Chapter 8

1. Chapter 8 SETTLING THE WEST 1865 - 1900 Expansion and settlement of new areas helped shape our nation's indentity with the environment and other societies.

2. Introduction • We will review the concept of Manifest Destiny and the initial settlement of the West, including the Homestead Act • Additionally, the expansion of railroads & proliferation of telegraph lines along with key legislation brought about the closing of the western frontier & the creation of a national market

3. Page 1: Essential Questions: Westward Movement 1. Klondike Gold Rush • How did physical and human geography affect settlement in Alaska? 2. Farm Issues • How did farming affect the economy? 3. Transcontinental Railroad • Describe the economic impact and how did this contribute to closing the frontier? 4. Homestead Act of 1862 • Describe the economic impact and how did it contribute to closing the frontier? 5. Cattle Industry Boom • How did the cattle industry affect the economy and how was it interconnected with the transcontinental railroad? 6. Settlement of the GREAT Plains • How did physical and human geography affect the settlement in the Plains?

4. Page 3: Key Terminology *Manifest Destiny *Boomtown *Barbed wire *Homestead Act of 1862 *Transcontinental Railroad *assimilate *Dawes Act of 1887 *Helen Hunt Jackson

5. Page 2: Manifest Destinywas a phrase that expressed the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean; it has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny"), it was GOD’s WILL. It was originally a political catch phrase or slogan used by Democrats in the 1845-1855 period, and rejected by Whigs and Republicans of that era. Manifest Destiny was an explanation or justification for that expansion and westward movement, or, in some interpretations, an ideology or doctrine which helped to promote the process.

6. The Painting you are about to see . . . . This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. Here Columbia,a representation of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels; she holds a schoolbook. The different economic activities of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation.The Indians and wild animals flee. Lady Liberty Columbia

7. BRINGING LIGHT TO WHERE THERE ONCE WAS DARKNESS LADY LIBERTY Columbia

8. Manifest Destiny Turner Thesis …American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development. The frontier Americanized Indians.The individual was rapidly acclimatized, though the process lasted 300 years. Cheap or even free land provided a"safety valve" which protected the nation against uprisings of the poverty-stricken and malcontent. ......in conclusion ..so the colonization of the USA did not end with Manifest Destiny... it started......

9. Growth of the Mining Industry The West’s rich deposits of GOLD, SILVER, and COPPER served the needs of growing industries in the East. brought the first wave of settlers populated mountain states of the West

11. Growth of the Mining Industry Henry Comstock In 1859, a prospector staked a claim in Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada. The sticky, blue-gray mud found there turned out to be nearly pureSILVER. News of the Comstock strike brought “loads” of MINERS to Virginia City, Nevada. Almost OVERNIGHT the town went from a Frontier outpost to a BOOMTOWN of about 30,000.

12. Growth of the Mining Industry Boomtowns When the silver VEINS were exhausted several years later, the mines closed. Without the MINES, the town’s economy collapsedand most of the townspeople moved on in search of new opportunities. The cycle of BOOM and BUST – from BOOMTOWN to GHOST TOWN - was repeated throughout the mountainous WEST.

13. Growth of the Mining Industry Vigilance Committees During the booms, crime posed a serious problem. SELF-APPOINTED volunteers sometimes formed vigilance committees to track down and punish wrongdoers. As life is, they sometimes punished the innocent and let the guilty go free.

14. Growth of the Mining Industry Virginia City Mining towns such as Virginia City were mostly inhabited by men, but soon women followed. A lot of them worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houses where they danced with men for the price of a drink. Pike’s Peak Leadville

15. Growth of the Mining Industry Pike’s Peak , Colorado Mining spurred the development of Colorado, the Dakota Territory, and Montana. The discovery of GOLD near Pikes Peak’s in 1858 set a mining frantic rush. “Pikes Peak or BUST”.

16. Page 4: Growth of the Mining Industry In the late 1870’s, 1000 newcomers per week were pouring into LeadvilleColorado, creating one of most legendary boomtowns on the mining frontier. The BONANZA spurred the building of railroads through the ROCKY MOUNTAINS and transformed Denver, the supply point for the mining areas, into the 2nd largest city in the WEST after San Francisco.

