The Closing of the Western Frontier Out of

The Closing of the Western Frontier Out of Many Chapter 18 A lot of slides within this powerpoint were created by Pamela Montague.

Key Tensions Native Americans Cattlemen Ranchers Buffalo Hunters Railroads U. S. Government Sheep Herders Farmers

Key Tensions Ethnic Minorities Environmentalists Lawlessness of the Frontier Nativists Big Business Interests Local Govt. Officials Farmers Buffalo Hunters “Civilizing” Forces

Plains Indians • Nomads – followed their food source – buffalo, 12 to 15 million • Horses made them better hunters and warriors • Plains Wars, 18601890 – Fight to protect land stop waste (buffalo)

THE BUFFALO A buffalo can weigh up to 2, 000 pounds and live as long as 30 years. • The buffalo or bison was an extremely important part of the plains people’s lives. • They used virtually every part of the buffalo from the hide for clothing, to the stomach for holding water. • At one time, an estimated 60 million buffalo roamed the plains of the present day United States and Canada.

U. S. Government Indian Policy • Dept. of Interior in charge – gross corruption • Initial policy of CONCENTRATION • Deal with each tribe individually; to define territories • Allegedly to stop intertribal warfare but actually to divide & conquer • By the 1860 s, policy is one of confining all to reservati in Black Hills of SD, or OK – Indians to become farmers on the reservations • Indians received food, supplies in return for removal to reservations & promise to be left alone • INDIANS WAGED WAR!! • Plains Wars last from 1860 -1890 • Plains Indians are excellent warriors – Sherman: “…a mere 50 Indians could often checkmate 3000 U. S. soldiers. ”

The Buffalo Soldiers on the Great Plain 1/5 of soldiers on frontier The nickname was given to the "Negro Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought; the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African. American regiments formed in 1866:

SAND CREEK MASSACRE • Colorado, Nov. 1864 • Cheyenne, under Chief Black Kettle, came to U. S. fort to negotiate • Col. Chivington arrives at fort & ignores attempts to negotiate • Executes them all – men, women & children • Much mutilation Colonel John Chivington Kill & scalp all, big & little!

Battle of Little Bighorn • Treaty of Fort Laramie – granted Sioux the right to occupy Black Hills • Gold found in Black Hills, DK, 1874 • Col. George A. Custer, th 7 Calvary – leads expedition of 264 soldiers – Suppose to say that there wasn’t much gold to be found – Instead, said the opposite • “Custer’s Last Stand” • 1 st major victory for Indians after a long series • Sioux & Cheyenne force of of defeats 2, 500 • But, short-lived victory

Chief Joseph: I will fight no more forever! • Reservation reduced by 90% after gold discovered – 6 million acres at less than 10 cents/acre Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877) • Flee towards Canadian border • Surrender after 3 months & 1700 miles…. . only 30 miles from the Canadian border • Told they’ll be returned to ID, instead are sent to OK and 40% die of disease

Dawes Severalty Act (1887): Assimilation Policy • Tribal lands split into allotments - each family 160 acres • Land can’t be disposed of for 25 years • After 25 yrs. , would get citizenship & ownership of land

ASSIMILATION • Attempt to have Indians “become white” and become part of white man’s culture • Boarding schools, like Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian Carlisle School, PA School (Pennsylvania) – “Kill the Indian & Save the Man!” • U. S. government tries to give them land turn them into farmers • Failed – Indian culture was nomadic – don’t make good farmers Apache children at the Carlisle School 4 months later.

Arapahoe “Ghost Dance”, 1890 • Prophet had vision – If the Indian peoples learned to love each other, they’d have a special place in the afterlife • The Sioux came to believe that when the day of judgment came, all Indian peoples who had ever lived would return to their lost world • White people would vanish from the Earth • White settlers saw this as a threat

Battle of Wounded Knee Chief Big Foot’s Lifeless Body • Sioux fleeing reservation after Sittin Bull shot • Rounded up by Army; surrendered & herded into Wounded Knee Army Camp • Ghost Dance • Army ordered to disarm Indians • 190 unarmed Indians massacred in the process • End of Plains Wars

Factors which brought an end to Plains Indians’ way of life: • RAILROADS!! – Destroy Buffalo – Bring out settlers, miners, etc. • Discovery of gold/silver on Indian lands • Disease & Firewater • Indian Wars – Either killed them OR Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, – Survivors forced to move Black Hills, SD to reservations (Dakota and Oklahoma) "Crazy Horse is being carved not so much as a lineal likeness but more as a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse -- to his people. "

MINING IN THE OLD WEST: • MAJOR GOLD STRIKES: – California, 1848 – Colorado, 1858 (Pike’s Peak or Bust!”) – Black Hills of the Dakotas, 1877 • MAJOR SILVER STRIKE: – The “Comstock Lode”in Virginia City, Nevada – Over $300 million o silver extracted over 18 yrs • COPPER – MT • Only those who could afford to invest in the large machinery were making huge profits

THESE STRIKES CAUSED MINING TOWNS TO SPRING UP: • “Helldorados” • 1 in 3 buildings is a saloon • Gambling, prostitutes, etc. • “Vigilante” and “lynch law” justice • Deadwood, OK – Home of many famous “Wild West” legends

Colt. 45 Revolver God didn’t make men equal. Colonel Colt did!

