The Great West&

The Agricultural Revolution

Chapter 26

1865-1896

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

Indian Conflict

Before the white man, the Comanches had driven the Apaches of the Central PlainsThe Cheyenne abandoned their villages on the Upper Mississippi & Missouri Rivers and moved out onto the PlainsCheyenne and Sioux were deadly and efficient hunters and warriors mounted on horses

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

Treaties

The federal government tried to pacify the Indians with treatiesFort Laramie (1851) Fort Atkinson (1853)Marked the beginning of reservations on the PlainsProblem: “tribes” and “chiefs” were figments of white imagination

Indian Wars1865-1875Fierce warfare b/t Indians and the US Army raged throughout the American West for domination of the Plains1/5 of US Army on the Plains were black soldiers – called “buffalo soldiers” by the Indians

Sand Creek MassacreColorado – 1864Col. J.M. ChivingtonMilitia massacred 400 Indians who believed they had been given immunityMen, women, and children were killed while praying for mercy

Bozeman TrailMontana – 1866Sioux war party tried to block construction of the Bozeman Trail which led to gold fields in MTCpt. William J. Fetterman & 81 men were massacredNot one single survivor

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

Little Bighorn1874Col. George Armstrong Custer led “scientific” expedition into the Black Hills of SDAnnounced he found goldMany rushed in to look for gold

Battle at Little Bighorn

Custer’s 7th cavalry (264 men) surprised by over 2,500 Sioux warriorsLittle Bighorn River in MontanaAll Custer’s men were killed, including Custer

Nez PerceNorthwestern OregonForced onto a reservation in 1877Chief Joseph surrendered all 700 Nez Perce after a 1700 mile huntPromised land in Idaho but sent to Kansas reservation where many died of illness

ApacheArizona 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

Indian PolicyWhites realized it was easier to feed than fight the Native AmericanThe railroad shot an arrow right through the heart of the WestIndians were ravaged by white man’s disease and firewaterExtermination of buffalo ended life on the Plains

American Bison

1600s – 10s of millions of bison on the PlainsStaff of life for IndiansFlesh – foodDung – fuelHides – clothes, lariats, and harnesses

The Buffalo

1865- 15,000,000 bison still grazing on the PlainsWilliam “Buffalo Bill” Cody – killed 4,000 buffalo in 18 months while employed by the Kansas Pacific RRRR = massacre of buffalo herds“sportsmen” killed buffalo from moving trains for entertainment1885 – fewer than 1,000 buffalo on the Plains

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

Ghost Dance

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 manUS Army bloodily stamped it out at the Battle of Wounded Knee

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

Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

Sen. Henry DawesAct dissolved many tribes as legal entities, wiped out tribal ownership of land, set up Indian family heads with 160 acresTitle and citizenship in 25 years if they would assimilate

Indian Policy

Indians not granted full citizenship until 1924

Reservation land not allotted was sold to RR and settlers

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

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

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

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

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”

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

Meatpacking Industry

Stockyards and meat packing became pillar of the economyKansas City and ChicagoMeat could be shipped east in newly invented refrigerated cars

Long Drive

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

Marshall James B.“Wild Bill”Hickock

Famous lawman of the wild west cowtownsShot dead in 1876Others included Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett, and others1866-1888 – over 4 million steers driven north

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

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

Sodbusters

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

Dry-farmingFrequent 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

Statehood

Colorado 1876

Between 1888-1890

North Dakota

South Dakota

Montana

Washington

Idaho

Wyoming

Mormon Utah

Outlawed polygamy in 1890Utah admitted to the United States in 1896

Only OK,NM, and AZ remained as territories

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

Oklahoma

April 22, 188912pm high noon50,000 “Boomers” left to claim landKnown as “89ers”Guthrie became a tent city of 10,000 overnight1907 – OK statehood

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 StatesFrederick Jackson Turner – The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893Americans worried that no more free land existed

National Parks

Americans worried that the frontier was gone

Yellowstone (1872)

Yosemite and Sequoia (1890)

Frontier was also a state of mind

S.F. and Denver

Western cities like San Francisco and Denver became “safety valves” for failed western farmers1880 – Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was the most urbanized region in America by % of people in citiesAmerican Southwest collides with Hispanic influence that remains today

FarmsHigh prices convinced farmers to focus on one “cash” cropWould use profits to buy foodstuffs and necessities at the general storeManufactured goods bought in town or through mail orderChicago firm of Aaron Montgomery Ward made first mail order catalogue in 1872

Bonanza Farms

Enormous factory like farms with large harvest for profit

1890 – some bonanza farms were over 15,000 acres apiece

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

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

The Grange1st obj. – enhance the lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activitiesPicnicsConcerts LecturesSome even joined the Masons1875 – 800,000 members in South and MidwestEst. co-op stores, and co-op grain elevators

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

Prelude To PopulismFarmers’ Alliance – founded in Texas in late 1870sFarmers come together to socialize and help one another out through co-op buying and selling1890 – one million membersWeakened itself by not allowing blacks and excluding all tenant farmers and farm laborersColored Farmers National Alliance – org. 1890

American Populism

Peoples’ PartyTheir attack was against Wall St.Populists wanted to nationalize the RR, telephones, and telegraphWanted a gradual income tax

Populist Party

Called for a loan institution for farmers (a sub-treasury)Wanted free and unlimited silver coinage – many Populists believed this was a cure-allBy 1892, Populists had won several seats in Congress and James B. Weaver won over 1 million votes in the presidential election

“Gen.” Jacob S. Coxey

Wealthy labor leader who led march on DC1894 – called for public works program and $500 million in reliefMarch was a joke – he was arrested for walking on the grass

The Pullman Strike

Chicago – 1894

Eugene V. Debs org. American Railway Union to strike

Pullman Palace Car Company – cut wages 10% for 2nd time

Pullman Strike

Wages cut, workers went on strikeParalyzed RR from Chicago to Pacific CoastAmerican Federation of Labor (AF of L) did not support strikePresident Cleveland was advised to call in federal troops to crush the strikeDebs spent 6 months in jail

William McKinley

Republican McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan McKinley – pro-goldBryan – pro-silver, wanted 16 oz. silver = 1 oz. goldMcKinley wins 271-176The Gold Standard Act of 1900 – paper currency redeemable in gold only