17. Klondike Gold RUSH - CANADA The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike regionof the Yukon in northwestern Canadabetween 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold. Gold was discovered in large quantities in the Klondike, it triggered a "stampede" of would-be prospectors to the gold creeks.The journey to the Klondike was arduous and involved traveling long distances and crossing difficult mountain passes, frequently while carrying heavy loads.

18. Klondike Gold RUSH - CANADA • Some miners discovered very rich deposits of gold and became immensely wealthy. However, the majority arrived after the best of gold fields had been claimed & only around 4,000 miners ultimately struck gold • The Klondike Gold Rush ended in 1899, after gold was discovered in Nome, prompting an exodus from the Klondike • The Klondike Gold Rush was immortalized by books like The Call of the Wild

19. Alaska

21. Page 5: Cattle Industry Boom Coincided with declining of Plains Indian tribes Pop. Increases in cities=great demand 4 beef Introduction of barbed wire & windmills expands cattle ranching

22. CattleIndustry/Cowboys Role Mexican cow hands Mexicans had introduced cattle ranching in New Mexico, California and Texas before these areas became part of the USA. The industry grew in part because of the OPEN RANGE – a vast area of grassland owned by the US Government Mexican cowhands developed the tools and techniques for rounding up and driving cattle & taught the American cowhands.

23. CattleIndustry/Cowboys • While many Americans headed to the Rocky Mountains to mine gold & silver after the Civil War, others began building vast cattle ranches on the Great Plains. • The TEXAS LONGHORN was a breed descended from Spanish cattle that had been brought to Mexico two hundred years earlier. Ranchers in Mexico and Texas had allowed their cattle to run wild, and slowly a new breed - the longhorn- had emerged. It adapted to live on the Great Plains with little water, on tough prairie grasses.

24. CattleIndustry/Cowboys Before Civil War, ranchers had little financial incentive2 round up longhorns CIVIL WAR&construction of RAILROADSchanged everything After the WAR, BEEF prices soared, making it worthwhile to round up the longhorns – if a way could be found to move them EAST.

25. The Long Drive Trail System soon opened to round up cattle & move them EAST. The route to Abilene, Kansas became the major route NORTH. The Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas became famous. A long drive was a spectacular sight to see. It began with the spring roundup to collect cattle from the open range. Stocks from many different owners made up these herds. Only their Cattle BRANDS showing which rancher owned the cattle distinguished them from one another. Stray calveswith no symbols (brands) were called MAVERICKS.

27. DIME NOVELS Dime Novels Life in the towns, at the end of the cattle drive was exciting. Many cowboys told exaggerated tales of daring acts that often supplied material for what were called “DIME NOVELS”. These adventure books sold for a dime and helped spread the myths of the “WILD WEST” in eastern towns and cities.

28. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show Many Americans who never set foot on the Great Plains enjoyed the DIME NOVELS. For a more ‘real life experience’ they enjoyed a make-believe excursion through a WILD WEST Show. The most popular being Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The cast performed mock buffalo hunts with real buffalo. Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter from Ohio, was a popular performer with her sharp shooting expertise.

29. Barbed Wire When SHEEP herders moved flocks onto the range & when farmers settled there, blocking the trails, “range wars” broke out Range was fenced off with a new invention – BARBED WIRE– which enabled 100’s of square miles to be fenced off cheaply & easily. For cowhands/Cowboys, barbed wire ended the excitement of long cattle drives.

31. Farming the Plains American Desert Low rainfall, sod homes, deep wells Homestead Act of 1862 Wagon Train Commercial Farming Improved techniques Bonanza farms

32. Farming the Plains American Desert Rainfall on the Great Plains averaged less than 20 inches per year and trees grew naturally only along rivers and streams. low rainfall sod homes deep wells During the late 1800s several factors provided the belief that the Plains was a “Great American Desert”. The construction of the railroads, which provided easy access to the Great Plains is one important factor. }

33. Page 6: HOMESTEAD ACT 1862 * Railroad companies sold land along the rail lines at low prices • Govt. also supported settlement in the Great Plains region by passing the HOMESTEAD ACT • For a $10.00 registration fee, and individual could file a HOMESTEAD – a tract of public land available for farming – 160 acres • If he stayed there for 5 years, he would receive title to that land. • The Homestead Act provided a legal method for settlers to acquire clear title to property in the WEST. The lack of trees & water forced them to build their first homes from SOD, cut from the ground and to drill wells up to 300 feet deep .

