1. Closure of the Frontier
Mining
Railroad
Farming
Ranching
Relocation / Extermination of the Indians

2. the
MINERS

3. Virginia City Comstock Lode
Mining Centers
Virginia City Comstock Lode

7. Prospecting

8. Promontory, Utah

9. “The Wedding of the Rails” Central Pacific and Union Pacific
1st TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah
“The Wedding of the Rails”
Central Pacific and Union Pacific

10. “The Big Four” Railroad Magnates
Financed the Central Pacific
Hired Chinese men to do the labor
They had to cut through the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Charles Crocker
Collis Huntington
Mark Hopkins
Leland Stanford

11. the
Farmers

13. Establish residency on plot of land prior to Dec. 1st, 1850
Donation Land Act of 1850
Squatters. over age of 18
Establish residency on plot of land prior to Dec. 1st, 1850
Single man 320 acres
Married 640 acres

14. Could buy it for a small amount of $$$
HOMESTEAD ACT
Homestead Act was a law developed in 1862 by Congress to promote settlement of the Great Plains.
Age 21 and the head of the family could have 160 acres of land if they improved it in five years
Could buy it for a small amount of $$$
The US Government encouraged westward expansion and the Homestead Act allowed thousands of settlers to move west and start new lives.

15. Population Changes in the West, 1850 to 1900

16. Population Changes in the West, 1850 to 1900

17. LIFE ON THE GREAT PLAINS
Settlers adapted to the difficult lifestyle of living on the Great Plains.
Newer advancements in agricultural technology helped settle the Plains.

18. Allowed farmers to cut through dense, root-choked sod.
Steel Plow

19. Reduced labor force needed for harvest
Reduced labor force needed for harvest. Allows farmers to maintain larger farms.
Mechanized Reaper

21. Powers irrigation systems and pumps up ground water.
Steel Windmill

22. LIFE ON THE GREAT PLAINS
Dry farming Allows cultivation of arid (dry) land by using drought-resistant crops and various techniques to minimize evaporation.
John Griffin, a three-year homesteader says, "Yalls idea of dry farming has led me and me family through these three years that we been homesteading."

30. A Pioneer’s Sod House, SD

33. the
cowboys

34. The Bronc Buster Frederick Remington

36. Black Cowboys Exodusters
100,000 Exodusters leave the South and get involved with the ranching industry in Texas and Oklahoma.

42. Long Drives to Railheads
Cattle shipped to slaughter houses.
Rise of the beef and meatpacking industry.
Development of the “Cowboy Culture”

45. Barbed Wire
Joseph Glidden

46. Barbed wire also solved the problems between farmers and ranchers.
LIFE ON THE GREAT PLAINS
Barbed wire fence was a lifesaver because of the lack of wood in the dry plains of America.
Barbed wire also solved the problems between farmers and ranchers.

47. Differences in land ownership Railroad
INDIAN CONFLICTS
Differences in land ownership
Railroad
Settlers trespassing on Indian Land
Discovery of gold
Slaughter of the buffalo
Broken treaties

48. U.S. Indian Policy

49. Charlie Russell- artist of the “Old American West”
This is the only real American
He fought and died for his country.
Today he has no vote,
no country,
and is not a citizen.
But History will not forget him.

50. Negotiate treaties to sell land to US Americanization or assimilation
Evolution of U.S. INDIAN POLICY
Negotiate treaties to sell land to US
Americanization or assimilation
Adopt Christianity
White education
Individual land ownership
Adopt agriculture
Take away food source to force to Reservations = tracks of land

51. Map 13 of 45

52. Dawes Act of 1887 U.S. INDIAN POLICY Quicker Americanization
Assimilate, mainstreamed and absorbed into US society
Adopt Christianity and White education
Individual land ownership
Abandon tribe, culture and become farmers
Male claimed 160 acres of land
Children would be sent to Indian schools
Farm land for 25 years.
1924 gain citizenship and right to vote
Failed policy
Indian resistance and corruption

53. Indian Assimilation Attempts
Native American children were taken to off-reservation Indian schools where they would be taught white man’s ways.

