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JUST DO IT!

CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE & SETTLING ON THE GREAT PLAINS

Chapter 13

CULTURES CLASH

Main Idea – The cattle industry boomed in the late 1800s, as the culture of the Plains Indians declined. Settlers on the Great Plains transformed the land despite great hardships.

SETTLERS PUSH WESTWARD• Background: Following the Civil

War, the westward movement of settlers increased in the region between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.

• Great Plains – def. – the grassy lands that extend through the western-central portion of the United States• Settlers focused on settling and

farming the Great Plains

• SIG – multiple conflicts with Native Americans resulted• Native American groups were placed

on reservations throughout the Great Plains

CATTLE BECOME BIG BUSINESS• Background: Following the

Civil War, railroads reached the Great Plains at the same time that the demand for beef increased in eastern cities.

• Cowboy – def. - herder of cattle on the Great Plains who could round up, rope, brand, and care for cattle during long cattle drives in the American West

• Long cattle drive – transporting of cattle over unfenced grazing lands between Texas and railroad centers on the Great Plains

SETTLERS MOVE WESTWARD TO FARM

Transcontinental Railroad

Homestead Act Oklahoma Land

Rush

TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

• Background: Following the Civil War, railroads became very important in opening western lands to settlers and transporting crops to eastern markets

• Transcontinental Railroad (est. 1869)– linked eastern and western markets and led to increased settlement of western lands from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean

HOMESTEAD ACT • Homestead Act

(1862) – offered 160 acres of land in the West (for free) to any citizen who would settle and farm the land for 5 years

• 600,000 families took advantage of this government offer

• Many homesteaders were southerners – both White and African-American

OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH

Oklahoma Land Rush (1889) – land-hungry settlers raced to claim lands in a massive land rush, people who left too early = Sooners

Land Rush (Far and Away)

Oklahoma Land Rush

This photograph was taken days after the first of the Oklahoma Territory "Land Rushes", which took place April 22, 1889. At noon on April 22, an estimated 50,000 people lined up to claim their lot of land, and before sundown, at least 10,000 settled in Guthrie, which eventually became the first capital of the new Oklahoma Territory. It has been said that Guthrie was literally built in a single afternoon.

SUPPORT FOR FARMERS

New Technology Agricultural

Education

NEW TECHNOLOGY• steel-tipped plow –

invented by John Deere, helped farmers slice through heavy soil

• mechanical reaper – invented by Cyrus McCormick, increased speed of harvesting wheat

• barbed wire – prevented animals from trampling crops or wandering off from farms

• SIG – made farming more efficient and prosperous

barbed wire

Agricultural Technology

Steel tipped plow

Mechanical reaper

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

Morrill Act (1862) – federal government gave land to states to build agricultural schools (ex: Virginia Tech)

SIG – innovations and education led to more productive harvests

RESULTS

• Overall – By 1900, the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain region of the American West was no longer a mostly unsettled frontier, but instead it became a region of farms, ranches and towns