Unit 6: The West in American History



Unit 8: The West in American History

Most historians think of the frontier not as a geographic place, but as a pattern of settlement that came in repeating waves. News of fabulous gold strikes lured thousands to the West initially. Many hoped to get rich by mining while others moved West to supply the miners’ needs. In time, farmers and ranchers followed and settled permanently in the West, lured by cheap land and the wide open spaces.

Historians, then, identify 2 frontiers in the West…the mining frontier and the ranching/farming frontier.

I. THE MINING FRONTIER

Gold and Silver Strikes

In 1859, two young prospectors struck gold in the Sierra Nevada. Suddenly, another miner, Henry Comstock, appeared. “The land is mine,” he cried, and demanded that they make him a partner. From then on, Comstock boasted about “his” mine. The strike became known as the Comstock Lode. A lode is a rich vein of gold or silver.

It was clear from the start that the Comstock Lode was rich in gold. Some Mexican miners later discovered that the land was even richer in silver. In fact, Comstock had stumbled onto one of the richest silver mines in the world.

From mining camp to boom town. The Comstock Lode attracted thousands of prospectors from many countries. A tent city formed at the edge of the desert, near the diggings. The mining camp grew into the boom town of Virginia City, Nevada.

Other strikes. At about the same time as the discovery in Nevada, gold was found in Colorado at Pike’s Peak. Once again, the news spread quickly and a new “gold rush” was on. The cities of Denver and Colorado Springs grew up near rich gold mines. In the following years, miners found valuable ore in Montana and Idaho. In the 1870s, miners also made major gold strikes in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Effects of the Boom

Thousands of people came west to supply the miners’ needs. Towns grew up near all the major mining sites. Many lasted only a few years. When the ore was gone, boom towns often turned into ghost towns. Other settlements lasted and grew. Some miners stayed on even when they found no gold. They opened stores, restaurants, and hotels.

Problems. The surge of miners into Colorado, Nevada, and the Dakotas created problems. Mines and towns polluted clear mountain streams. Miners cut down forests to get wood for buildings. They also forced Native Americans from the land. A few miners got rich quick. Most did not. Much of the gold and silver could be reached only with expensive rock-crushing machinery and drills. Because of this fact, only those with considerable financial backing could hope to find any real riches…the “average” miner clung to his hope of striking it rich but generally, worked back-breaking hours finding just enough ore to survive.

THE IMPACT of the RAILROAD

Without question, the single most important factor in the development of the West was the construction of thousands of miles of railroad lines. The people on the mining frontier needed food, clothing, and supplies and the various railroad companies raced to lay track to the mines. The federal government encouraged railroad building in the West. During the Civil War and Congress loaned money and gave land to railroad companies. Both Congress and the railroad companies ignored the rights of Native Americans living on this land.

The race. In 1863, two companies began a race to build the first transcontinental railroad. The Union Pacific started building a rail line from Omaha, Nebraska, westward. The Central Pacific began in Sacramento, California, and built eastward.

Immigrant workers. Both companies had trouble getting workers. Labor was scarce during the Civil War. Also, the work was backbreaking and dangerous, and the pay was low. The railroad companies hired immigrant workers (mainly Chinese and Irish), who accepted low wages.

Railroad workers faced an enormous task. The Central Pacific first had to cross scorching deserts in California and then carve a path through the Sierra Nevada. The Union Pacific had to cut through the towering Rocky Mountains. Snowstorms and avalanches in the mountains killed workers and slowed progress. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific met at Promontory Point, north of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, on May 10, 1869.

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Railroads Bring Rapid Growth

Before long, other major rail lines linked the West and the East. The railroads brought growth and new settlement all across the West. They enabled people, supplies, and mail to move quickly and cheaply across the plains and mountains. Wherever rail lines went, towns and cities sprang up along the tracks.

Because of their rapid growth, western territories began to apply for statehood. Nevada became a state in 1864, Colorado in 1876, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington in 1889. Idaho and Wyoming entered the Union in 1890.

THE PLAINS INDIANS

Nations of the Plains

Many different Native American nations lived on the Great Plains. Plains Indians had rich and varied cultures. They had well-organized religions, made fine handicrafts, and created much poetry. Each nation had its own language. People from different nations used sign language to talk to each other.

