1. Ch. 5 – Changes on the Western Frontier (1860 – 1900)
Culture of the Plains Indians
Native Americans saw land as belonging to no one.
Viewed white customs of farming & mining as disturbing the harmony between the natural & spirit world.
Buffalo was vital to survival of Plains Indians (food, clothing, shelter).

2. One traditional hunting Native American hunting method was to chase the Buffalo herd off of a cliff. This was an effective way to kill many buffalo without using weapons.
Once the Buffalo hunt was over, the Native Americans would use almost every single part of the Buffalo; hides as clothing, horns as eating utensils, fat for soap & oil, bones as knives and tools, dung as fuel, hair as ropes and saddles.
“There was such a relationship between the buffalo and the American Indian – the Indians would eat them, live inside their pelts, use every part of their body. There was almost no separation between the people and the animals.” –American Homesteader (1877)

3. Reasons for American Settlement of the West
1) inexpensive / abundant land 2) hopes of finding gold or silver 3) escape persecution / fresh start (ex: former slaves, Mormons, etc.)
Clash Between Settlers & Indians
Settlers felt they had a right to land b/c Indians hadn’t “improved” it (farming / building).
U.S. govnt changed its Indian policies & restricted Indian land to smaller reservations.
Many Indians ignored govnt. treaties and hunted on old lands anyway, often clashing w/ settlers.

4. Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
Cheyenne Indians were peacefully camped at Sand Creek reservation for winter.
Govnt leaders wanted to see Indians suffer – ordered U.S. soldiers to attack, killing over 150 Cheyenne women & children.

5. Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand - 1876)
Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne Indians protested as whites searched Black Hills for gold (northern Great Plains region) – wanted to protect hunting grounds.
June 1876, General George Custer & 265 of his troops met by 2,500 Sioux at Little Bighorn in Montana. Within an hour, Indians won battle. Custer & all of his men were dead.
Bloody conflicts between whites & Native Americans led to greater hostility toward Indian culture.
General George Custer

6. Prior to the battle of Little Bighorn in Montana, the tribal armies, under the direction of Sitting Bull, had decided to wage war against the whites for their refusal to stay off of tribal lands in the Black Hills. In the spring of 1876, Sitting Bull and his tribal army had successfully battled the U.S. Cavalry twice.
The U.S. Cavalry was attempting to force the Indians back to their reservations and divided into three columns to attack. One of the columns was led by Lt. General George Custer, who spotted a Sioux camp and decided to attack it
However, Indian forces outnumbered his troops three to one, and Custer and his troops were forced to reorganize. While waiting aid from the other Cavalry forces, another group of Indian forces, led by Crazy Horse, effectively trapped Custer and his men.
In a desperate attempt to hold off the Indian warriors, Custer ordered his men to short their horses and stack their bodies to form a barricade to protect them from the Indians.
It took less than an hour for the arrows and bullets of the Indians to wipe out General Custer and his men

7. U.S. Government Adopts Indian Assimilation Policy (1880s – 1900)
Govnt hoped teaching “white” culture would lead to peace between Indians & Settlers in the West.
Assimilation – plan under which Native Americans would give up their beliefs & way of life to become part of American culture.

8. Destruction of Buffalo (1800 – 1900)
Dawes Act (1887)
Goal to “Americanize” Indians.
Provided funds for Indian schools (teach English, Christianity, white culture, ect.)
Divided Reservations into 160 acre farms for each family.
Instead of helping Native Americans, Dawes Act nearly destroyed Indian culture.
Destruction of Buffalo (1800 – 1900)
Destruction of Native American life on Great Plains tied to loss of the buffalo (Indians’ food, clothing, shelter).
Tourists & fur traders shot buffalo for sport. Buffalo population of 65 million in 1800 dropped to only a few hundred by 1900.

9. Advertisements like this were common during the era of the American West. Railroad companies would encourage white settlers to kill the buffalo for “fun, excitement & whiskey.”
In 1800, more than 60 million buffalo roamed the plains and prairies of the American West. In 1894, the number was believed to be 25.
“It would be a great step forward in the civilization of the Indians and the preservation of peace on the frontier if there not a buffalo in existence.” – American Settler

10. Native American boys sent to Indian School (Before) (After)

11. Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
Sioux Indians continued to suffer poverty & disease. Thousands of Native Americans turned to a prophet, who promised that if Indians performed a ritual called the Ghost Dance, their lands & way of life would be restored.
Ghost Dance movement spread. Alarmed U.S. Calvary opened fire on over 300 unarmed Native Americans camped at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
Battle of Wounded Knee brought Indian Wars – and an entire era – to an end.

