The Great West & The Agricultural Revolution

1. The Great West&The Agricultural Revolution Chapter 26 1865-1896

2. The American West • 1,000 miles X 1,000 miles • Mountains, plateaus, deserts and plains • Habitat of the Indian, the buffalo, the wild horse, the prairie dog, and the coyote • Native Americans – 360,000 by 1860

3. Indian Conflict • Before the white man, the Comanches had driven the Apaches of the Central Plains • The Cheyenne abandoned their villages on the Upper Mississippi & Missouri Rivers and moved out onto the Plains • Cheyenne and Sioux were deadly and efficient hunters and warriors mounted on horses

4. White Conflict • Whites brought cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and other diseases to the Native Americans • Whites also steadily killed the buffalo, which were the basis of life for the Plains Indians

5. Treaties • The federal government tried to pacify the Indians with treaties • Fort Laramie (1851) • Fort Atkinson (1853) • Marked the beginning of reservations on the Plains • Problem: “tribes” and “chiefs” were figments of white imagination

6. Indian Wars • 1865-1875 • Fierce warfare b/t Indians and the US Army raged throughout the American West for domination of the Plains • 1/5 of US Army on the Plains were black soldiers – called “buffalo soldiers” by the Indians

7. Sand Creek Massacre • Colorado – 1864 • Col. J.M. Chivington • Militia massacred 400 Indians who believed they had been given immunity • Men, women, and children were killed while praying for mercy

8. Bozeman Trail • Montana – 1866 • Sioux war party tried to block construction of the Bozeman Trail which led to gold fields in MT • Cpt. William J. Fetterman & 81 men were massacred • Not one single survivor

9. Treaty of Ft. Laramie • The second treaty of Ft. Laramie, WY was signed in 1868 • The US government abandoned the Bozeman Trail • The “Great Sioux Reservation” was given to the Sioux in the Dakota Territory

10. Little Bighorn • 1874 • Col. George Armstrong Custer led “scientific” expedition into the Black Hills of SD • Announced he found gold • Many rushed in to look for gold

11. Battle at Little Bighorn • Custer’s 7th cavalry (264 men) surprised by over 2,500 Sioux warriors • Little Bighorn River in Montana • All Custer’s men were killed, including Custer

12. Nez Perce • Northwestern Oregon • Forced onto a reservation in 1877 • Chief Joseph surrendered all 700 Nez Perce after a 1700 mile hunt • Promised land in Idaho but sent to Kansas reservation where many died of illness

13. Apache • Arizona and New Mexico • The most difficult of all Indians to subdue • Led by Goyahkla or Geronimo who hated ALL whites • Finally gave up and became successful farmers in Oklahoma

14. Indian Policy • Whites realized it was easier to feed than fight the Native American • The railroad shot an arrow right through the heart of the West • Indians were ravaged by white man’s disease and firewater • Extermination of buffalo ended life on the Plains

15. American Bison • 1600s – 10s of millions of bison on the Plains • Staff of life for Indians • Flesh – food • Dung – fuel • Hides – clothes, lariats, and harnesses

16. The Buffalo • 1865- 15,000,000 bison still grazing on the Plains • William “Buffalo Bill” Cody – killed 4,000 buffalo in 18 months while employed by the Kansas Pacific RR • RR = massacre of buffalo herds • “sportsmen” killed buffalo from moving trains for entertainment • 1885 – fewer than 1,000 buffalo on the Plains

17. Bureau of Indian Affairs • 1824 – Sec of War John C. Calhoun created the BIA • By 1880s – humanitarians wanted to treat the Indian kindly and persuade them to assimilate • Assimilate – to make similar; cause to resemble

18. Ghost Dance

19. Outlawed Dancing • 1884 – federal government outlawed the Sun Dance or “Ghost Dance” • “Ghost Dance” appeared on Plains in the 1880s in the Dakota Sioux. It promised of the return of the buffalo and the end of the white man • US Army bloodily stamped it out at the Battle of Wounded Knee

20. Battle of Wounded Knee • 1890 – US Army attacks and massacres 200 men, women, and children for performing the dance • This was the last major Indian battle on the Great Plains • Only 29 US soldiers were killed in the massacre

21. Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 • Sen. Henry Dawes • Act dissolved many tribes as legal entities, wiped out tribal ownership of land, set up Indian family heads with 160 acres • Title and citizenship in 25 years if they would assimilate

22. Indian Policy • Indians not granted full citizenship until 1924 • Reservation land not allotted was sold to RR and settlers

23. Carlisle Indian School • 1879 • Carlisle, Pennsylvania • Indian children were separated from their families • “kill the Indian, save the man” • Most famous graduate was Jim Thorpe

24. Indian Policy • 1900 – Indians had lost 50% of the 156,000,000 acres they held in 1880 • Dawes Act forced assimilation and served as government policy for the next 50 years until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

