WESTWARD SETTLEMENT
GREAT AMERICAN DESERT
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As settlers moved west, they encountered a different
climate and landscape
Great Plains-arid, scarcity and water and
timber…traditional pioneer methods were not the norm
This was considered to be a barren barrier to cross on
the way to the Pacific
Unfit for human habitation, but perfect for
Indians…changed when resources were discovered
there, realized it might not be a sterile desert, but
rather, fruitful land with farming and irrigation
SETTLEMENT
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In only 35 years, the Great Plains/frontier would change dramatically
An estimated 15 million bison, or buffalo were virtually wiped out by
1900 (buffalo provided Native Americans with food, clothing, shelter,
even tools)
Open lands were now fenced in by homesteads and ranches
Steel rails crisscrossed the landscape; completion of
transcontinental railroads
New towns
Frenzied rush for natural resources caused the near extermination of
the buffalo and damage to the environment
Native Americans paid a high price/collapse of Indian resistence
3 groups of pioneers would settle the area: farmers, miners and
cattlemen and cowboys
MIGRANTS
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Most settlers were relatively prosperous white, native-born families;
due to the expense, very few poor could afford to relocate
¾ were men
Foreign immigrants-many from northern Europe and Canada; Chinese
in CA.
Thousands of African-Americans migrated west with the collapse of
Radical Republican rule in the South; “Exodusters”-made exodus
from the South to escape racism and poverty
1866-Congress established 2 “colored” cavalry units and dispatched
them to the frontier; nicknamed buffalo soldiers by the Indians, many
were Civil War vets from LA. And KY.; They built and maintained forts,
mapped areas of the SW, hung telegraph lines, protected rr crews,
subdued hostile Indians, captured outlaws and rustlers; 18 won
Congressional Medals of Honor for their service
FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER-FRONTIER
THESIS
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Developed after the end of the frontier
“The Significance of the Frontier in American History”-1893
Concluded the closing of the frontier
Frontier as a westward-moving source of nation’s democratic politics, open society,
unfettered economy and rugged individualism
Left out the role of women, African Americans, Indians, Mormons, Latinos and
Asians in shaping the diverse landscape
“The existence of an area of free land…its continuous recession, and the advance of
American settlement westward, explain American development.”
It was “the frontier [that] the American intellect owes its striking characteristics.
That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness; that
practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of
material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to great ends; that restless,
nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and
withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom-these are traits of
the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier.”
THE FARMING FRONTIER
During Civil War, the Homestead Act 1862
encouraged farming-offered 160 acres free to
any family who would settle it for 5 years
 About 500,000 families took advantage of it
 5x that number had to purchase their land-best
lands were given to rr co.’s and speculators
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THE FARMING FRONTIER
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First “sodbusters” (farmers) built their homes of sod bricks
on the dry and treeless plains
Heavy sod broke many a plow; an iron-plow, or a sodbuster,
was used to break the tough grass roots of the
Plains…lightened the manual burden, as did many new
inventions and machines, but added to the debt
used buffalo chips (dried dung) for fuel since wood was not
readily available
Challenges: extremes in weather, plagues of grasshoppers,
scarce water, non-existant wood for fences, and loneliness
challenged pioneer families
Barbed wire by Joseph Glidden in 1874 helped farmers fence
in their lands on the lumber-scarce plains
THE FARMING FRONTIER
Gigantic bonanza farms developed-large farms
with large-scale operations and mass
production
 Ex. In North Dakota, 13,000 acres of wheat
made a single field; another farm employed
over 1,000 migrant workers to tend 34,000
acres
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THE FARMING FRONTIER
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Long spells of severe weather, falling prices for crops, cost of
new machinery causes 2/3 of homestead farms on the
Great Plains to close by 1900
Those who survived adopted “dry farming” and deep plowing
to use the moisture available, planted hardy strains of wheat
Dry farming’s purpose is to conserve limited moisture during
dry periods by reducing or eliminating evaporation or runoff;
a dust mulch would protect the surface of the soil against
evaporation
Dams and irrigation would ultimately save many; people
reshaped the rivers and physical environment of the west to
provide water for agriculture
THE CATTLE FRONTIER
Economic potential of the vast open grasslands
was realized by cattlemen and ranchers following
the Civil War
 Earlier cattle had been rounded up in Texas by
Mexican cowboys, or vaqueros; traditions and
techniques were borrowed from the Mexicans, as
well as the cattle, the “Texas” longhorns
 As Texas was cut off in the Civil War, approx. 5
million head of cattle roamed the Texas
grasslands…easy to get into cattle business
following the war
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THE CATTLE FRONTIER
Railroads after the war opened up eastern
markets for Texas cattle
 Cow towns were established along the rr’s to
handle cattle driven from trails out of Texas
during the 1860s and 70s
 Long drives came to an end in the 80s when
overgrazing destroyed the grass and a blizzard
killed about 90% of the cattle