By the 1700s, hunting replaced farming as the basis of life for many Plains people. These Indians moved often, following the huge herds of buffalo that roamed the Plains.

Way of Life

The routine of the Plains Indians closely mirrored the movement of the buffalo. In winter, small groups of buffalo moved off the Plains to protected valleys and forests. In summer, when grass grew high on the Plains, buffalo gathered there in huge herds. Plains Indians followed the same pattern.

Working together. Small bands of about 100 people often lived together like a large family during the winter. Sometimes, a band included Native Americans from several nations. People in each group shared chores and owned many things in common.

Native Americans also gathered for buffalo drives. During a drive, the Indians built a corral, or enclosure, at the bottom of a steep hill. Hunters drove a herd of buffalo into the corral and killed them. Plains Indians depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter.

Role of women. Women oversaw life in the village and in the home. The home was the center of family life. Women made clothing, tepees, tools - everything but weapons. In some tribes, women hunted with the men.

BROKEN PROMISES

Settlers and Indians Clash

By the 1850s, many Americans who crossed the Plains on their way to California and Oregon told of land that was good for farming and ranching. Slowly, settlers began to move onto the Plains.

A new policy toward Indians. In 1851, federal government officials met with Indian nations near Fort Laramie in Wyoming. The officials asked each nation to keep to a limited area. In return, they promised money, domestic animals, agricultural tools, and other goods. Officials told the Native Americans that the lands they received would be theirs forever.

Native American leaders agreed to the government’s terms in the Fort Laramie Treaty. Yet settlers continued to trespass on Indian lands. Then in 1858, miners struck gold at Pikes Peak in Colorado. The gold strike brought miners onto land that the government had promised to the Cheyenne and Arapaho.

“A trail of blood.” In the 1860s, federal officials forced Indian leaders to sign a new treaty giving up the land around Pikes Peak. Some Native Americans refused to accept the agreement. They attacked trains, burned homes, and killed miners and soldiers.

The army struck back. In 1864, Colonel John Chivington led his soldiers against a Cheyenne village. These Cheyenne were not at war. In fact, the government had promised to protect them. When Chivington attacked, the Indians raised a white flag to show that they surrendered. Chivington ignored the flag. In the Chivington Massacre (aka the Sand Creek Massacre), the soldiers slaughtered about 150 men, women, and children. The Chivington Massacre outraged Native Americans. Across the Plains, soldiers and Indians went to war.

Efforts at Peace

Federal officials set up a peace commission in 1867. The commission wanted to end the wars on the Plains so that railroad builders and miners would be safe. The commission urged Native Americans to settle down and live as white farmers did.

A new treaty. In 1867, the southern Plains Indians—including the Kiowa, Comanche, and Arapaho—signed a new agreement with the government. These nations promised to move to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The Indians were unhappy with the new treaty but knew they had no choice. The soil in Oklahoma was poor. Also, most Plains Indians were hunters, not farmers.

Indians of the northern Plains—the Lakota Sioux and northern Arapahos—also signed a treaty. They agreed to live on reservations that included all of present-day South Dakota.

Sioux War of 1876

In 1874, prospectors found gold in the Black Hills region of the Lakota reservation. Thousands of miners rushed to land that the government had given to the Sioux. Led by Sitting Bull, the most important Sioux chief, and Crazy Horse, the Indians fought back in what became known as the Sioux War of 1876.

The army attacks. In June 1876, Colonel George A. Custer led a column of soldiers into the Little Bighorn Valley. He had orders to drive the Indians to the reservation. Indian scouts warned Custer that Sioux and Cheyenne were camped ahead. Although outnumbered, Custer attacked with only 225 men. Crazy Horse led his warriors against Custer. During the battle, Custer and his men were trapped. One by one, the soldiers were killed.

A hollow victory. The Battle of Little Bighorn was a victory for the Indians. But the Indians’ triumph was short lived. Eventually, the Sioux and Cheyenne were forced onto reservations.

End of the Buffalo

The Plains Indians suffered from lost battles and broken treaties. Even worse for them, the buffalo were being destroyed.

