Transformation of the Trans-Mississippi West 1860-1900
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Chapter 17 TRANSFORMATION OF THE TRANSMISSISSIPPI WEST 1860-1900 THE WEST “Vast, trackless spaces” – Walt Whitman 1890 census= Frontier Closed Significance of the Frontier in American History – Frederick Jackson Turner Distinctive qualities of American culture forged Safety valve Individual freedom Political democracy Economic mobility For those dissatisfied in East Counteracted social unrest Nothing more visible and dramatic than the destruction of the traditional Indian way of life Spanish forced Indians into trading networks in SW Navajos give up nomadic ways for agriculture Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux forced to Great Plains THE MYTHICAL WEST PLAINS INDIANS Three sub regions: Northern Plains Central Region Kansas, Colorado, Eastern NM and TX Comanche, Apaches migratory Commonalities 5 Civilized tribes Pursued agricultural life Pawnees South Dakotas, Montana to Nebraska Dominated by large tribes like Lakota, Arapahos Adapted to environment by hunting Bison and Buffalo Life revolved around extended family ties and tribal cooperation Arrival of settlers 1850s- miners/settlers Broke Bison habitat Construction of railroad Army followed DESTRUCTION OF NOMADIC INDIAN LIFE Federal Government Policies Introduced reservations Expected to be agricultural Army outposts established Opposition Navajos, Sioux 1867 Peace Commission Two districts: Nebraska/Kansas Become farmers, convert to Christianity 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapahos Pledged to live in Oklahoma 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 54,000 Indians signed Agreed to move to Great Sioux Reserve Given money and provisions DESTRUCTION OF NOMADIC INDIAN LIFE August 1868 War parties razed settlements in Kansas and CO 1869 Christian reformers Failed to persuade Indians to stay on reservation 1874 Red River War Wanted to reform reservations Board of Indian Commissioners Cheyenne, Arapahos, Sioux Against Comanche and Cheyenne Army destroys Indian supplies Slaughtered Cheyenne fugitives Southwest Guerrilla War Apaches Geronimo, surrendered 1886 CUSTER’S LAST STAND 1876 Continuous battle from 1866-1891 Not all tribes signed 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie Resistance Government wanted gold in Black Hills Chief Red Cloud, Chief Spotted Tail (2nd Sioux War) Raised settlements, intimidated federal agents, harassed citizens Federal Government response 1874 General Sherman sent Colonel Custer into Black Hills Purpose to set up a fort and keep an eye on Indians, real reason= GOLD Not supposed to attack June 1876 Custer led 600 troops to Little Big Horn Cheyenne and Sioux led by Chief Sitting Bull wiped out Custer Emotional American response, romanticized Army pursued Indians for 5 years Sitting Bull surrendered 1881 Used same tactics with Chief Joseph and Nez Perce, Geronimo and Apaches “SAVING THE INDIANS” America outraged with atrocities and government violation of treaties Groups: Women’s National Indian Rights Association, 1883 Helen Hunt Jackson A Century in Dishonor 1881 Humanitarians break up reservations Don’t recognize tribes Introduce into mainstream society Sympathetic to Natives Dawes Severalty Act 1887 Designed to reform Indian “weakness” *Absence of private property* Treat Indians as individuals not tribes 160 acres farming, 320 grazing Gained citizenship in 25 years issues: No specific timetable Slashed Indian acreage by 65% by 1934 Some successful, others alcoholism GHOST DANCE AND THE END OF RESISTANCE Conditions for Sioux in Great Plains declined in 1880s Reduced meat rations More restrictions Disease killed 1/3 cattle Restored Ghost Dance Visions of future Reclaim Indian glory Movement spread quickly Military response arrested Chief Sitting Bull December 29, 1890 Prophet Wovoka