The Last The Last WestWest

1865-1900

18691869 Golden Spike” in UT – Connected Union and Central Golden Spike” in UT – Connected Union and Central

Pacific = Transcontinental RRPacific = Transcontinental RR

Transcont RRTranscont RR• Land grants given along the right-of-way• Each railroad subsidized $16,000 per mile built over an easy grade,

$32,000 per mile in the high plains, and $48,000 per mile in the mountains.

• The terms encouraged the companies to construct excess miles of track, direct the line toward property owned by themselves, and in many other ways exploit the system.

• Majority of the Union Pacific track was built by Irish laborers, veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies, and Mormons who wished to see the railroad pass through Ogden, Utah.

• Mostly Chinese workers built the Central Pacific track. Most of the White men received between one and three dollars per day, but the workers from China received much less. Eventually, they went on strike and gained a small increase in salary.

In addition to track laying (which employed approximately 25% of the labor force), the operation also required the efforts of hundreds of blacksmiths, carpenters, engineers, masons, surveyors, teamsters, telegraphers, and cooks.

Settlement of the Settlement of the Last FrontierLast Frontier

• “The Great American Desert”– Great Plains, Rockies, Western Plateau unsettled

after Civil War

• By 1900, only Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma not states

• Settlement of the frontier can be attributed to three groups– Miners– Cattlemen and Cowboys– Farmers

MiningMining• California rush started a quest for gold and silver

in the west– Now CO, NV, ID, MT, AZ, SD

• Pike’s Peak in 1859 brings 100,000 to Colorado– “Colorado Gold Rush”

• Comstock Lode helps bring Nevada into the Union in 1864– Will produce over $340 million in gold and silver by

1890

Effects of MiningEffects of Mining• Boomtowns

– Saloons, dance-hall girls, vigilante justice– Some, like Virginia City, NV add theaters, newspapers,

churches, libraries, schools, railroads and law enforcement (Mark Twain started here)

• Most became ghost towns after the gold and silver ran out

• Some, like San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver become important commercial centers– Industry, commerce—not the “John Wayne” Old West

towns

Effects of MiningEffects of Mining• Usually ½ of a town would be foreign-born• 1/3 of western miners were Chinese• Resentment among native-born workers

– California $20/mo. Miner’s tax on foreign-born workers

– Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882—no more Chinese allowed into U.S.

• Increased gold & silver creates national debates on currency valuation

• Many visible environmental scars

CattleCattle• Texas longhorns and methods come from Mexico and the

vaqueros• 5 million cattle roamed Texas because Union cut it off during

the war– Easy to get in on cattle business, because cattle and grass were free

• Railroad lines into Kansas open up eastern markets– Stockyards built in Abilene, Dodge City– Cattle driven up Chisolm, Goodnight-Loving Trails

• Cowboys (many black or Mexican) paid $1/day• Overgrazing, blizzard/drought of 1885-86, barbed-wire of

homesteaders end cattle drives– Development of huge ranches, science to raise more tender breeds

• Overall change in American diet from pork to beef• Legend of the Cowboy

FarmingFarming• 500,000 families

take advantage of Homestead Act

• Extreme temperatures

• Little wood• Dry plains• Grasshopper

plagues

• Mud brick homes• Barbed wire• Mail-order windmills

to dig wells• Deep-plowing• Hearty Russian

wheat

Farming difficultiesFarming difficulties• Over-farming, droughts all commonplace

• “In God we trusted, in Kansas we busted”

• “Fifty miles to water, a hundred miles to wood, To hell with this damned country. I’m going home for good”

PopulismPopulism• Farmers alliance founded in 1870s

• Created to stop corrupt RR practices and manufactures raising prices

• Attacked wall street, moneyed trusts

• Called for nationalizing RR, telegraphs

• Wanted govt backed loans, better grain storage and free and unlimited coinage of silver

BuffaloBuffalo• Well over 10 mill in 1860• “Buffalo chips” provided food, fuel, shelter, etc

for native Americans• “Every dead buffalo = several dead Indians”• RR: Kansas Pacific once had to wait 8 hrs to

clear buffalo• Sportsmen like Buffalo Bill hired to kill – claimed

over 4000 buffalo• Less than 200k buffalo by 1885

Native American Native American RemovalRemoval

• U.S. government had created Reservation policies in the 1830s

• As miners, cattlemen, homesteaders spread west, fighting became inevitable– Sand Creek, CO 1864- militia massacre Cheyenne

and Arapaho women, children, men– Sioux War 1865-1867-army column wiped out– Treaties violated if mineral deposits found on Indian

lands (Dakota’s Black Hills)

Native American Native American ConflictsConflicts

• Increased fighting in 1870s– Red River War against Comanche– Second Sioux War led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse– Sioux destroy Colonel Custer’s command at Little Big

Horn in 1876– Chief Joseph tries to lead Nez Perce to Canada—

defeated in 1877

• Slaughter of most of the buffalo by 1880 destroys Native American way of life

• 1881- A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson chronicles injustices, creates sympathy for Native Americans

Native AmericansNative Americans• Assimilationists

– Emphasized formal education & training, conversion to Christianity

– Carlisle School in PA designed to separate Native American children from their people, indoctrinate them to white culture

• Dawes Severalty Act (1887)– Broke up tribal organizations

• Thought to prevent “civilized” behavior– Divided land up, distributed to families

• Unfortunately, much of best land sold to settlers• By 1900, only 200,000 Native Americans left

– Most as wards of the federal government

The Ghost Dance The Ghost Dance MovementMovement

• Religious movement by Native Americans aimed at driving out whites from ancestral lands– Belief that white men would be banished from the

earth, while sparing those who did the Ghost Dance

• Sitting Bull (Sioux medicine man) killed during his arrest

• Battle (massacre) of Wounded Knee in the Dakotas, December 1890– Over 200 men, women, children gunned down by

U.S. Army– Marks end of the Indian Wars

Sitting Bull and Crazy HorseSitting Bull and Crazy Horse

AftermathAftermath• Full citizenship granted by federal

government in 1924• As part of FDR’s New Deal, the 1934

Indian Reorganization Act promoted reestablishment of tribal organizations & culture

• Today, about 2 million Native Americans (on & off reservations) belong to 116 tribes, each with over 1,000 members

Sovereign Native Sovereign Native American NationsAmerican Nations

Frontier myth vs. Frontier myth vs. realityreality

• Homestead Act: Gave 160 acres of land for those willing to farm and live on it

• 1/3 of homesteaders go bankrupt• Large companies and others used bribery

and corruption for best land• Most land windswept and timberless• Used tough sod to make houses• Railroad: Gaines 1000s acres of land from

land grants and then sold that to citizens

Frontier ThesisFrontier Thesis• 1827: Sec of War proclaimed land would be around for next 500 yrs• 1890 census: Claimed no frontier left• Frederick Jackson Turner: Frontier is more than just a place, but

also a state of mind a symbol of opportunity• “American history has been in a large degree the history of

colonization…Americans need to push out west, need to settle new terr. Without it, what is America?”

• Now that frontier gone, where is our safety valve?• Reality: Most turned to cities for employment and opportunities –

few people made it out west• Reality: The west was ethnically diverse (Mexican cowboys, Irish

farmers, Native-Americans, African-American) whereby people depended on each other