The Wild West?
1865-1900
Themes
Peopling American Identity
Work Exchange Technology
Cowboys•Longhorn cattle makes the Long Drive possible•1300 mile journey from southern Texas, along trails like the Chisholm, to the rail heads in towns like Abilene and Dodge City, KS. From there they were shipped to Chicago, the meat-packing capital of the nation.•Many cowboys were Mexican or African-American•The Long Drive consisted of about 24 cowboys & took 3 months.•System ended when RRs built North to South.•Beef replaces pork as the “national meat”
Chicago Meat-Packing Industry
Miners& Homesteaders
The Comstock Lode in Nevada was a silver bonanza. The largest silver mine in the U.S.
Homesteaders•“Exodusters”•Treeless plains, soddies & dugouts, buffalo chips•Prairie fires & locust plagues•Hardest on women•Barn-raisings & quilting bees
Silver Mine
Homesteaders
Outlaws & Lawmen
Native-Americans: The Indian Wars
•The building of the TCRR, continued western migration and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills further encroached upon Indian territory.
•The American government broke earlier treaties with the Native-Americans and hunters killed the buffalo on which the Plains Indians depended.
•Some tribes accepted the inevitable and moved to reservations. Others fought for their lifestyles & the land they believed was rightfully theirs.
Sand Creek Massacre
Battle of Little Big Horn or Custer’s Last Stand, 1876 in Montana
Fight over gold in the Black Hills.George Armstrong Custer
Sioux Chiefs Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse (next page)
Crazy Horse Monument in S. Dakota
The B.I.A. & Helen Hunt JacksonBureau of Indian Affairs: Indian Ring
Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor
Dawes Act, 1887
Tribal system broken up. Heads of Indian families given land but most cheated out of it. No tools or education about farming.Assimilation policy: Carlisle Indian School, assimil
Land Rushes
Battle of Wounded Knee, 1890, S Dakota
The last battle of the Indian Wars over gold & the Ghost Dance
Why was the West so violent?•Prevalence of guns & alcohol•Lack of women, families•Lack of law, lots of space to run to•Treatment of N-A•“End of the “road”-Misfits
What did the Federal Government do for the West?
•Land & loans for railroads•Land & loans for dams & irrigation projects•National Parks