In the 1860s, hired hunters killed thousands of animals to provide food for railroad crews laying tracks across the prairie. Later, buffalo hunting became a fashionable sport. The final blow came in the 1870s, when buffalo hide blankets became popular in the East. With 2 to 3 million hides being taken every year, the number of buffalo on the Plains dropped from 13 million in 1860 to a few hundred in 1900. With the buffalo gone, the Plains Indians struggled for survival. In the end, however, the army forced them to settle on reservations.

The Ghost Dance

Many Indians longed for their lost way of life. On the reservations, the Lakotas turned to a religious ceremony called the Ghost Dance. It celebrated the time when Native Americans lived freely on the Plains.

As the Ghost Dance spread, settlers expressed alarm. The Indians, they said, were preparing for war. Settlers persuaded the government to outlaw the Ghost Dance. In December 1890, police officers entered the Standing Rock Reservation. They intended to arrest Sitting Bull, who was living on the reservation. They claimed that he was responsible for spreading the Ghost Dance among the Lakotas. In the struggle that followed, Sitting Bull was accidentally shot and killed.

Wounded Knee

Badly upset by Sitting Bull’s death, groups of Sioux fled the reservations. Army troops pursued them and brought them to Wounded Knee Creek, in present-day South Dakota. On December 29, the Indians agreed to surrender. Under the watchful eye of the nervous troops, they began to give up their guns.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. The army opened fire with rifles and machine guns. By the time the shooting stopped, nearly 300 Native American men, women, and children lay dead. About 30 soldiers also died.

The fighting at Wounded Knee marked the end of the Indian wars and the end of the Ghost Dance religion.

Failed Reforms

The Native Americans were no longer able to resist the government. During the late 1800s, the army forced more Indians onto reservations every year.

Reformers speak out. Many people—Indian and white—spoke out against the tragedy taking place on the Great Plains. In a speech in Washington, D.C., Chief Joseph made a stirring case against forcing Native Americans to live on reservations. Susette La Flesche, daughter of an Omaha chief, wrote and lectured about the destruction of the Native American way of life. Her work led others to speak out and work for Indian causes.

One reformer influenced by La Flesche was Helen Hunt Jackson. In 1881, Jackson published A Century of Dishonor. The book vividly recounted the long history of broken treaties between the United States and the Native Americans.

The Dawes Act. Calls for reform led Congress to pass the Dawes Act in 1887. The intent of the Act was to assimilate Native Americans into white culture. To accomplish this, the Act directed that Native American lands be divided up and given to individual families to farm. The federal government took away the power of Indian leaders. In their place, it appointed government agents to make most decisions. These agents believed that Native Americans should give up their old ways, including their language, religion, and customs.

To the Native Americans, the land was an open place to ride and hunt—not something to divide into small parcels. As a result, Indians often sold their parcels to whites for low prices.

Because Native Americans could no longer hunt buffalo, many had to depend on food and supplies guaranteed by treaties. Few Indians were content with life on the reservations.

IV. RANCHING AND FARMING FRONTIER

Driving Cattle to Market

Before the arrival of settlers from the United States, the Spanish and then the Mexicans set up cattle ranches in the Southwest. Over the years, strays from these ranches grew into large herds of wild cattle, known as longhorns. They roamed freely across the grassy plains of Texas.

Increased demand for beef. After the Civil War, the demand for beef increased. Growing cities in the East needed more meat. Miners, railroad crews, and soldiers in the West added to the demand. They no longer could depend on buffalo for food.

The “long drive”. Texas ranchers began rounding up herds of longhorns in the 1860s. They then drove the herds hundreds of miles north to rail lines in Kansas and Missouri. The long trips were called cattle drives. “Cow towns” at the end of the cattle drive were wild and often lawless places. Saloons, gambling and prostitution flourished. Kansas towns such as Wichita, Dodge City, and Abilene had their origins as the end of the “long drive”.

The Cowhand’s Life

Cattle drives would not have been possible without cowhands. These hard workers kept the cattle moving and rounded up strays. A cattle drive was usually hot, dirty, tiring work. Cowhands learned to live with discomfort and danger.

After long weeks on the trail, cowhands were happy to reach one of the cow towns along the railroads. For example, the Chisholm Trail ended in Abilene, Kansas. There, ranchers built pens for cattle. They shipped cattle from Abilene to markets in the East on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.