34. Farming the Plains – the Wheat BELT Commercial Farming Improved techniques Bonanza farms Many inventions and new farming methods revolutionized agriculture. One approach, called DRY FARMING, was to plant seeds deep in the groundwhere there wasenough moisture for them to grow. By the 1860s farmers were using newly designed steel plows, seed drills, reapers and threshing machines. Many SODBUSTERS, as the farmers were called on the Plains, eventually lost their homesteadsthrough the combined effects of drought, wind erosion and overuse of the land. (not rotating the crops)

35. Farming the Plains American Desert Low rainfall, sod homes, deep wells Homestead Act Wagon Train Commercial Farming Improved techniques Bonanza farms

36. Commercial Farming North Dakota South Dakota The new machines allowed a single family to bring in a substantial harvest on a wheat farm covering several hundred acres. Some wheat farms covered up to 50,000 acres. These were called BONANZA farms because they often yielded big profits. By the 1880s, with the bountiful harvests in the WHEAT BELT of the GREAT PLAINS, the USA became the world’s leading exporter of wheat. Nebraska The GREAT PLAINS Kansas Oklahoma Texas

38. During the 1800’s, settlers in the GREAT PLAINS developed a method of farming called DRY FARMING – cultivating the land so that it caught and held rainwater. To R E V I E W Technological and Social ChangeThe completion of transcontinental railroads in the late 1800s in both Canada and the United States led to increased settlement of the West. Goods were able to be transported from East to West America THE LAND IS PLOWED & PLANTED DEEPLY Alot of Chinese Thousands of immigrants were hired to build the railroads.

40. Transcontinental Railroad • Before the Civil War, Northerners and Southerners had been unable to agree on a route for a Transcontinental Railroad • After South seceded, it was clear that the route would run through the North • After Civil War crews worked from California eastward, from the middle of country they worked westward • Many laborers on California side were Chinese • 2 halves of 1st Transcontinental Railroad were finally connected in 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah • Connection brought changes of American West

42. Colt 45 -Repeating Rifle Gatling Gun

43. Page 7: Indian Policies Bureau of Indian Affairs – agents ran the reservations Reservations Frederic Remington (Art) Dawes Act 1887 Forced assimilation Americanization

45. Indian Policies For hundreds of years, the Great Plains was home to many Native American (Indian) nations. Some lived in communities as farmers and hunters, but most were NOMADS - roamed vast distances, following their main source of food – the BUFFALO. As ranchers, miners, and farmers moved onto the Plains, they deprived the Indians of their hunting grounds, broke TREATIES guaranteeing certain lands, & often forced them to relocate to reservations

46. SCALPING Fetterman’s Massacre Increasing hostilities

47. Lakota Sioux Defend their Territory The Lakota fought hard to keep control of their hunting grounds, which extended from the BLACK HILLS westward to the BIGHORN Mountains. Leading the Lakota were Chiefs Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Troops were brought in to control the Indians and herd them out of the Black Hills which were found to have gold. Crazy Horse, a religious leader as well as a war chief, lured the troops into a deadly trap. Hundreds of warriors were waiting in ambush of about 80 soldiers and wiped out the entire detachment.

48. SCALPING Fetterman’s Massacre Increasing hostilities Fetterman’s Massacre, as the battle came to be known, was just one example of hostilities between settlers and the Indians. Another was the SAND CREEK MASSACRE in eastern Colorado. Tensions arouse between the Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans and the MINERS in search of gold and silver. What actually happened is unclear, but both sides fought for two days. Fourteen soldiers died and from either 69 to 600 Indians died including women and children.

49. Sand Creek Massacre Miners/Settlers attacked Surrender or subject to attack Chief Black Kettle – negotiate peace Indians attacked

50. Reservations * In 1867, Congress created INDIAN PEACE COMMISSION *Sioux Indian and southern Plains Indians Reservations created * Indians whodid move 2 RESERVATIONS faced same conditions that drove them to violence– poverty, despair. * US Army– determined to force Indians on reservations, encouraged BUFFALO killings – just for SPORT. By 1889 very few of the animals remained in the USA.