The Closing of the Western Frontier

Out of ManyChapter 18

A lot of slides within this powerpoint were created by Pamela Montague.

Key TensionsKey TensionsNative

AmericansBuffalo HuntersRailroadsU. S. Government

Cattlemen Sheep Herders

Ranchers Farmers

Key TensionsKey TensionsEthnic

MinoritiesNativists

EnvironmentalistsBig Business InterestsLocal Govt. OfficialsFarmersBuffalo Hunters

Lawlessness of the

Frontier“Civilizing”

Forces

Plains Indians• Nomads – followed

their food source– buffalo, 12 to 15

million• Horses made them

better hunters and warriors

• Plains Wars, 1860-1890– Fight to protect

land and stop waste (buffalo)

THE BUFFALOTHE BUFFALO• The buffalo or bison

was an extremely important part of the plains people’s lives.

• They used virtually every part of the buffalo from the hide for clothing, to the stomach for holding water.

• At one time, an estimated 60 million buffalo roamed the plains of the present day United States and Canada.

A buffalo can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and live as long as 30 years.

U.S. Government Indian Policy• Dept. of Interior in charge – gross corruption

• Initial policy of CONCENTRATION•Deal with each tribe individually; to define

territories•Allegedly to stop intertribal warfare but

actually to divide & conquer• By the 1860s, policy is one of confining all to

reservations in Black Hills of SD, or OK – Indians to become farmers on the reservations

• Indians received food, supplies in return for removal to reservations & promise to be left alone

• INDIANS WAGED WAR!!• Plains Wars last from 1860-1890• Plains Indians are excellent warriors

– Sherman: “…a mere 50 Indians could often checkmate 3000 U.S. soldiers.”

The Buffalo Soldiers on the Great The Buffalo Soldiers on the Great PlainsPlains

1/5 of soldierson frontier

The nickname was given to the "Negro Cavalry" by the Native

American tribes they fought; the term eventually became

synonymous with all of the African-American regiments

formed in 1866:

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

• Colorado, Nov. 1864• Cheyenne, under

Chief Black Kettle, came to U.S. fort to negotiate

• Col. Chivington arrives at fort & ignores attempts to negotiate

• Executes them all –men, women & children

• Much mutilation

Kill & scalp all, big & Kill & scalp all, big & little!little!

ColonelJohnChivington

Battle of Little Bighorn• Treaty of Fort Laramie –

granted Sioux the right to occupy Black Hills

• Gold found in Black Hills, DK, 1874

• Col. George A. Custer, 7th Calvary – leads expedition of 264 soldiers– Suppose to say that there

wasn’t much gold to be found

– Instead, said the opposite• Sioux & Cheyenne force

of 2,500

• “Custer’s Last Stand”• 1st major victory for

Indians after a long series of defeats

• But, short-lived victory

Chief Joseph: Chief Joseph: II will fight no will fight no more forever!more forever!

Nez Percé tribal Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877)retreat (1877)

• Reservation reduced by 90% after gold discovered– 6 million acres at less

than 10 cents/acre• Flee towards Canadian

border• Surrender after 3

months & 1700 miles…..only 30 miles from the Canadian border

• Told they’ll be returned to ID, instead are sent to OK and 40% die of disease

Dawes Severalty Act Dawes Severalty Act (1887):(1887):

Assimilation PolicyAssimilation Policy

• Tribal lands split into allotments - each family 160 acres• Land can’t be disposed of for 25 years• After 25 yrs., would get citizenship & ownership of land

ASSIMILATION

• Attempt to have Indians “become white” and become part of white man’s culture

• Boarding schools, like Carlisle School, PA– “Kill the Indian & Save

the Man!”• U.S. government tries

to give them land and turn them into farmers

• Failed – Indian culture was nomadic – don’t make good farmers

Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian School (Pennsylvania)

Apache children at the Carlisle School 4 months later.

Arapahoe “Ghost Arapahoe “Ghost Dance”, 1890Dance”, 1890

• Prophet had vision– If the Indian peoples learned

to love each other, they’d have a special place in the afterlife

• The Sioux came to believe that when the day of judgment came, all Indian peoples who had ever lived would return to their lost world

• White people would vanish from the Earth

• White settlers saw this as a threat

Battle of Wounded Knee• Sioux fleeing

reservation after Sitting Bull shot

• Rounded up by Army; surrendered & herded into Wounded Knee Army Camp

• Ghost Dance• Army ordered to

disarm Indians• 190 unarmed

Indians massacred in the process

• End of Plains WarsChief Big Foot’s Lifeless Body

Factors which brought an end to Plains Indians’ way of life:

• RAILROADS!!– Destroy Buffalo– Bring out settlers,

miners, etc.• Discovery of gold/silver

on Indian lands• Disease & Firewater• Indian Wars

– Either killed them OR– Survivors forced to

move to reservations (Dakota and Oklahoma)

"Crazy Horse is being carved not so much as a lineal likeness but more as a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse -- to his people."

MINING IN THE OLD WEST:

• MAJOR GOLD STRIKES:– California,

1848– Colorado,

1858 (Pike’s Peak or Bust!”)