The Cattle Boom

A Cattle Kingdom grew up in the West during the 1870s. Ranching spread north from Texas across the Plains. Soon cattle grazed on the grassy plains from Kansas to present-day Montana.

An era ends. In the 1870s, farmers began moving onto the range. By 1900, half a million farmers had arrived. In 1862, Joseph Glidden had invented barbed wire and in the 1870s, farmers strung it to keep cattle and sheep away from their fields. Soon the open range began to disappear.

Bad weather speeded the end of the Cattle Kingdom. The winter of 1885 was harsh. The following summer was blistering hot and dry. The bitter cold of the next winter killed millions of head of cattle. By the spring of 1887, nine out of ten head of cattle on the northern Plains had frozen to death.

The days of the Cattle Kingdom were over. Cattle ranchers began to buy land and fence it in. Soon, farmers and ranchers had divided the open range into a patchwork of large fenced plots.

Farmers on the Plains

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act. Under the act, the government gave 160 acres of land to anyone who farmed it for five years. The government wanted to encourage farmers to settle the West. It also wanted to give poor people in the East a chance to own their own farms.

Homesteaders. Many easterners rushed to accept the offer of free land. By 1900, half a million farmers had settled on the Great Plains under the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act had its problems. Only about 20 percent of the homestead land went directly to small farmers. Big landowning companies took large areas of land illegally.

Exodusters. African Americans joined the rush for homestead land. The largest group moved west at the end of Reconstruction. At this time, southern blacks saw many of their hard-won freedoms slip away.

In 1879, a group of African Americans decided to move to Kansas. They called themselves Exodusters. They took the name from Exodus, the book of the Bible that tells about the Jews escaping slavery in Egypt.

White southerners did not want to lose the cheap labor supplied by African Americans. To prevent their leaving, whites stopped the boats carrying Exodusters up the Mississippi. Despite the danger, between 40,000 and 70,000 African Americans moved to Kansas by 1881.

Adapting to the Plains

The farmers who had settled on the Great Plains in the 1860s and 1870s were better off than later arrivals. The first farmers claimed sites near trees and water. Later settlers had to move onto the open Plains.

Houses of sod. Finding shelter was the first problem settlers faced. Because wood was scarce on the Plains, many farmers built “soddies”…houses of sod (soil held together by the prairie grass roots).

New farm tools. The soil of the Plains was rich and fertile. However, early settlers had a hard time breaking through the thick layer of matted sod that covered the soil. The sod would break their wood or iron plows.

James Oliver of Indiana designed a lightweight plow made of strong steel. It helped sodbusters, as Plains farmers were called, to cut through the sod to the soil below.

Another help was the seed drill, which planted seeds deep in the earth. There, the seeds got the moisture they needed to grow. Farmers used new reapers, threshing machines, and binders to harvest their crops.

To tap a deep water source, farmers built windmills. Windmills used the strong winds that whipped across the open Plains to pump water to the surface.

Threats from nature. The farther west the sodbusters settled, the drier the climate was. When too little rain fell, crops shriveled and died. Dry weather also brought the threat of fire. In a strong wind, a grass fire traveled “as fast as a horse could run.” Summers often brought swarms of grasshoppers. They ate everything in their path - crops, food, tree bark, even clothing.

However, pioneers dreaded winter most. The Plains had few trees or hills to block the wind. As a result, icy gusts built huge snowdrifts around barns and houses. Snow buried farm animals and trapped families inside their homes.

Hard times on the Plains discouraged many farmers. Some packed their belongings and fled back to the East. Others headed for the milder climates of the West Coast.

End of the Frontier

In the early 1880s, Oklahoma was home to Native Americans. Some eastern Indians had been forced to move there in the 1830s. Later, the government had moved Plains Indians to the area. In 1885, however, the government bought back the land from the Indians.

Late in April 1889, as many as 100,000 land seekers lined up at the Oklahoma border. The government had announced that farmers could claim free homesteads in Oklahoma. As the “boomers” charged into Oklahoma, they found to their surprise that others were already there. “Sooners” had sneaked into Oklahoma and staked out much of the best land.

The 1890 census reported that the United States no longer had a frontier. For 100 years, the frontier had absorbed immigrants, adventurers, and city folks. Now, the frontier was closed.

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