The Transformation of the Trans-Mississippi West 1860-1900

The Transformation of the Trans-The Transformation of the Trans-Mississippi WestMississippi West

1860-19001860-1900

1. How and why did Native Americans life on the Great

Plains change between 1850’s and 1900?2. What roles did the army and the railroads play in the

settlement of the West?3. How did Anglo-Americans displace Spanish-speaking

people in the Southwest?4. How did the Wild West image of cowboys and Indians

originate?5. Why did some Americans wish to conserve the natural

resources and beauty of the West, and how did this lead to creating the national parks?

Introduction

The Plains Indians (mid-1800s)

Northern Great Plains the Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, and other Native

American tribes roamed In the central and southern Plains

The Five Civilized Tribes, Comanches, Kiowas, Pawnees, and others lived

Plains Indians Lakota Sioux, Crow, Cheyenne Hunted and migrated buffalo herds They ate the meat and used the hides for tepees and clothing

Native Americans and the Trans-Mississippi

West

In the 1860’s, the demand for buffalo hides in the eastern

markets grew so great that white hunters, sometimes aided by the Indians, became professional buffalo killers

“Buffalo Bill” Cody 1867-1868 Killed over 4,000 animals to feed the crews building the first

transcontinental railroad By the 1880s, hunting had reduced the once huge

herds to only a few thousand animals and doomed the nomadic, buffalo-centered way of life of the Plains tribes

The Plains Indians (mid-1800’s)

By the time of the Civil War, the govt. was

pressuring Plains tribes to surrender their vast hunting grounds Settle as farmers on restricted reservations

Some tribes accepted the change peacefully Pueblos, Crows

The Assault on Nomadic Indian Life

From 1860’s and 1890 there was almost constant

warfare 100,000 Native Americans Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche Over the possession of the Great Plains and the

Southwest Many atrocities occurred

Chivington Sand Creek massacre Nov. 29, 1864 In CO About 200 Cheyennes were murdered


In 1867-1868 the govt. signed peace treaties with

many of these tribes Assigned most of them to 2 large reservations

One in present-day OK (then known as the Indian Territory)

The other in present-day South Dakota (the Great Sioux Reserve)


Many of the tribes rejected a sedentary

farming way of life Left the reservations

The army retaliated by attacking any bands off their reservations Even if those groups did not happen to be the

ones that had committed hostile acts


After the Red River war in the 1870s, the southern Plain

tribes gave up By 1886, when Geronimo surrendered, the southwestern

tribes also surrendered


The Sioux refused to report to the govt.-run

agencies on their reservations They also refused to sell the Black Hills part of

their reserve the army made war against them

The most famous casualties in that campaign were Colonel George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry

The Sioux annihilated at the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

Custer's Last Stand summary

Custer’s Last Stand, 1876

Custer’s Last Stand, 1876 Despite their brief

triumph, the Sioux were subsequently forced to settle near the govt. agencies and to surrender the Black Hills

In the late 1870’s, the army crushed brief resistance by Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce and Chief Dull Knife’s northern Cheyennes

Humanitarian reformers in the East began to cry

out against govt. mistreatment of the Indians A Century of Dishonor

1881 Helen Hunt Jackson Called attention to the sorry record of the govt. A Century of Dishonor

“Saving” the Indians

These reformers thought the best way to end the

injustice was to assimilate Indians quickly into mainstream white society

Dawes Severalty Act 1887 Ended collective tribal ownership of land

Split the reservation into 160-acre farms Assigned to the head of each Indian family

Any remaining reservation land was sold to whites At the end of 25 years, the Indians were to receive full title to

their farms and U.S. citizenship


Dawes Act

Was supported by well-intentioned reformers and whites that only wanted the Indian land

The govt. also attempted to suppress tribal languages and culture

The new policies proved disastrous for most Indians

By 1934, the total acreage owned by Indians had fallen by 65% What was left was too dry or infertile to be farmed


Desperate because of their plight, the Sioux and

other tribes turned to the Ghost Dance movement

Ghost Dance songs The army’s decision to stop the Ghost Dance

movement led: to the death of Sitting Bull The last battles between whites and Indians The 1890 Wounded Knee massacre of 300 Sioux

The Ghost Dance and the End of Indian Resistance on the Great Plains, 1890

By 1900, most of the remaining 100,000 Plains

Indians lived in poverty on their reservations Dependent on govt. support to survive

The Navajo of the Southwest adjusted more readily to reservation life By 1900 had increased their land and livestock holding

The Ghost Dance and the End of Indian Resistance on the Great Plains, 1890

The First Transcontinental Railroad

May 1869 Promontory Point, UT The meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Construction had been authorized by the Pacific