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THE CATTLE FRONTIER
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Initially an open range and cattle ranchers worked out a
code: cowboys would “ride the line” to keep as many of the
animals as they could off adjoining ranches; in the spring,
they would round up the herds and sort out any that got
mixed up by identifying distinctive ranch symbols “branded”
or burned, into the cattle
In 1873, when Joseph Glidden invented the first effective
barbed wire, which ranchers used to fence off their claims at
a low cost, that all changed…open range was no more
Farmers would crowd in and lay out homesteads, waged
“barbed-wire wars” with ranchers-cutting their fences or
policing their own
Rise of sheepherding caused another conflict by 1880
THE CATTLE FRONTIER
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Closing down the cattle frontier:
overgrazing-destroying the grass
drought of 1885-1886: killed 90% cattle
homesteaders-using barbed wire fencing to
cut off access to the former open range
THE MINING FRONTIER
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1848 discovery of gold caused the first flood of newcomers to the
west…quest for gold and silver would continue well into the 1890s
Gold and silver strikes in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona
and South Dakota kept prospectors pushing west; gold near Pike’s
Peak in 1859 brought many miners to Colorado
Discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 which produced over $340
million in gold and silver by 1890 was responsible for Nevada
entering into the Union in 1864; Comstock Lode was the first major
discovery of silver ore in the present U.S. and resulted in Virginia City,
Nevada
Idaho and Montana were granted statehood, largely because of the
mining boom
THE MINING FRONTIER
Initially used a method called placer mining, or
“panning,” using simple tools such as shovels
and metal pans to look for traces of gold in
mountain streams
 Placer mining later gave way to more expensive
equipment in deep-shaft mining, requiring
resources of wealthy investors and corporations
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THE MINING FRONTIER
Strikes created boomtowns almost overnightfamous for their saloons, dance-hall girls and
vigilante justice
 Some towns, such as Virginia City created by the
Comstock Lode, added theaters, churches,
newspapers, schools, railroads, etc.
 Some would become ghost towns years later when
gold and silver ran out; others would serve the
mines and become major commercial centers,
such as San Fran., Sacramento and Denver
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THE MINING FRONTIER
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As mines developed, many experienced workers from
foreign nations
About 1/3 of the miner’s in the 1860s were Chinese
immigrants; native-born Americans resented the
competition
Hostility to farmers took form:
-Miner’s Tax-in CA., $20/month on all foreign-born
miners
-Chinese Exclusion Act-1882-prohibited further
immigration to the U.S. by Chinese laborers…first major
act of Congress to restrict immigration on the basis of
race and nationality
THE MINING FRONTIER
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Other effects:
-vast increase in the supply of silver created a
crisis over the value of gold and silver-backed
currency
-environmental scars
-disastrous effect on Native Americans (lost
land to miners’ pursuit of riches)
CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER
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The OK Territory, once set aside for Native Americans was made open
for settlement in 1889
Hundreds of prospective homesteaders took part in the last great
land rush in the West (OK Sooners)
1890-the U.S. Census Bureau declared the entire frontier (every
square mile) was inhabited/settled
Closing of the frontier troubled F.J. Turner; frontier had always been a
promise of a fresh start; once the frontier was gone, the U.S. would
be condemned to follow the same patterns of class division and
social conflict characteristic of European nations (historians
acknowledge, however, that by the 1890s, the largest movement of
Americans is to the cities…dominance of rural American and the era
of the western frontier was coming to a close)
CONFLICT WITH NATIVE AMERICANS
RESERVATION/OK TERRITORY
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Jackson’s policy of removing eastern Native Americans in the 1830s-on the
belief that lands west of the Mississippi River would be “Indian Country”proved false
1851-negotations at Fort Laramie (WY territory) and Fort Atkinson, the
federal govt. began to assign the plains tribes large tracts of land, or
reservations, with definite boundaries; Plains leaders agreed to accept
definite tribal borders and leave white emigrants alone on their trails
Most Plains Indians didn’t restrict their movements and still followed the
buffalo
Worked for a while, wagon trains passed through Indian lands safely, army
built roads and forts without resistance…but fighting began when instead of
passing through, emigrants began to encroach upon their land
Problem: the Black Hills-gold miners refused to stay off Native lands if gold
was found on them…it was…in the Dakota’s black hills (those not involved in
the original treaty process, such as minor chiefs and young warriors
denounced the treaties and tried to return to their ancestral lands)
INVASION?-THE MOVE WEST
Farmers
 Land speculators-people who bought land at a
cheaper price with intent to sell at a higher
price…era of big business (public land)
 Miners/gold prospectors (Black Hills)
 Cattle ranchers/cowboys
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ASSIMILATION
Helen Hunt Jackson- A century of dishonor (1881):
best seller about the injustices done to Native
Americans-created sympathy, but mostly motivated
people to propose assimilation to help the Natives
 Emphasized formal education, training, conversion
to Christianity
 Boarding schools, like the Carlisle School in PN.