– Black Hills of the Dakotas, 1877

• MAJOR SILVER STRIKE:– The

“Comstock Lode” in Virginia City, Nevada

– Over $300 million of silver extracted over 18 yrs

• COPPER – MT• Only those who

could afford to invest in the large machinery were making huge profits

THESE STRIKES CAUSED MINING TOWNS TO SPRING UP:

• “Helldorados”• 1 in 3 buildings

is a saloon• Gambling,

prostitutes, etc.• “Vigilante” and

“lynch law” justice

• Deadwood, OK– Home of many

famous “Wild West” legends

Colt .45 Colt .45 RevolverRevolver

God didn’t make men equal.God didn’t make men equal.Colonel Colt did!Colonel Colt did!

Legendary Gunslingers & Legendary Gunslingers & Train RobbersTrain Robbers

Jesse JamesJesse James

Billy the KidBilly the Kid

Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Now Ghost TownsNow Ghost Towns

Calico, CACalico, CA

Role of Mining in Subduing the Frontier

• Eventually becomes “big business”– Small miners can’t get

to deep ores; need big $

• Attracts people & wealth to West

• Helped fund the Civil War & building of railroads

• Brought more conflict with the Plains Indians

• Another effect:– Discovery of gold/silver

leads to increased interest in the West…. enter the Wild West Shows!

William “Buffalo Bill” William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Cody’s Wild West

ShowShow

Wild West vaudeville shows traveled worldwide

““Buffalo Bill” CodyBuffalo Bill” Cody& Sitting Bull& Sitting Bull

Annie Oakley

Calamity Jane

“There’s gold from the grass roots down, but there’s more

gold from the grass roots up.”

• Open range ranching began in Spanish Texas– Spanish gave us techniques of roping,

herding, etc. as well as style of dress & equipment

• Between 1836 & 1860 mavericks multiplied on the open range to 3-4 million (along with the 12-15 million buffalo)

• Distinguished only by branding – owners didn’t have to own much land

• RR & refrigerated cars solve problem of getting meat to markets in NE

• So, to get cattle to the railroad centers….

…THE LONG DRIVE WAS ESTABLISHED BY ’66 where herds were driven to rail centers in Kansas and Missouri.

TheTheCattleCattleTrailsTrails

Routes were known as “trails.”

The most famous was the Chisholm Trail (San Antonio to Abilene).

• 8 to 10 cowboys could work 2,500 steer• Several thousand were black, also many

Mexican• Dime novels (“tall tales”) were created about

such legends as Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc.

Nat Love

MANY DIFFICULTIES ONTHE LONG DRIVE:

• Overgrazing• Disease• Floods• Droughts• Stampedes• Rustlers• Homesteaders• Cold Winters/Blizzards

The Fall of the The Fall of the CowboyCowboy

Frederick RemingtonFrederick Remington• Closed range ranching takes over

• Cow hands became ranch hands

• Required actual ownership of land so ranching also becomes “big business.”

The Homestead Act• 160 acres for $10 to

head of household• must improve it &

cultivate it for 5 years• Did NOT work out as

planned:– 160 acres not enough

on Great Plains– Factory workers can’t

farm– Fraud by speculators– RAILROADS!!

• Selling “better” land cheap

BlackBlack“Exoduster”“Exoduster”HomesteadeHomesteade

rsrs

PROBLEMS OF PLAINS FARMERS

• NATURAL DISASTERS:– DROUGHT– SEVERE CLIMATE– PRAIRIE FIRES– GRASSHOPPER PLAGUES

Changes inChanges inAmericanAmericanfarming:farming:

• High crop prices for wheat/corn encouraged cash crop farming

• Large scale farming becomes a business– Need mega $ to buy

new combines, etc.• Emergence of

“bonanza” farms– Pushes small

farmers off the land– Hired hands

(Mexicans, Chinese) to work the farms

• ¼ of American farms operated by tenantsHow did 1800s Plains farming

techniques help lead to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s?

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS FOR PLAINS FARMERS:

• CASH CROPS made farmers dependent on high prices– Foreign competition drove it down

• DEFLATION – farmers caught in debt cycle– have to produce more to pay back fixed

debts– Overproduction drives prices down

• MORTGAGES – high interest; foreclosures• DEPENDENT ON RR for shipping – high

rates

Government and Business Policies also hurt Farmers

• Gov’t favored industrial classes & urban areas• Local property taxes high & Westerners

can’t hide land like Easterners could hide stocks & bonds– Protective tariffs for industry; nothing for

farmers• Farmers were at mercy of corporations, trusts,

agents:– Machinery, fertilizer, barbed wire all controlled

by major trusts– Middlemen take cut of sales & kept prices high– Storage rates for grain in warehouse &

elevators high; RR freight rates also high

RAILROADS

• Sold land from land grants cheaply• Bureaus of Immigration in East & Europe

to encourage settlement in the West• Advertised myths to encourage

settlement:– Climate would cure all diseases– Women would find husbands; men get

rich quick– “Rain follows the plow”

Single greatest factor in settlingthe West.

The Reality:The Reality:

PLAINS WOMEN:• “Born and scrubbed; suffered and died.”• Morrill Act – Federal $ to help states

establish universities (land grant colleges) which were open to women

• Western women will ultimately get the vote first

The “Chinese Question”The “Chinese Question”

§ Exclusion Act (1882)Exclusion Act (1882) - Oriental Exclusion - Oriental Exclusion ActAct - Chinese Exclusion - Chinese Exclusion ActAct

Destruction of the Buffalo Destruction of the Buffalo HerdsHerds

The near extinction of the buffalo.The near extinction of the buffalo.

LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THE WESTWARD EXPERIENCE?

Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park

First national First national park established park established

in 1872.in 1872.