8

Section 1 Miners and Ranchers Main Idea: Miners and ranchers settled large areas of the West. Growth of the mining industry: * Placer mining - prospectors used picks, shovels, pans, etc; scooped up shallow deposits.

* Quartz mining - dug deep beneath surface. * Henry Comstock - discovered the “ Comstock Lode ” - huge silver vein near Virginia City, Nev. “ Boomtown ” “ Ghost town ” Wild mining towns led to vigilance committees (volunteers who enforced law in the West).

Boomtown to Ghost town

Ranching & Cattle Drives * Early 1800s - People thought that eastern cattle could not survive the Great Plains (water scarce, prairie grasses tough). * Texas longhorns were well-adapted to Plains. * Open range - vast area of gov ’ t-owned grassland.

* After Civil War - beef was rare & expensive; RRs could carry rounded-up longhorns to markets in the East. * Long drive - cattle was “ driven ” (herded) long distances to railheads (RR stations) & shipped East.

* Chisholm Trail - Famous long drive route from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. * Range Wars broke out when sheep herds moved onto open range & also when farmers moved in. * Barbed wire - enabled huge areas to be fenced in cheaply. (Can you think of another advantage to using barbed wire on the Great Plains?)

Why did long drives end? * Fencing-in of the open range. * Brits & European investors poured $$$ into cattle business oversupply prices fell ranchers went bankrupt! * Blizzards in ; killed huge numbers of herds. Result……. Fenced-in ranches made long drives difficult.

Section 2 - Farming the Plains Main Idea: After 1865, settlers staked out homesteads and began farming the Great Plains - from the central Dakotas through Abilene, Texas. Stephen Long - explored the region in 1819 and called it the Great American Desert.

Why did settlement of the Great Plains begin? * RRs - ensured easy access -- Advertised sale of cheap land along RR lines. * Gov ’ t passed the Homestead Act (1862) acres free to settlers who would live on the land for five years and make improvements.

Homesteaders on the Great Plains

Challenges for Great Plains settlers: * Lack of trees and water. -- Had to build sod houses ( “ soddies ” ). -- Had to drill deep wells. * Heat & drought in summer. * Blizzards in winter. * Prairie fires!!! * Swarms of grasshoppers destroyed crops.

A Great Plains “ Soddie ”

Interior of a sod home

Wheat Belt - eastern edge of Great Plains. * New farming techniques. -- Dry farming - planted seeds deep for moisture. -- Steel plows (John Deere), seed drills, reapers, & threshers. -- Mechanical reapers - faster harvest. * Bonanza farms - huge wheat farms up to 50,000 acres; often owned by big corporations.

New farming techniques made farming possible in the Great Plains.

The New Steel Plow by John Deere

Problem: * Better farming techniques * Oversupply of crop * A drop in crop prices * Farmers had to mortgage the land * Often led to farm foreclosures by the banks because farmers could not pay off their mortgages.

Section 3 - Native Americans Main Idea: Settlement of the West dramatically changed the way of life of the Plains Indians. Most were nomads - wandered the Plains following the buffalo.

Hunting grounds were disrupted by white settlers. Indians often attacked the settlers. * Dakota Sioux Uprising -- Gov ’ t delayed payment of promised annuities (pmts to Indians on reservations). -- Chief Little Crow asked traders for food on credit; was turned down. -- Sioux attacked, killing hundreds of white settlers. Little Crow

Sand Creek Massacre (Colorado)

Indian Peace Commission (1867) proposed: * Two large reservations on the Great Plains. * Bureau of Indian Affairs would run them. * Forced Indians to sign treaty. * Bad living conditions for the Indians on reservations; they received what was seen as the least desirable land.

Last Native American Wars: * Buffalo were rapidly disappearing through rampant killing by buffalo hunters.

* Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) Lakota & Cheyenne vs. General George Armstrong Custer & 210 soldiers. Custer & all his men were killed. General George Armstrong Custer

* The Nez Perce led by Chief Joseph - refused to move to a smaller reservation. Fled 1300 miles; finally surrendered and were later moved to Oklahoma. Chief Joseph

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed…. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say no and yes. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. Some of my people have run away to the hills And have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are - Perhaps they are freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children… Maybe I shall find them among the dead.

Hear me my chiefs, I am tired My heart is sad and sick From where the sun now stands I will fight no more…forever. Chief Joseph Nez Perce Indians 1877

* Wounded Knee Lakota ignored orders and continued to perform the Ghost Dance (ritual celebrating the day when whites would be gone, buffalo would return, etc…) -- Battle - 25 US soldiers and 200 Lakota men, women, and children killed. -- Last major Indian battle.

Aftermath of the Battle of Wounded Knee --- the last major battle of the Indian Wars

A Century of Dishonor - by Helen Hunt Jackson * Wrote about broken U.S. treaties and promises to Indians. * The “ Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin ” of the Native American problem. Assimilation - attempt to make Indians conform to white society Dawes Act 1887: * Land given to Indians for farming. * Failed - Indians not adapted to that lifestyle.

Carlisle Indian School Carlisle, Pennsylvania 1915