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Chapter 17 THE WEST: EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE

Chapter 17 THE WEST: EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE. America Past and Present. Beyond the Frontier. 1840: Settlement to Missouri timber country Eastern Plains have rich soil, good rainfall

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Chapter 17 THE WEST: EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE

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  1. Chapter 17THE WEST:EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE America Past and Present

  2. Beyond the Frontier • 1840: Settlement to Missouri timber country • Eastern Plains have rich soil, good rainfall • For first 2/3 of 19th century, Americans believed the land west of the Mississippi River to be uninhabitable ~ “Great American Desert” • High Plains, Rockies semi-arid • Most pre-Civil War settlers head directly for Pacific Coast p.482-483

  3. Physiographic Map of the U.S. p.482

  4. Crushing the Native Americans • 1865: Nearly 250k Indians in western US • Displaced Eastern Indians • Native Plains Indians • By the 1880s • Most Indians on reservations • California Indians decimated by disease carried by whites during 1849 Gold Rush • By the 1890s Indian cultures crumble p.483

  5. Life of the Plains Indians:Political Organization • Plains Indians nomadic, hunt buffalo • Skilled horsemen (brought by Spanish during the 1500s) ~ Changed their lives ~ After the buffalo, the horse was most important • Tribes develop warrior class • Wars limited to skirmishes, "counting coups" • Tribal bands governed by chief & council • Different tribes communicated through the use of a highly developed sign language p.483-484

  6. Life of the Plains Indians: Social Organization • Sexual division of labor • Men hunt, trade, supervise ceremonial activities, clear ground for planting • Women responsible for child rearing, art, camp work, gardening, food preparation • Equal gender status common • Among Sioux, there was little difference in status. Each respected for his/her skills p.484-485

  7. “As Long as Waters Run”:Searching for an Indian Policy • Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 excludes any white from Indian country without a license • Land regarded as Indian preserve • 1851 ~ Assigned definite boundaries to each tribe • Sioux ~ Dakota country north of Platte River • Crow ~ Area near Powder River • Many Native Americans refused to stay in their assigned lands & settlers poured into Indian lands p.485

  8. Native Americans in the West: Major Battles & Reservations p.485

  9. “As Long as Waters Run”: Searching for an Indian Policy • Cheyenne & Arapaho battled w/ gold miners in Colorado. Tired of fighting, they asked for peace & were moved to Sand Creek • COL John Chivington leading a group of CO militia massacred sleeping men, women, & children ~ The Sand Creek Massacre • Gave orders to “kill & scalp all, big & little” • Many protested & Congress appointed an investigating committee, but Indians were, nonetheless, moved elsewhere p.485-486

  10. “As Long as Waters Run”: Searching for an Indian Policy • Sioux War of 1865–1867 ~ Sioux revolted, again over gold miners. • Govt announced it planned to connect the gold camps with the Bozeman Trail • Chief Red Cloud, was determined to stop the trail • Dec 1866 ~ When pursed by an army column under CPT Wm Fetterman, Red Cloud lured the group into an ambush & killed all 82 soldiers. • Debate over Indian policy • Humanitarians want to “civilize” Indians • Others want firm control and swift reprisal • Humanitarians win with "small reservation" policy • Dakota & Oklahoma Territories p.485-486

  11. Final Battles on the Plains • Small reservation policy fails • Young warriors refuse restraint • White settlers encroach on Indian lands • Final series of wars suppress Indians • Nov 1869 ~ Battle of the Washita, Roger Mills County, OK ~ NW of Elk City near Cheyenne • Indians had been raiding settlers in KS, CO, TX • Chief Black Kettle killed • 1876 ~ Little Big Horn, Montana: LTC Geo A. Custer & his 265 men killed by 2,500 Sioux warriors (largest Indian force ever assembled) ~ Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull • Custer’s Last Stand ~ Greatest NA victory over the US Army p.486-487

  12. The End of Tribal Life • Sioux War ended major Indian warfare in the West • 1887: Dawes Severalty Act • Destroys communal ownership of Indian land • Gives small farms to each head of a family • Indians who leave tribes become U.S. citizens • Extermination of buffalo deals devastating blow to Plains Indians • 1900 = 250k Native Americans • 1492 = 5M • Once possessors of the entire continent, they had been pushed into smaller & smaller areas & their way of life destroyed p.490-491

  13. Settlement of the West • Unprecedented settlement 1870–1900 • 430M acres settled • Most move west in an attempt to improve their lot • Things were good in the West • Rising population drives demand for Western goods • Migration was heaviest during economic prosperity p.492

  14. Men & Women on the Overland Trail • First great movement west was aimed at California & Oregon • Gold Rush of 1849 • Overland Trail ~ Usually a family migration • Started from various points along the Missouri River in the early spring & hoped to get through Rockies before the first snowfall ~ Donner Party • Under the best of conditions, the trip took 6 months (16 hrs/day) • Common sight was piles of trash, abandoned wagons, furniture, clothing, etc. p.492-493

  15. Land for the Taking:Federal Incentives • 1860–1900: Federal Land Grants • 48 million acres granted under Homestead Act • 100 million acres sold to private individuals, corporations • 128 million acres granted to railroad companies • Congress offered incentives to development • Timber Culture Act of 1873 ~ Claim 160 acres if you will plant trees on ¼ of it in 4 yrs ~ Fairly successful • Desert Land Act of 1877 ~ 640 acres at $1.25/acre if irrigated within 3 yrs ~ Hired hands bought for ranchers (fraud) • Timber & Stone Act of 1878 ~ Land “unfit for cultivation” offered for $2.5/acre ~ Lumber company fraud p.493-494