Were set up to segregate Native children from
their people and teach them white culture, farming
and industrial skills
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ASSIMILATION
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)-divided the tribal
lands into plots of 160 acres or less, depending
on family size; U.S. citizenship granted to those
who stayed on the land for 25 years and
“adopted the habits of civilized life,” also
agreed to break up tribal organizations
 47 million acres of land were distributed to
Native Americans
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CONFLICT-BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN
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“Custer’s Last Stand”
Approx. 6000 Indians encamped along the Big Horn River (2000-2500 fight) vs.
approx. 210 soldiers from U.S. Army led by General George A. Custer (Civil War hero)
Arapaho, Sioux, Cheyenne all take part in LBH…Crow serve as scouts for the U.S.
Army (stay dressed as Indians…note afterlife beliefs)
Sunday, June 25-Custer saw a white blur on the valley floor, afraid he was spotted
and pushed to attack, although was advised to await reinforcements
His men, outnumbered, exhausted…should have scouted first…thought the Indians
were moving to escape, so Custer ordered the attack
Crazy Horse, one of the leaders of the Sioux, leads the warriors to attack Custer at
LBH
Sitting Bull, chief of all the Lakota tribes (largest sub-division), had a vision before of
what was going to happen (becomes a reality)-he is recovering from over 100
slashes to his flesh and therefore can’t fight because he is too swollen, but still
leads his people
U.S. Army, outnumbered 4 to 1 are defeated (approx. 263 die in Custer’s group,
including Custer-note afterlife beliefs)
Great Indian victory
CONFLICT
Sitting Bull managed to elude capture for a
time..relentless search for Indian bands that
participated in the fight
 Sitting Bull and several hundred followers cross
into Canada, but life was lonely and hard (few
buffalo)
 Many started returning to their
friends…surrendered in 1881 and was a virtual
prisoner to the govt. for the next 2 years…toured
with Buffalo Bill Cody for a season in 1885
 Still mistrusted and feared by the federal govt.
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CONFLICT-FLIGHT OF THE NEZ PERCES
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Led by Chief Joseph
Refused to give up fertile land in Washington and Oregon…being forced on to a reservation, in 1877,
after being ordered to the reservation, tried to flee to Canada, but U.S. Army pursued
Fled more than 1000 miles across Idaho and Montana, battling U.S. Army all along the way
Caught approx. 40-70 miles from border, with fewer than 500 of his people remaining, Chief Joseph
surrendered, they were moved to OK. By train
“I will fight no more forever” speech-delivered partly to his subordinate chiefs to explain why he was
doing so; shows the lack of desire for many Natives to continue fighting after doing so for so many
years
“I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed…The old men are all dead…It is cold and we have no
blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the
hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are-perhaps freezing to death. I want
to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them
among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands I will fight no more forever.”
CONFLICT-GHOST DANCE/WOUNDED KNEE
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Ghost Dance-religious movement-to bury the whites, restore the prairie and
the buffalo, Ghost Dance shirts to protect them from the bullets of the Army;
spread through Sioux villages of the Dakota reservations, revitalizing Indians
and bringing fear to the whites-led by an Indian prophet Wovoka
Large numbers embraced the religion-regarded by govt. officials as
militaristic and anti-white
Campaign to suppress the movement, an order went out to arrest Chief
Sitting Bull as he was advocating the Ghost Dance religion-he was killed in
the attempt in 1890
Chief Big Foot was next…he led his people south to seek protection at the
Pine Ridge Reservation; U.S. Army intercepted them at the edge of Wounded
Knee (in the Dakotas)
Wounded Knee-Dec. 1890-200-300 Sioux men, women and children were
gunned down; 25 soldiers lost their lives
Marked the end of the Indian Wars
AFTERMATH-U.S. POLICY IN THE 20TH CENTURY
1924-federal govt. granted U.S. citizenship to all
Native Americans, whether they complied with the
Dawes Act or not (policy of forced assimilation
failed)
 1930s New Deal under FDR-Indian Reorganization
Act (1934)-promoted the reestablishment of tribal
organization and culture
 Today, over 1.8 million Natives live both on and off
the reservations, belong to 116 different tribes,
each consisting of 1000 or more members
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