the closing of the western frontier
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The Closing of the Western Frontier. Out of Many Chapter 18. A lot of slides within this powerpoint were created by Pamela Montague. Key Tensions. Buffalo Hunters Railroads U. S. Government. Native Americans. Cattlemen. Sheep Herders. Farmers. Ranchers. Key Tensions. Ethnic Minorities. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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The Closing of the Western Frontier
Out of ManyChapter 18
A lot of slides within this powerpoint were created by Pamela Montague.
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Key TensionsKey TensionsNative
AmericansBuffalo HuntersRailroadsU. S. Government
Cattlemen Sheep Herders
Ranchers Farmers
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Key TensionsKey TensionsEthnic
MinoritiesNativists
EnvironmentalistsBig Business InterestsLocal Govt. OfficialsFarmersBuffalo Hunters
Lawlessness of the
Frontier“Civilizing”
Forces
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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)
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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.
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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.”
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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:
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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."
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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
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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
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Colt .45 Colt .45 RevolverRevolver
God didn’t make men equal.God didn’t make men equal.Colonel Colt did!Colonel Colt did!
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Legendary Gunslingers & Legendary Gunslingers & Train RobbersTrain Robbers
Jesse JamesJesse James
Billy the KidBilly the Kid
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Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Mining (“Boom”) Towns--Now Ghost TownsNow Ghost Towns
Calico, CACalico, CA
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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!
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William “Buffalo Bill” William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Cody’s Wild West
ShowShow
Wild West vaudeville shows traveled worldwide
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““Buffalo Bill” CodyBuffalo Bill” Cody& Sitting Bull& Sitting Bull
Annie Oakley
Calamity Jane
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“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….
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…THE LONG DRIVE WAS ESTABLISHED BY ’66 where herds were driven to rail centers in Kansas and Missouri.
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TheTheCattleCattleTrailsTrails
Routes were known as “trails.”
The most famous was the Chisholm Trail (San Antonio to Abilene).
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• 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
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MANY DIFFICULTIES ONTHE LONG DRIVE:
• Overgrazing• Disease• Floods• Droughts• Stampedes• Rustlers• Homesteaders• Cold Winters/Blizzards
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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.”
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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
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BlackBlack“Exoduster”“Exoduster”HomesteadeHomesteade
rsrs
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PROBLEMS OF PLAINS FARMERS
• NATURAL DISASTERS:– DROUGHT– SEVERE CLIMATE– PRAIRIE FIRES– GRASSHOPPER PLAGUES
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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?
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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The “Chinese Question”The “Chinese Question”
§ Exclusion Act (1882)Exclusion Act (1882) - Oriental Exclusion - Oriental Exclusion ActAct - Chinese Exclusion - Chinese Exclusion ActAct
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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?
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Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park
First national First national park established park established
in 1872.in 1872.