  16. Land for the Taking:Speculators & Railroads • Most land acquired by wealthy investors • Speculators send agents to stake out best land for high prices • River bottoms, irrigable areas, control water • As beneficiaries of govt’s policy of land grants, railroads were largest landowners • Recruited buyers from the East & Europe • Arranged transportation, credit, farming lessons p.494

  17. Land for the Taking:Water & Development • Water scarcity limits Western growth • Much of the West receives less than 20 inches of rainfall annually • People speculate in water as in gold • 1902 ~ Newlands Act: Set aside proceeds from the sale of public lands in 16 western states to finance irrigation in arid (dry) states • Canals, dams, irrigation systems developed p.494-495

  18. Territorial Government • New areas were organized into territories under Congress & President • Pres appointed governors & judges, Cong detailed their duties & set budgets ~ These were very powerful positions • Good source of jobs for deserving politicians • Territorial experience produces unique Western political culture p.495

  19. The Spanish-Speaking Southwest • Pushing north from Mexico, the Spanish gradually established the present day economic structure of the Southwest • Cattle raising, mining, irrigated farming • 1880s ~ ¼ of LA County was Spanish speaking & Spanish remained the majority ethnic group in NM until 1940 • Strong Roman Catholic influence p.495-496

  20. Chapter 17THE WEST:EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE America Past and Present 2/3 Point

  21. The Bonanza West • Quest to “get rich quick” produces • Uneven growth • Boom-and-bust economic cycles • Wasted resources • ”Instant cities" like San Francisco, Salt Lake City, & Denver most spectacular examples • Took Boston 200 yrs to get 1M people, SF did it in 20. p.496

  22. The Mining Bonanza • Mining first attraction to the west • Mining frontier moves from west to east • Individual prospectors remove surface gold • Big corporations move in with the heavy, expensive mining equipment • VA City, Nevada ~ Comstock Lode • Produced $306M • 1874–1876: Black Hills rush overruns Sioux hunting grounds p.496-497

  23. Mining Regions of the West p.498

  24. Mining Bonanza: Camp Life • Camps sprout up with each strike • Camps governed by simple democracy • Men outnumber women two to one • Most men, some women work claims • Most women earn wages as cooks, housekeepers, & seamstresses p.498

  25. Mining Bonanza:Ethnic Hostility • 25–50% of camp citizens were foreign-born • French, Latin Americans, Chinese hated • 1850: California Foreign Miner's Tax drives foreigners out • $20/month license fee • 1882: Federal Chinese Exclusion Act suspends Chinese immigration for 10 years p.498

  26. Mining Bonanza: Effects of the Mining Boom • Contributed millions to economy • Helped finance Civil War, industrialization • Relative value of silver & gold change • Early statehood for Nevada, Idaho, Montana • Left scars • Invaded Indian reservations • Pitted hills • Ghost towns p.498-499

  27. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza • The far was West ideal for cattle grazing • Cattle drives take herds from Texas to rail heads in Kansas ~ “Trail Drive” • Conceived by Joseph G. McCoy “The Real” • Trains take herds to Chicago for processing ~ Longhorns hardy breed • Profits enormous for large ranchers • Cowboys work long hours for little pay • Approx 50% were Af Ams & Mexican p.499-500

  28. Cattle Trails p.501

  29. Gold from the Roots Up:The Cattle Bonanza • By 1880 wheat farmers begin fencing range • Mechanical improvements in slaughtering, refrigerated transportation,& cold storage modernize the industry • 1886 ~ Thousands of cattle die in harsh winter trapped by barbed wire • Some ranchers switched to sheep p.500-501

  30. Sodbusters on the Plains:The Farming Bonanza • 1870–1890 farm population triples on plains • African American “Exoduster” farmers migrate from the South to escape racism • Experienced prejudice, but not as bad • Water, building materials scarce & expensive • Sod houses common first dwelling p.502-503

  31. New Farming Methods • Barbed wire allows fencing without wood • Invented by Joseph F. Glidden, an Illinois farmer ~ 1883: produced 600 mi/day • Dry farming: Deeper tilling, use of mulch • New strains of wheat resistant to frost • 1885–1890: Droughts ruin farms • Farm technology improved production • Smooth surface plow (1877), spring tooth harrow (1869), grain drill (1874) • Small-scale farming adopted p.503-504

  32. Farm Discontent • Sources of discontent • Weather problems (droughts) • Declining crop prices • Rising rail rates • Heavy mortgages • The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was founded as a social, cultural & educational organization • Although banned, evolved into a quasi-political organization ~ Other organizations followed • Trans-Mississippi farmers become more commercial, scientific, productive p.504-505

  33. Agricultural Land Use ~ 1880s p.505

  34. The Final Fling • 22 April 1889: Oklahoma opened for final settlement on the frontier • Nearly 100k people lined up • One day ~ 12k homesteads, 1.92M acres • OKC ~ 10k • Guthrie ~ 15k p.506

  35. The Meaning of the West • Historians differ in their interpretation of the American frontier experience • Frederick Jackson Turner ~ U of Wisconsin historian (1893) wrote that westward movement shaped customs & character; gave rise to independence, self confidence & individualism. • Later historians have added that family & community loomed as large as individualism on the frontier • A multicultural event p.506-507

  36. Chapter 17THE WEST:EXPLOITING AN EMPIRE America Past and Present End

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