Chapter 13

1. Chapter 13 Settling the West

2. Section 1: Miners and Ranchers • Objectives: • Trace the growth of the mining industry in the West. • Describe the ways that new technology changed open-range ranching.

3. Growth in the Mining Industry • Brought the first wave of settlers that populated the Mt. states of the west. • Two types of mining: • Placer mining-simple • Quartz mining-deep

4. Economics of a Boomtown • 1859 Henry Comstock stakes claim in Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada. • Sticky blue-grey mud almost pure silver. • News of strikes bring thousands (almost 30,000 overnight) of miners to Virginia City, Nevada. • Opera house, furniture store, fashions from Europe, several newspapers, and a six-story hotel with the West’s first elevator. • When the silver was gone the people left in search of new fortunes-producing a “ghost town.” • This cycle was repeated throughout the west.

5. Development of the West • Mining also spurred the development of Colorado, the Dakota Territory, and Montana. • Gold at Pike’s Peak in 1858 coined the phrase “Pike’s Peak or bust.” • Most gold at Pike’s Peak deep and many miners went bust. • One of the richest strikes occurred in Leadville, 1870s, named for the deposits of lead w/large amounts of silver. • Overall, operations at Leadville and other mining towns produced more than $1 billion worth of gold and silver.

6. Mining Leads to New States • The discoveries throughout the West spurred the building of railroads through the Rocky Mountains and transformed the supply town of Denver into the 2nd largest city (San Francisco). • The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory and copper in Montana lead to the development of the northern Great Plains. • Thousands of miners moved to these areas, railroad were built, farmers and ranchers came with the railroads to settle. • In 1889, Congress divided the Dakota Territory and admitted North and South Dakota, as well as Montana as new states.

7. Ranching and Cattle Drives • In the 1800s many believed the Great Plains were unsuitable for cattle because eastern cattle could not survive in those conditions. • To the south there was a breed of cattle that could withstand the tough conditions. • The Texas Longhorn is a breed descended form the Spanish cattle brought to Mexico 2 centuries earlier. • Mexicans had introduced cattle ranching New Mexico, California, and Texas before statehood. • The industry grew in part because of the open range-vast areas of grassland owned by the government. • Mexican cowhands developed the tools and techniques for rounding up and driving cattle.

8. The Long Drive • 2 developments spurred the Long Drive. • The Civil War • Railroads • During the Civil war cattle was slaughtered to feed the armies and after the war the price of beef soared. • By the 1860s, railroads had reached the Great Plains. • Lines ended at Abilene and Dodge City in Kansas and Sedalia, Missouri. • The Chisholm Trail, south Texas to Abilene, saw cowboys drive nearly 1.5 million Cattle. • Long Drives began in the Spring when ranchers would round up their cattle, brand them and move them north. • Mavericks were unbranded cattle.

9. Ranching-Big Business • Millions of cattle were drive from Texas to Kansas where some went to slaughter and some were sold to ranchers trying to start ranches in Wyoming, Montana, and other territories. • When sheep herders moved to the range and when farmers settled there blocking the trails “range wars” broke out. • Eventually, after large losses of life, a new invention (barbed wire) the open range was no longer. • The fencing of the range was not the only reason for the end of the long drive, Eastern investors and British investors flooded the cattle market causing the price of beef to fall.

10. Section 2: Farming the Plains • Objectives: • Explain how and why people began settling the Plains. • Trace the growth of commercial farming on the Plains.

11. Geography of the Plains • The region known as the Great Plains runs north and south from Texas to the Dakotas between the Rocky Mts. And the Mississippi Valley. • Rainfall averages less than 20 inches a year and tree only grow along the rivers and streams. • Major Stephen Long, exploring the region, called it the “Great American Desert.”

12. The Beginnings of Settlement • Railroads were an important factor in the early settlement of the Plains by selling land along the tracks cheap. • “Rain follows the plow,” was one of the catchy slogans used to future farmers. • In 1862, the government also supported the settlement of the Great Plains by passing the Homestead Act. • For a $10 registration fee, an individual file for a homestead-tract of land available for settlement. • When settlers arrived they often found life very difficult. • No rain, No trees, No water, 100 degree heat, blizzards, prairie fires, swarms of grasshoppers.

13. The Wheat Belt • Many inventions and new farming methods revolutionized farming if you had the financial resources. • Dry farming-process of planting seeds deep in the soil were there is enough moisture for them to grow. • Newly designed steel plows, seed drills, reapers, and threshing machines made dry farming possible. • Still many sodbusters lost their land. • Large bonanza farms were able to be profitable with the help of mechanical reapers and mechanical binders. • Wheat was as important to the Great Plains as cotton was to the South.

14. Farmers Fall on Hard Times • The bountiful harvest of the Wheat Belt helped the U.S. become the world’s leading exporter of wheat by the 1880s. • In the 1890s, American farmers faced rising competition from other wheat producing nations. • A glut on the market caused the price of wheat to drop. • A prolonged draught in the late 1880s combined with falling prices caused many to lose their farms and ended up tenant farmers.

15. Closing the Frontier • On April 22, 1889, the government opened one of the last large territories for settlement (Oklahoma). • Within hours over 10,000 people raced to stake claims in an event known as the Oklahoma Land Rush. • The next year the Census Bureau reported that the settlement had been so rapid that “there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.” • Much unsettled land and new settlement continued throughout the 1900s.

16. Section 3: Native Americans • Objectives: • Discuss conflicts that arose between the Plains Indians and American settlers. • Summarize problems caused by attempts to assimilate Native Americans.

17. Culture of the Plains Indians • Most Native Americans were nomads who roamed vast distances, following their main source of food-the buffalo. • They lived in extended family networks and had a close relationship to nature. • Indian nations-several thousand, divided into bands consisting of up to 500.

18. The Dakota Sioux Uprising • Sioux agreed to live on reservations in Minn. And were supposed get annuities- payments to reservation dwellers. • Payments were late, Native Americans were starving. • Little Crow asked traders for credit,-reply- “If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung.” • Little Crow reluctantly agreed to lead an uprising.

19. Lakota Sioux Defend their Territory • The Army sent westward to prevent further uprisings with the Sioux. • There were met with strong resistance-led by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull.

20. Sand Creek Massacre • 1860, eastern Colorado, tensions between the Cheyenne and Arapaho and the miners of Colorado. • Native Americans began raiding wagons. • Chief Black Kettle brought 200 Cheyenne to Camp Lyon to negotiate and was told to make camp at Sand Creek. • They were massacred.

21. Cutting Their Supply Line • The Army encouraged white hunters to kill buffalo to force Native Americans onto reservations.

22. Battle of the Little Big Horn • George C. Custer, commander of the Seventh Cavalry, an impulsive officer, launched a three-pronged attack in broad daylight on one of the largest groups of Native American warriors ever assembled.

23. Wounded Knee • Ghost Dance- a ritual of the celebration of the disappearance of the settlers. • The government agent blamed this defiance on Sitting Bull. • He was to be arrested but resisted and was killed. • The Ghost Dancers then fled, were tracked down and killed. (the old, very young, women, etc…)