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Westward Expansion

Westward Expansion . Spirit of the West. What is the West ? What is the Frontier ? An idea of manifest destiny. It was there to conquer. Possibilities of a new beginning, fresh start. Barriers. Great American Desert Great Plains Rocky Mountains Arid Southwest

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Westward Expansion

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  1. Westward Expansion

  2. Spirit of the West • What is the West? • What is the Frontier? • An idea of manifest destiny. It was there to conquer. • Possibilities of a new beginning, fresh start

  3. Barriers • Great American Desert • Great Plains • Rocky Mountains • Arid Southwest • Under 10 inches of rainfall • Animals • Millions of buffalo • American Indian • Most successful

  4. Stages of Development • Fur Traders • In advance of civilization • Prepared way for others • Mining • Often first on the scene

  5. Boomtowns • Henry Comstock staked claim near Virginia City. Could not find any gold and sold his claim, not realizing that the soil was almost pure silver. • Boomtowns • quickly growing towns that arise nearly overnight. • Vigilance committees – self appointed • Vigilante justice

  6. Statehood Mining led to statehood. The development of California, Colorado, Arizona, the Dakotas, and Montana. The rail roads helped bring people.

  7. Types of Mining • Placer mining: picks, shovels, and pans. • Sluices • Hydraulic mining • Come in after placer miners left • Professional

  8. Ranching • Long Horn • Adapted to Texas • Ranching begins • Open range • Long Drive • To MO, KS, NE, WY • Most cattle ended up in Chicago

  9. Cattle Kingdoms • Land was Free • Homestead Act only applied to surveyed land • Hope for sudden wealth • Cowboy traditions and rules • Round up, branding, line-riding • Became big business • Investors from overseas and eastern US

  10. Problems in Cattle Country • Overstocking • By stock companies from East and Overseas • Barbed Wire • Closed the trails • Range wars • Ended open-range • Bad years 85-87 • Dry summers and the worst blizzards • Thousands of cattle died

  11. Settling the Plains • Major Stephen Long • Explored plains “almost wholly unfit for cultivation.” • Homestead Act • $10 fee – 160 acre plots (homestead) • With the assurance of land many will flock to the plains.

  12. Farming the Plains • Dry-Farming • Plant deep • Plows, sod drills • Sod Busters • Plow, wind erosion, drought • Lost homestead

  13. Wheat Belt • Big business • Bonanza Farms 50,000 acres • Biggest wheat exporter • Farm hit hard times • Drought • Mortgage land • Tenement farms

  14. Closing the Frontier • 1889 last territory for settlement • Frederick Jackson Turner • “Safety Valve” a place for people to get a fresh start – the social discontent.

  15. The Indian Barrier • Plains Indians • Nomadic people – follow buffalo • Physically finest in west • Skilled Horsemen (20 arrows to one rifle shot) • Fighting for way of life

  16. Sioux Uprising • 1862 Minnesota – the Dakota Sioux agreed to live on reservations in exchange for annuities (annual payments from government) • The payments rarely got to the Sioux • Poverty and starvation was a real possibility • After the rebellion was suppressed • 308 sentenced to death • Reduced to 38 by Lincoln

  17. Sand Creek • Cheyenne-Arapaho • Led by Chief Black Kettle • Raided settlers • Told to Surrender at Ft. Lyon • Black Kettle wanted to negotiate peace • Retreated to Sand Creek • Col. Chivington attacked and killed ½ the tribe

  18. Plan for Peace • Indian Peace Commission • Create 2 Large Reservations • Keep Indians separated from Settlers • Doomed from the beginning • faced poverty, starvation, and corruption on reservations • Settlers and Indians both violated treaties

  19. Little Bighorn • Black Hills opened for mining • Last straw for Sioux • Chief Sitting Bull • Amassed warriors at Little Bighorn River • Col. George Custer • Attacked without orders • 265 men stumbled into 3000 Sioux warriors • Custer was seen as a hero

  20. Fight of Nez Perce • Chief Joseph • Refused to move to a smaller reservation • Led 700 people 1,600 miles • 100 warriors defeated 10 units • 4 months on the run • Caught 40 miles from Canada • Ordered to move to reservation

  21. Wounded Knee • Ghost Dance • A ritual to bring back buffalo and make whites disappear • Was banned by Government for fear of violence • Federal Troops killed c.200 Lakota

  22. Dawes Act • 160 acre plots • Head of household • In trust for 25 years • Become citizens in 25 years • Rest of reservation land to be sold to settlers and put in a trust for American Indians • Goal • Assimilate • Indian Schools to “civilize”

  23. Failure • Did not change anything • Most did not have the Knowledge • Many had no desire • in the end buffalo did more to change American Indians than policy.

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