25. Mining • 1858 – discovery of gold at Pike’s Peak in Colorado • Pike’s Peakers rushed west to rip up the Rocky Mountains • More miners than minerals

26. Comstock Lode • 1859 – Nevada’s Comstock Lode was uncovered • Gold and silver worth $340 million • 1860-1890 • Helped finance the US Civil War • Lucky Strikes at MT, ID and other western locations

27. Mining Towns • Where gold was found, cities, and saloons sprung up like magic • Prostitutes, lynch law, vigilante justice • When the gold was gone, cities turned to “ghost towns”

28. Beef • Texas supported several million longhorn steers, but there was no way to get it to market • This was solved by the transcontinental railroad -1869

29. Meatpacking Industry • Stockyards and meat packing became pillar of the economy • Kansas City and Chicago • Meat could be shipped east in newly invented refrigerated cars

30. Long Drive • Texas cowboys (Black, White, and Mexican) drove herds of 1,000-10,000 over the Plains until they reached a RR terminal • Cows grazed on free government grass • Dodge City, Kan.; Ogallala, Neb.; Abilene, Kan.; Cheyenne, Wyo. • “heyday of the cowboy”

31. Marshall James B.“Wild Bill”Hickock • Famous lawman of the wild west cowtowns • Shot dead in 1876 • Others included Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett, and others • 1866-1888 – over 4 million steers driven north

32. Homesteaders • People moving onto the Plains got into the way of cattle drives • Barbed wire fences cut off the open Plains • Winter of 1886-1887 – 68 degrees below zero

33. Homestead Act (1862) • Allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for five years, improving the land, and paying a small fee of $30 • Drastic departure from previous policy • Public land had been sold for revenue • 500,000 families took advantage of Homestead Act • 2/3 gave up b/c of drought and lack of water

34. Sodbusters • Broke open the Plains with heavy steel plows and built homes out of sod • Many went broke during the 6 year drought of 1888-1892 • “There is no God west of Salina”

35. Dry-farming • Frequent shallow cultivation adapted for arid western environment • Created finely pulverized surface soil that contributed to the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s • 45 million acres were eventually irrigated in 17 states by hydraulic engineers who dammed up the Missouri and Columbia Rivers

36. Statehood • Colorado 1876 • Between 1888-1890 • North Dakota • South Dakota • Montana • Washington • Idaho • Wyoming

37. Mormon Utah • Outlawed polygamy in 1890 • Utah admitted to the United States in 1896 • Only OK,NM, and AZ remained as territories

38. Oklahoma • Lands of the Indian were made available to settlers • Many over-eager & well-armed “Sooners” illegally left to claim land early and had to be evicted

39. Oklahoma • April 22, 1889 • 12pm high noon • 50,000 “Boomers” left to claim land • Known as “89ers” • Guthrie became a tent city of 10,000 overnight • 1907 – OK statehood

40. 1890 – End of the Frontier • 1890 – superintendent of the census declared that the frontier line was gone and was no longer evident on mainland United States • Frederick Jackson Turner – The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893 • Americans worried that no more free land existed

41. National Parks • Americans worried that the frontier was gone • Yellowstone (1872) • Yosemite and Sequoia (1890) • Frontier was also a state of mind

42. S.F. and Denver • Western cities like San Francisco and Denver became “safety valves” for failed western farmers • 1880 – Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was the most urbanized region in America by % of people in cities • American Southwest collides with Hispanic influence that remains today

43. Farms • High prices convinced farmers to focus on one “cash” crop • Would use profits to buy foodstuffs and necessities at the general store • Manufactured goods bought in town or through mail order • Chicago firm of Aaron Montgomery Ward made first mail order catalogue in 1872

44. Bonanza Farms • Enormous factory like farms with large harvest for profit • 1890 – some bonanza farms were over 15,000 acres apiece

45. Money Supply • Not enough money to go around • 1870 - $19.42 in money supply per person • 1890 - $22.67 in money supply per person • Intensified scramble for available currency

46. Farmers Take A Stand • 1867 – The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry • “The Grange” • Org. by Oliver H. Kelley – a farm leader from MN

47. The Grange • 1st obj. – enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities • Picnics • Concerts • Lectures • Some even joined the Masons • 1875 – 800,000 members in South and Midwest • Est. co-op stores, and co-op grain elevators

48. The Greenback Labor Party • Farmers backed their program for improving labor laws, and releasing silver to back the money • Greenbacks elected 14 members to Congress

49. Prelude To Populism • Farmers’ Alliance – founded in Texas in late 1870s • Farmers come together to socialize and help one another out through co-op buying and selling • 1890 – one million members • Weakened itself by not allowing blacks and excluding all tenant farmers and farm laborers • Colored Farmers National Alliance – org. 1890

50. American Populism • Peoples’ Party • Their attack was against Wall St. • Populists wanted to nationalize the RR, telephones, and telegraph • Wanted a gradual income tax