Legendary Gunslingers & Train Robbers Jesse James Billy the Kid

Mining (“Boom”) Towns-Now Ghost Towns Calico, CA

Role of Mining in Subduing the Frontier • Eventually becomes “big business” – Small miners can’t get to deep ores; need big $ • Attracts people & wealth to West • Helped fund the Civil War & building of railroads • Brought more conflict with the Plains Indians • Another effect: – Discovery of gold/silver leads to increased interest in the West…. enter the Wild West Shows!

William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show Wild West vaudeville shows traveled worldwide

“Buffalo Bill” Cody & Sitting Bull Calamity Jane Annie Oakley

“There’s gold from the grass roots down, but there’s more gold from the grass roots up. ” • Open range ranching began in Spanish Texas – Spanish gave us techniques of roping, herding, etc. as well as style of dress & equipment • Between 1836 & 1860 mavericksmultiplied on the open range to 3 -4 million (along with the 12 -15 million buffalo) • Distinguished only by branding – owners didn’t have to own much land • RR & refrigerated cars solve problem of getting mea to markets in NE • So, to get cattle to the railroad centers….

…THE LONG DRIVE WAS ESTABLISHED BY ’ 66 where herds were driven to rail centers in Kansas and Missouri.

The Cattle Trails Routes were known as “trails. ” The most famous was the Chisholm Trail (San Antonio to Abilene).

Nat Love • 8 to 10 cowboys could work 2, 500 steer • Several thousand were black, also many Mexican • Dime novels (“tall tales”) were created about such legends as Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc.

MANY DIFFICULTIES ON THE LONG DRIVE: • • Overgrazing Disease Floods Droughts Stampedes Rustlers Homesteaders Cold Winters/Blizzards

The Fall of the Cowboy Frederick Remington • Closed range ranching takes over • Cow hands became ranch hands • Required actual ownership of land so ranching also becomes “big business. ”

The Homestead Act • 160 acres for $10 to head o household • must improve it & cultivate it for 5 years • Did NOT work out as planned: – 160 acres not enough on Great Plains – Factory workers can’t farm – Fraud by speculators – RAILROADS!! • Selling “better” land cheap

Black “Exoduster” Homesteaders

PROBLEMS OF PLAINS FARMERS • NATURAL DISASTERS: – DROUGHT – SEVERE CLIMATE – PRAIRIE FIRES – GRASSHOPPER PLAGUES

Changes in American farming: How did 1800 s Plains farming techniques help lead to the Dust Bowl in the 1930 s? • High crop prices for wheat/corn encouraged cash crop farming • Large scale farming becomes a business – Need mega $ to buy new combines, etc. • Emergence of “bonanza” farms – Pushes small farmers off the land – Hired hands (Mexicans, Chinese) to work the farms • ¼ of American farms operated by tenants

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS FOR PLAINS FARMERS: • CASH CROPS made farmers dependent on high prices – Foreign competition drove it down • DEFLATION – farmers caught in debt cycle – have to produce more to pay back fixed debts – Overproduction drives prices down • MORTGAGES – high interest; foreclosures • DEPENDENT ON RR for shipping – high rates

Government and Business Policies also hurt Farmers • Gov’t favored industrial classes & urban areas • Local property taxes high & Westerners can’t hide land like Easterners could hide stocks & bonds – Protective tariffs for industry; nothing for farmers • Farmers were at mercy of corporations, trusts, agents – Machinery, fertilizer, barbed wire all controlled by major trusts – Middlemen take cut of sales & kept prices high – Storage rates for grain in warehouse & elevators high; RR freight rates also high

RAILROADS Single greatest factor in settling the West. • Sold land from land grants cheaply • Bureaus of Immigration in East & Europe to encourage settlement in the West • Advertised myths to encourage settlement: – Climate would cure all diseases – Women would find husbands; men get rich quick – “Rain follows the plow”

The Reality: PLAINS WOMEN: • “Born and scrubbed; suffered and died. ” • Morrill Act – Federal $ to help states establish universities (land grant colleges) which were open t women • Western women will ultimately get the vote first

The “Chinese Question” § Exclusion Act (1882) - Oriental Exclusion Act - Chinese Exclusion Act

LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THE WESTWARD EXPERIENCE? Destruction of the Buffalo Herds The near extinction of the buffalo.

Yellowstone National Park First national park established in 1872.