SETTLING OUT WEST

U.S. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHYCHAPTER 2

MINING INDUSTRY

Boomtowns Vigilance committees Colorado: gold finds

leads to statehood Leadville Denver

Dakota Territory: Black Hills = gold

Montana: copper Arizona: copper

Tombstone – Wyatt Earp

MINING TECHNOLOGY

Placer mining: extract shallow deposits – shovels, picks, pans

Sluice mining: diverting of rivers into trenches. Minerals settle at bottom of trench & prevented from flowing further by a screen

Hydraulic mining: high pressured water sprayed at hill or mountain exposing minerals. Damages land.

DRY PLACER MINING

SLUICE MINING

HYDRAULIC MINING

RANCHING & CATTLE DRIVES

Texas Longhorn Open range

End will be caused by overgrazing of land, farmers, bad weather, & barbed wire

Need for beef out east led to need for cattle

Long drives: Sedalia, MI 1866. Chisholm Trail to Abilene, KS

Cowboy Life: vaqueros, 14+ hours per day

TEXAS LONGHORN

MEXICAN VAQUERO

SETTLING THE HISPANIC SOUTHWEST California: “forty-niners”

Mexican Americans who had land grants from Spain attempted to keep land. Problem: boundaries not definitive

New Mexico: Las Gorras Blancas will raid ranches owned by English speakers as they were upset over fencing of land. Will begin influencing NM public affairs through legislature

Barrios: communities of Hispanics

FARMING THE PLAINS

Great Plains: west of Mississippi & east of Rocky mountains

Challenges: weather, grasshoppers, fires

FARMING THE PLAINS

Homes are dugouts or soddies. Wells for water are over 100 feet,

pumped out by hand Settlement increased due to federal

land policy & completion of transcontinental railroad

SODDIE

DUGOUT

FARMING THE PLAINS

Railroads: land grants given by federal government. Union Pacific & Central Pacific complete the 1st transcontinental railroad. Leftover land would be sold to prospective settlers

Land: Homestead Act – 160 acres to citizen or intended citizen who was head of house. Exodusters – African Americans who moved from Reconstruction South to KS for land

May 10, 1869 Promontory Point , Utah

EXODUSTERS

ADVERTISEMENT FOR LAND

THE WHEAT BELT

Morrill Act: 30k acres of land to sell for $ to fund existing colleges or create new ones focused on agriculture & mechanical arts

Sodbusters would lose homes due to droughts, wind erosion, & over use of land

Dry farming: plant seed deep where moisture would allow them to grow

Innovations: steel plow (John Deere), reapers (Cyrus McCormick), grain drill, barbed wire, corn binder

HARD TIMES FOR FARMERS

Wheat belt farmers experienced severe drought, world market competition which caused prices to drop, heavy debt for machinery, overcharged for shipping by railroads, & mortgage payments

Railroads brought in lumber, brick, coal, & manufactured goods – all items for settlements & homes

HARD TIME FOR FRONTIERS

Frontier began to close with Yellowstone National Park 1872. Oklahoma Land Rush April 1889 was last large territory that was open to settlement.

STRUGGLES FOR THE PLAINS INDIANS Tribes lived a nomadic life. Following

the buffalo – their main source of food, shelter, & clothing

Family life involved small extensions that tied them to other bands who spoke the same language

BUFFALO HUNT, UNDER THE WOLF SKIN   by George Catlin 1830's

STRUGGLES FOR THE PLAINS INDIANS Settlers continued to push westward on

the premise that Native Americans had not “settled” the land & that they did not “own” the land. Native Americans believed no one could own the land.

Settlers deprived Native Americans of hunting grounds & would constantly break treaties with them & force them to relocate

DAKOTA SIOUX UPRISING

Dakota (Sioux tribe) settled their conflict with settlers in Minnesota by agreeing to live on a reservation in exchange for annuities. Many of the Dakota lived in poverty & starvation. When the local traders refused to provide them with food, the Dakota rebelled, killing hundreds of settlers. Over 300 Dakota were sentenced to death by a military tribunal. Lincoln reviewed the evidence & sentenced only 38. The remaining Dakota fled the reservation & were exiles in what becomes known as the Dakota territory.