Railroad Act of 1862 Much of the labor was performed by Chinese and Irish

immigrants along with Mexican-Americans and African-Americans

Summary of transcontinental railroad

Settling the West

The railroads emerged as the biggest landlords in

the West Because the govt. granted land to the companies for

every mile of track laid By the end of the 1800’s, 9 major railroads linked

the country Made westward travel and shipping much faster

and easier

Settling the West

To encourage railroad companies to lay track

across the country, state and federal govts. granted them millions of acres of land

Eager both to sell these lands and create future customers for rail service The companies made all-out efforts to attract settlers

They opened land bureaus Sent agents to the East Coast and Europe Offered easy credit Offered free transportation out west to potential purchasers

Settlers and the Railroad

1870-1900

Railroads helped to recruit whole families, single women, over 2 million European immigrants to farm the Trans-Mississippi West

The railroads wielded great economic and social influence over western development


Their pressure for quick payment from land

buyers pushed western farmers into concentrating on producing a single cash crop Wheat or corn Made them very vulnerable to price

fluctuations on the world market


Homestead Act

1862 Helped to drawn settlers to the Great Plains Provided free 160-acre farm to anyone who would live

on and improve it over a 5-year period Especially attractive to immigrants from western and

northern Europe Distributed 80 million acres of land to 400,000 families

by 1900

Homesteading on the Great Plains

The most valuable western land ended up in the

hands of railroads, land speculators, lumber companies, and big ranchers

Homesteading pioneers on the Great Plains had to cope with major trials: Isolation Backbreaking work Extreme weather conditions Living in sod houses due to the lack of trees for lumber

Homesteading on the Great Plains (cont.)

Homesteading on the Great Plains Many gave up and left their farms Those who persisted for 10 years or more,

generally lived comfortable lives

Railroads, improved farm machinery, and

mounting eastern demand for food, all led to the development of millions of new farms

Also there was a soaring American agricultural production between 1870-1900

Starting a new farm on the Great Plains was a risky business Most settlers had to go into debt to acquire horses,

machinery, and seed

New Farms, New Markets

To meet debt payments to railroads and banks,

farmers specialized in growing cash crops Made them vulnerable to world market conditions Also dependent on the railroads to reach the markets

Uncertain rainfall and severe weather conditions added to the farmers’ problems

New Farms, New Markets

Out of crude frontier settlements, “civilized”

communities began to develop Churches and Sunday schools were usually the earliest

institutions to emerge Residents drew up state constitutions In 1860’s and 1870’s the following states entered the

Union: KS, NV, NE, CO

Most of the northern portions of the Great Plains achieved statehood in the late 1880’s and 1890’s

Building a Society and Achieving Statehood

Early 20th-century OK, AZ, and NM entered the

Union The trans-Mississippi West completed its transition

from frontier territories to states Most western govts. were conservative But they did grant women’s suffrage

By 1910, ID, WY, UT, and CO had given women full voting rights

Building a Society and Achieving Statehood

Persecuted in the East, the Mormons migrated to the

Great Salt Lake Valley Led by Brigham Young Began in 1847

They declared their territory the independent country of Deseret

Attracted many converts from the East and Europe Created church-directed govt. Practice polygyny

The Spread of Mormonism

In the 1860’s, the federal govt. began outlawing their

practices In the 1870’s, the federal govt. won backing for

repressive and coercive measures from the federal courts

Under pressure, in 1890, the Mormons renounced polygyny and church involvement in govt. Applied for statehood

UT as admitted to the Union in 1896

The Spread of Mormonism

After the Mexican War, American ranchers and

settlers in the Southwest took over the territorial govts. Forced most of the Spanish-speaking population off

the land The Mexican minority tended to become low-paid

day laborers Faced discrimination and periodic violent attacks

Southwestern Borderlands

Mexican-Americans fought back by organizing

groups such as Las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps) They had little success

The Hispanic struggle for justice and equality would continue throughout the 20th century

Southwestern Borderlands

The Mining Frontier

Mining booms in the West 1849=CA Gold Rush

Gold Rush summary 1850’s=Sierra, NV and British Columbia New gold and silver strikes followed in NV, CO,

ID, MT, WY, SD, AK

Exploiting the Western Landscape

The Mining Frontier (cont.)

Each new discovery brought a rush of eager

prospectors who believed in the get-rich-quick myth of the West

Infamous boomtowns such as Virginia City, NV sprang up

Virginia City, NV pictures Most quickly declined into ghost towns when the

mines were depleted Legends of American--Ghost towns

The Mining Frontier

A few individual prospectors with picks, shovels,

and strainers made a fortune Most barely earned a living though

The real profits went to large mining companies backed by European and eastern capital Had the expensive equipment necessary to mine the

gold and silver deposits deep underground

The Mining Frontier

These mining companies did stimulate the

U.S. economy They also ravaged the landscape and filled

the surrounding area with smoke and chemicals

The Mining Frontier (cont.)

