Chapter 26
The Great West and the
Agricultural Revolution
The Clash of Culture on the
Plains
• In 1860 there were about 360,000 Native
Americans in the trans-Mississippi West area.
• White pioneers wanted to explore westward
which caused a clash between Indians and
whites.
• In years pass there had been conflict between
different Native American tribes over land in
the west giving a foundation of the Native
American culture.
The Clash of Culture on the Plains
• White pioneers spread cholera, typhoid, and
smallpox to the Indians so the federal
government stepped in signing off treaties
with “chiefs” of “tribes” establishing
boundaries for each tribe.
• The only reason why the Indians surrendered
their land was because the federal
government made a promise to supply them
with food, clothes, and other supplies, but all
they received were moth-eaten blankets,
spoiled food, and other harmful provisions.
Receding Native Population
• Indian wars beginning in the West were
gruesome (aggressive whites were
shooting peaceful Indians just to make
sure they wouldn’t give any trouble.)
• In 1864, Colonel J. M. Chivington’s militia
killed 400 Indians because they said they
had been promised immunity.
• In 1866, Sioux party ambushed Captain
William J. Fetterman’s 81 soldiers and
civilians leaving no survivors.
• The Sioux ambush resulted in the federal
government giving the Sioux tribes the
asked for “Great Sioux reservation”
Receding Native Population
• In 1874, Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills of
South Dakota (part of the reservation) greedy goldseekers swarmed there causing the Sioux tribes to
use warpath.
• By 1876, the 2,500 armed Indians wiped out the 264
officers and men.
• In 1877, Nez Perce Indians in northwest Oregon
fought with U.S. authorities who wanted to put them
into reservations. Chief Joseph surrendered
because they had been pushed back toward Canada
together with his 700 Indians. They sent them to
dusty camps in Kansas where the majority died.
Eventually the survivors were sent back to their
ancestral land in Idaho.
Bellowing Herds of Buffalo
• When the
Spaniards arrived
in America
millions of buffalo
surrounded the
vast grasslands.
• Buffalo was the
main supply for
Indians. They
would use it for
food, clothes and
other supplies.
•After the Civil War in
1868 15 million
buffalos were left.
Because of the railroad
construction they were
killing the buffalo.
•They would killed
them for the lust of
slaughtering or for the
excitement.
•By 1885 only one
thousand buffalo were
left and were in danger
of extinction.
The End of the Trail
• In the 1880’s a movement
to try to reform Indian
policy began.
• Helen Hunt Jackson wrote
A Century of Dishonor
writing about how cruel
the whites treated the
Indians and later also
wrote the novel Ramona
describing the moral
sense of Americans.
• Humanitarians wanted to
treat the Indians kindly but
others wanted to keep the
same policy containing
brutal punishment and
forced containment.
The End of the Trail
• Both sides were trying to
convert them to
Christianity and reform
them to white society so
none of them really
showed any respect to the
Native American culture.
• In 1890 the Battle of
Wounded Knee-stop the
“Ghost Dance” cult to
spread. The army killed
200 Indian men, women
and children.
Dawes Severalty Act
• Dawes Severalty Act- In 1887 tried to reform Indian
policy. The act dissolves many tribes as legal
entities, it sets up individual Indian family ownership
of 160 free acres. As long as the Indians behave like
“good white settlers” they would get full title to their
holdings and citizenship in twenty-five years.
• Dawes Act tried to turn Indians into rugged
individuals. They created boarding schools for
Indian children to attend. Separating them from their
tribes and educating them in English and teaching
them white values and customs.
• By 1887 about 243,000 Indians were felt compared to
360,000 in 1860.
Mining: From Dishpan to Ore
Breaker
• In 1848 a gold
discovery in
California began
causing hundreds of
families to move
west to discover
their fortune.
• In 1849 the “fortyniners” came to
Nevada where the
Comstock Lode had
been uncovered as
well as and silver.
Mining: From Dishpan to Ore
Breaker
• Saloons were created where
minors would drink liquor in
the company of
accommodating women.
• The mines would cause a
whole town to be swarmed in
by greedy gold minors ready to
discover their wealth but as
soon as that was over they
would all leave, leaving the
towns completely deserted.
• The age of big business
gradually came to the mining
industry.
• The mining industry helped
pay much of the Civil War.
Beef and the Cattle Drive
• After the Civil War the grassy plains in Texas
were full of long-horned cattle.
• Because of the transcontinental railroads
cattle meat was able to be transported
everywhere causing the industrial meatpacking business to begin.
• Texas cowboys-(black, white, and Mexican)
drove herds of cows until they reached a
railroad terminal.
Cattle Drive
• The “Cattle Drive “ was profitable,
of course, to those who didn’t
catch any diseases from the
cattle, who were able to escaped
from Indians, stampedes, and
other hazards.
• In 1866 to 1888, 400 million
mooing herds were driven
northward toward Kansas from
Texas.
• In 1886-1887 a terrible winter
came causing the cattle to starve
and freeze making this “Cattle
Drive” come to an end.
The Farmers’ Frontier
• Railways took a major role in developing the agricultural
West through the profitable marketing of crops.
• Homestead Act- In 1862 allowed western farmers to
acquire 160 acres of land as long as they lived on it for
five years, improved it, and paid a fee of $30.
• The Homestead Act encouraged a rapid filling of empty
spaces and provided a motivation to the family farm.
• Disadvantage of the Homestead Act was the six-year
drought of 1888 and 1892 on the Great Plains. 2 out of 3
farmers were forced to give up their land because of the
drought. Life in western Kansas, eastern Colorado, and
Montana was virtually impossible to survive.
Inventions
• Barbed wire was
invented by Joseph F.
Glidden in 1874, to
solve the problem of
fencing areas without
using any trees.
• Engineers had to
produce irrigation to 45
million acres in
seventeen states.
The Far West Comes of Age
• From the 1870s to 1890s there was a
great population growth in The Great
West.
• Six new states joined the Union- N.
Dakota, S. Dakota, Montana,
Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming to
get more electoral and congressional
votes. Leaving only Oklahoma, New
Mexico and Arizona remaining to join.
The Far West Comes of Age
• Federal government gave settlers stretches
of fertile land in Oklahoma bringing scores
of people to Oklahoma Territory illegally.
• On April 22,1889 Oklahoma Territory was
open legally causing 50,000 people to enter
the state creating a tent city.
• By the end of the year 60,000 new inhabitants
were in the state.
The Fading Frontier
• By 1890 there was no longer unsettled areas
in the West. The frontier was no longer
visible.
• This inspired the writing of the essay “The
Significance of the Frontier in American
History” by Frederick Jackson Turner.
• Seeing that the land was limitless, seeds
were planted and national parks were created
(Yellowstone in 1872,Yosemite and Sequoia
in 1890) to try and preserve the land.
Farming Becomes a Factory
•Most of the travelers moving West to farm did not know how to
and had very little money to even move West.
•Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco became the big cities
where failed farmers went to find a job.
•After 1880 the area from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
Coast was the most urbanized region in America.
•High Prices persuaded farmers to grow “cash crops” like
wheat and corn to gain profit.
•As long as the prices stayed up all was good but in the 1880s
bankruptcy fell and they began to see how the business worked
Farmers take their Stand
• Government was charging them
high local taxes in the West while
in the East they had safe-deposit
boxes.
• The Grange was organized in 1867
to try to organize the farming
system.
• Oliver H. Kelley was the leader
• By 1875, it had 800,000 members
in Midwest and South
• Created individual selfimprovement to improve farmers’
collective troubles.
• Created self owned stores, grain
elevators, and warehouses for
producers.