RED CLOUD’S WAR

Bozeman Trail: Settlers used & settled along this trial that ran through the Lakota (Sioux tribe) hunting grounds

Leaders: Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, & Sitting Bull

RED CLOUD’S WAR

December 1866: Lakota ambushed Captain William Fetterman & his soldiers, killing 80. Skirmished continued & government will close the trail.

Treaty of Fort Laramie provided the Sioux a reservation along the Missouri River. Not all tribes signed (Sitting Bull). All tribes were still under the impression that they could still use their hunting grounds

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

Colorado 1860s: tensions between miners & Cheyenne & Arapaho tribes escalated. Native Americans raided wagon trains & ranches. By 1864 over 200 settlers were dead. Governor persuaded the Native Americans to surrender at Fort Lyon for food & protection.

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

November 1864: Chief Black Kettle brought Cheyenne tribe to Fort Lyon. Major Scot Anthony allowed them to camp at Sand Creek.

Colonel John Chivington & Colorado Volunteers attacked Black Kettle’s camp. Results: over 200 Native Americans, mostly women & children, were massacred on Nov. 29, 1864

Shaded area represents land reserved for the Cheyennes and Arapahos under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

Black area represents the reduced land area allotted to the Indians in the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

ATTEMPTS FOR PEACE

Indian Peace Commission in 1867: proposed two large reservations – 1 for Sioux, other for Southern Plains Indian tribes. Commissioned pressured them to sign but unable to ensure that their leaders or followers would abide by it. There was no provision that would keep settlers from violating the new treaties. – SEE POLITICAL CARTOON PG. 86

Native Americans who went to reservations faced same hardships that caused the Dakota to act violently

LAST NATIVE AMERICAN WARS

Professional buffalo hunters, settlers, & railroad companies arbitrarily killed buffalo forcing the Native Americans onto reservations

LAST NATIVE AMERICAN WARS

Red River War: Kiowa & Comanche tribes engaged in 6 years of raids. U.S. army destroyed villages, horses, killed warriors, & took women & children to reservations

BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN

Prospectors looking for gold went into Black Hills that was on the Lakota tribe (Sioux) reservation in Dakota Territory. Members decided that treaty was violated & left reservation to hunt in Bighorn Mountains

BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN

Government sent Lt. Colonel George A. Custer & 7th Calvary

Custer decided to attack the Lakota & Cheyenne tribes only to be defeated – ALL died

Newspapers stated that this was a massacre & Custer was the victim

SEE MAP PG. 73

Crazy Horse

Sitting Bull

TRAGEDY AT WOUNDED KNEE

Lakota Sioux members performed the Ghost Dance – a hoped-for day when the settlers would disappear, buffalo would return, & they would be reunited with their dead ancestors. This dance was forbidden on reservation as government feared it would lead to violence

Sitting Bull who had returned from Canada would be blamed for the defiance. Government tried to arrest him, supporters interfered, resulting in gunfire that killed Sitting Bull

TRAGEDY AT WOUNDED KNEE

December 29, 1890: group of Ghost Dancers fled after Sitting Bull’s death & engaged army at Wounded Knee Creek in SD resulting in the deaths of 25 soldiers, 200 Lakota men, women, & children (approx.)

THE DAWES ACT

Assimilation

THE DAWES ACT

Dawes Act 1887: method to “Americanize” Native Americans. Broke up reservations in 160 acres each to head of household, 80 acres to unmarried Native American adults, & 40 acres to each child. Land in excess to be sold to white settlers giving profits to Native Americans to purchase supplies & equipment. Those who stayed on their allotment for 25 years were granted citizenship

THE DAWES ACT

Failures of act: profits not given to Native Americans, too little training or enthusiasm to become a farmer (homesteader), few stayed long enough to qualify for citizenship, too dependent on buffalo

SEE MAP PG. 85

FUTURE FOR NATIVE AMERICANS

Citizenship Act 1924: gives ALL Native Americans citizenship

Indian Reorganization Act 1934: reverses Dawes Act, restores some reservation lands, gave tribes control over those lands & allowed for tribal governments