Wounded Knee 7th Calvary rounded up 340 Sioux Indians Accidental gunfire lead to slaughter of all Sioux By 1900 Population down to 100,000 from 250,000 Navajos adjusted peacefully and prospered SETTLING THE WEST 1st Transcontinental Railroad 1862 Pacific Railroad Act Homesteading on the Plains Grants and subsides for every mile of track 50 years, 9 routes built Used cheap Chinese labor Completed May 10, 1869 Settlers Land sale offices “Garden of Eden” Long-term loans 2.2 million immigrant settlers Railroads given land Tactics for settlement Wheat Corn Cotton Repub. Party felt it would enable the poor to achieve economic independence 160 acres for $10 fee Live on land 5 years and improve it Speculators took advantage Problems: Dry areas needed more land Rattlesnakes Blizzards, droughts Burden on women 1877 Desert Land Act German, Eastern Europe Encourage cash crops Homestead Act 1862 160 acres for $1.25 if irrigated within 3 years Timber and Stone Act 1878 160 acres of forested land $2.50 acre abused by speculators NEW FARMS, NEW MARKETS Advancements in farming Mechanization Improved strains of wheat/corn Efficient steel plows New wheat planters Barbed wire, 1874 Clashes between cattle ranchers and farmers Problems: Unpredictable rainfall Grasshopper infestation Economic depression 18731878 1st group = “Sod-busters” specialization BUILDING SOCIETY AND ACHIEVING STATEHOOD Communities prospered Church, Sunday schools Barn-raisings, quilting Cooperation a necessity Worked to be educated and sophisticated New States Rocky Mountain States 1889 Oklahoma 1907 Arizona, New Mexico 1912 Women’s suffrage Supported out west Referendums Wyoming 1st state to allow women to vote 1869 1910: four states Indiana Wyoming Utah Colorado SOUTHWEST FRONTIER Anglo-life New Mexico/Arizona Texas Adopted by Mexicans who stayed in US Legacy of bitterness Planters vs. non-whites California Collapse of ranch economy Barrios Similar conditions of Mexicans, Chinese, and Native Americans Easier adaptation Established connections Low wage labor Landowning rights restricted Architectural blends Estevan Ochoa Problems: Land disputes Las Gorras Blancas 1888 Repercussions Migrant work Women held family together 1890s Escalation of problems Anti-Catholicism EXPLOITING WESTERN LANDSCAPE Mining Frontier Started with Gold Rush Attracted young men Mining country “poor man’s paradise” From shantytowns to metropolises Men out numbered women 3-1 Settlement of Alaska Mining Cowboys and Cattle Frontier Stimulated economy Lured foreign investors US mainstream in world economy Consequences Scarred landscape Chemicals from smelters Water pollution Heyday lasted 1867-1887 1868 Joseph G. McCoy Life unpredictable Realized $ from raising steers cheap in TX and drive north for shipment Great cattle drives of 1860s and 1870s Lived at mercy of market Cowboys Young men 1/5 black- more freedom Better relationships Myth Panic of 1873 disastrous Tombstone, Abilene, Dodge City, and Deadwood had fewer shootouts and killings than D.C. in combined history The End Prices fell in 1882 EUREKA, NEVADA BONANZA FARMS 1st agribusiness during Panic of 1873 Land given by railroads in exchange for bonds Led to 10,000 acre factorylike farms Boom in 1880s, Crash 1890s George W. Cass Overproduction High investment costs Too much rain/ too little Reliance on one crop Success in California’s Central Valley Better irrigation Better variety in crops OK LAND RUSH 1889 1889 Congress transferred 2 million acres of Indian Land Punishment for civil war April 22, 1889 Sooners Within weeks 6,000 homestead claims “THE WEST” THE LEGEND American Adam Escape Dime-store novel Virtuous, simple, masculine, honorable 1860s, 1870s Teddy Roosevelt Proving ground for manhood Conservation Movement Major John Wesley Powell 1860s, 1870s Studied landscape Went to Congress George Perkins Marsh, John Muir Yosemite 1890, Sierra Club 1892