54. Carlisle Indian School, PA
Dawes Act (1887)
Carlisle Indian School, PA

55. Thomas Nash- 1874
“Don’t Shoot, my good fellow! Here, take my ‘robe,’ save your ammunition, and let me go in peace.

56. 1871 to 1875, the US supported the extermination of 11 million buffalo.

57. US INDIAN POLICY
Take away the food source from the Native American and they will be forced to submit and go to the reservations.
Skull

58. Pyramid Lake Indian Wars in 1861*

59. Tribes of the Great Plains
Sioux
Cheyenne
Crow
Arapaho
Kiowa

61. Discovery of gold was often on Indian land.
Some of the key battles fought were around the mining areas.

62. Sioux reservation declined over the years…Why?
Discovery of gold.
Resistance to move to the reservation
Battle of Wounded Knee
Black Hills

63. Gold! Gold discovered in the Black Hills.
There goes the neighborhood!
Gold discovered in the Black Hills.
Govt. tries to purchase the land, but the Sioux refuse.
Gold fever and miners refuse to respect Sioux land…..
Conflict erupts!

64. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
Sitting Bull (Sioux) and Crazy Horse (Cheyenne) were two chiefs who refused to sign the treaty.
They defiantly left the reservation.
"One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk" Crazy Horse

65. Little Big Horn River, Montana - 1876
George Armstrong Custer was sent to force the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho back to their reservations.
He was in command of the 7th Calvary.
June 26, 1876

66. The Battle of Little Big Horn 1876
He was heavily outnumbered and trapped.
Custer & all 220 of his men died.
“Custer’s Last Stand” outraged Americans and led to govt. retribution.
The Sioux and Cheyenne were crushed within a year.

67. Little Bighorn

68. Little Bighorn

69. Little Bighorn

70. Painting-Little Bighorn

71. Little Bighorn

72. Memorial-Little Bighorn

73. Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877)
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877)
Refused to recognize the authority of a 2nd treaty with the US Government reducing his tribal land.
Refusing to go to the reservation, he led his tribe on a 1,400 march trying to get to Canada. Trying to meet up with Sitting Bull.
Eventually surrendered.
In 3 months, the band of about 700, 200 of whom were warriors, fought 2,000 U.S. soldiers in 4 major battles and skirmishes

74. General William Tecumseh Sherman
CHIEF JOSEPH
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is 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.
"the Indians throughout displayed a courage and skill that elicited universal praise... [they] fought with almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines, and field fortifications."
General William Tecumseh Sherman

75. Apache & Navajo Wars (1861-1886) Geronimo surrenders in 1886.
Geronimo, Apache Chief
Apache & Navajo Wars ( )
Apache in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado territories; Navajo in New Mexico, Colorado territories
Geronimo surrenders in 1886.

76. Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889
This opened the Indian Territory to the settlers.
What used to be Indian Territory out west was opened to Americans once Indians are finally on the reservation.
State of Oklahoma would be formed.

77. A CENTURY OF DISHONOR
Helen Hunt Jackson ( ), activist for Native American rights and author of Century of Dishonor was published in 1881.
Jackson also began work on a book condemning the government’s Indian policy and its record of broken treaties.
When Jackson sent a copy to every member of Congress with the following admonition printed in red on the cover: "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations."  To her disappointment, the book had little impact.

78. Frederick Jackson Turner “RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST”
TURNER THESIS
With Indians on the reservation by 1890, the United States Census Bureau announced the official end of the frontier.
The population in the West had become dense, and the days of free western land had come to an end.
In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed that the frontier had played a key role in forming the American character.
The Turner Thesis, stated that frontier life created Americans who were socially mobile, ready for adventure, bent on individual self-improvement, committed to democracy and able to withstand difficult times to accomplish the American Dream…
Frederick Jackson Turner
“RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST”
The frontier created the American character of one who was self-sufficient, persistent and able to withstand difficult times to accomplish the American Dream…