12. Vaqueros & Cowboys
Between approx. 55,000 cowboys worked the open range.
Cowboy life stemmed from Spanish ranchers in Mexico.
Early cowboys were Mexican. Vaqueros influenced cowboy clothes, food, vocabulary.
25% of cowboys were black. Working as a cowboy appealed to former slaves who were judged on ability, not skin color.

13. Growing Demand for Beef (1860s)
After Civil War, demand for beef grew as cities became larger. The West had abundance of Texas Longhorns – a herd of over 5 million wild cattle originally brought from Spain.
Cattle Ranchers would buy cattle for $3 - $5 a head & drive cows to railheads in Ellsworth or Abiline, Kansas. Cattle then sold for $30 - $50 a head and shipped to Chicago for butchering.

14. The Cattle Trails

15. The Long Cattle Drive End of the Open Range
Cattle drive consisted of about 3,000 cattle, 18 cowboys, one chuck wagon, and a wrangler. Drive began in spring and lasted 2-3 months until reaching Kansas.
End of the Open Range
Overgrazing the land, bad weather, and invention of barbed wire helped to end the cattle / cowboy era.
Winters of & were brutal. Cold temperatures caused cattle to freeze to death. Summer droughts led to grass shortage. By 1887, 80%-90% of cattle dead.
Barbed wire turned open plains into a series of fenced in ranches.

16. The Fall of the Cowboy Frederick Remington

17. Frederic Remington is a master of telling stories
Frederic Remington is a master of telling stories. Aiding a Comrade depicts a scene from his imagination: two cowboys attempting to rescue a companion who has fallen from his horse, while fleeing Native Americans.

18. Frederick Remington Paintings
“The Blanket Signal”
“Pony War Dance”

19. Railroads & Western Settlement
U.S. Govnt wanted West settled (manifest destiny).
Offered railroad companies free land as incentive to build a transcontinental line (connect east coast to west coast). Each mile of track = 20sq. miles of land.

20. Railroads in the West Building the Transcontinental Line (1862 -1869)
Two major railroad companies competed to lay the most track and receive more government land.
Union Pacific R.R.
Began laying tracks in Nebraska and moved West. Employed Irish-Americans & Civil War veterans. Flat country allowed work to go quickly.
Central Pacific R.R.
Began laying tracks in Sacramento, California and moved East. Employed mostly Chinese – paid less than white workers & endured dangerous conditions blasting through Sierra Nevada mountains.

21. Railroad Construction

22. Finishing the Transcontinental R.R. (1869)
Crews raced past each other without meeting. May 10th, 1869 Congress forced Union Pacific & Central Pacific to join together at Promontory Point, Utah.
Railroads resulted in growth and new settlement of the West, making travel & transportation easier.

23. “The Last Spike” by Thomas Hill (1881)

24. Homestead Act (1862 – 1900) Passed by Congress to settle the West.
Offered 160 acres of free land to any citizen or intended citizen who was head of household. Approx. 60,000 families took advantage of government’s offer.

25. Free Land! Many newspapers across the country advertised free land out West as a result of the Homestead Act.

26. Farming Inventions that Tamed the Prairie
Settlers used inventions to meet the challenges of farming the West’s harsh terrain.
Barbed Wire (1874) – Prevented animals from wandering off or trampling crops.
Reaper (1847) – Invented by Cyrus McCormick. Sped up harvesting crops & saved crops from bad weather.
Steel Plow (1837) – Invented by John Deere. Could slice through heavy soil, made planting more efficient.
Barbed Wire fence
Cyrus McCormick’s Reaper
Steel Plow [“Sod Buster”]

27. Klondike Gold Rush ( )
Also known as the Yukon Gold Rush & Alaska Gold Rush.
Vast deposits of Gold were found along the Yukon River
Approx. 100,000 prospectors migrated to the Klondike Region of the Yukon River (8% were female) for the chance to strike it rich.

28. Impact of the Klondike Gold Rush
Small villages like Dyea & Skagway became Boom Towns
Dawson City did not exist until high traffic demanded a town built near the mine to provide supplies and luxuries.
Ended in 1899 when gold was found in other Alaskan Regions and California.
Chilkoot Trail from Skagway to the mining region
Line of prospectors climbing the trail