Open range cattle industry was successful:

Confinement of the Plains Indians on reservations Extension of the railroad into KS Construction of new stockyards at railheads

Abilene, KS Railroad promoters enticed thousands of people

to enter the business by predicting great profits For a time open-range ranchers did make fortunes Ordinary cowboys did not make a profit

Tended the cattle on the long drives to the railheads

Cowboys and the Cattle Frontier

Most cowboys were poorly paid young men About 1/5 were black or Mexican Peak between 1880-1885 The industry declined rapidly

Overgrazing Fencing of the open range by farmers Freezing winters of 1885 and 1886

Killed 90% of the steers in some regions



The open range and great cattle drives disappeared Cattle ranching still continues today

The open-range cattle industry produced legendary

cattle towns Abilene, KS Dodge City, KS Cozad, NE

These towns were generally less lawless and violent than they have been portrayed in novels, films, and TV

Did have many saloons and prostitutes Prostitutes came from many different class and ethnic

backgrounds

The Cattle Towns and Prostitutes

Speculators Believed that enormous profits

could be made in large-scale wheat growing the late 1870’s and the 1880’s established ten-thousand-acre farms invested heavily in the latest equipment

Bonanza Farms

Bonanza Farm in ND

For a while these bonanza farms did reap handsome profits In 1890 many enterprises went into bankruptcy:

Overproduction Poor weather conditions Falling wheat prices

Large-scale farming did best in CA Big growers irrigated their land Cooperatively marketed their citrus fruit under the “Sunkist”

trademark

Bonanza Farms

The federal govt. initially set aside OK as a

reservation for various Native American tribes Pressure form land-hungry farmers mounted The govt. reconsidered In 1889, Congress opened some 2 million acres in

the hear of the Indian Territory to white settlers Within weeks, OK pioneers filed 6,000 homestead

claims

The Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889

In the following years, under the provisions

of the Dawes Act, more and more OK land passed into the hands of whites

Curtis Act Congress passed in 1889 Proclaimed the end of the Indian Territory Curtis Act--OK Historical Society

The Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889

The West of Life and Legend The American Adam and

the Dime-Novel Hero Writers in the middle of the

19th century often presented the West as a place to escape from the corruptions of civilization

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 1885 Description of life along the

Mississippi River

In the 1860’s and 1870’s, eastern dime-novel

writers created the western novel Frontiersman hero who fights Indians and “bad

guys” for right and justice “Buffalo Bill”

Character made famous by Ned Buntline Modeled after William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody

Cashed in on the fame by founding a Wild West touring show that became extremely popular

The American Adam and the Dime-Novel Hero

“Buffalo Bill” Cody

The dime novels and Wild West shows caught the

fancy of 3 young members of the eastern elite: Theodore Roosevelt Frederic Remington Owen Wister

They visited the West and made it the subject of their histories, art, and novels

Revitalizing the Frontier Legend

They fostered the frontier legend of the West: as a testing ground in which the fittest and best

survived As the home of the cowboy

who embodied the essence of manly virtue

Revitalizing the Frontier Legend

Beginning a National Parks Movement

The frontier legend provoked some public interest in protecting the West’s natural beauty and wonders John Wesley Powell, Henry D. Washburn, George

Perkins Marsh, John Muir The nation created its first national parks

Yellowstone and Yosemite

Beginning a National Parks Movement

Sierra Club First organization

dedicated to conservation

Muir was first president

Sierra Club website

As Americans struggled to adjust to the disruptive

changes brought by industrialization and urbanization

They embraced the myth of the West as a paradise Life was simple, moral right and wrong were clear-cut,

and opportunity abounded That myth was created by popular writers,

journalists, artists, railroad publicists, and politicians

Conclusion

The myth ignored the darker elements of westward

expansion: The use of the army to destroy the way of life of the Native

Americans and force them onto reservations The heedless exploitation of the environment The fact that the individual prospectors, ranchers, and

homesteaders were increasingly overtaken by big eastern-financed companies in mining, ranching, and agribusiness

Conclusion

It was also true that the creation of new western

settlements: enhanced the image of the United States as a land of

opportunities Fostered certain democratic ideas

Extending the vote to women Gave birth to the conservation movement

The development of the vast western resources made the nation one of the world’s richest powers by 1900

Conclusion

Documents

The Transformation of the Trans-Mississippi West 1860-1900