The West

NATIVE AMERICANS AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST

	Wonderment and optimism were qualities which engulfed Americans in the second half of the 19th century to take part in one of the great migrations in modern history, exploring and developing nearly half the North American continent. They were lured west by the prospect of land and fortune.
	Many southwestern pueblo peoples such as the Hopis and Zuñis gradually achieved accommodation with the relatively small Spanish-speaking population. They maintained their traditional way of life based on agriculture and sheepherding, they also traded mutton and produce with the Mexican rancheros for metal hoes, glass, beads, knives, and guns.
	Disease continued its ravages among 19th century western Indians. They suffered from measles, diphtheria, and other diseases contracted from traders and settlers.
	½ of the Native Americans of the Trans-Mississippi West lived on the Great Plains.
	They lived in two major sub-regions. I) northern Plains: Dakotas and Montana southward to Nebraska, were dominated by several large tribes who spoke Siouan languages. II) central and Southern Plains: 5 civilized tribes pursued an agricultural life in their new home in the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).
	Life revolved around extended family ties and tribal cooperation.
	Plains tribes followed Buffalo migration. Indians utilized every part of the animal.
	There was a fad in the east in wearing buffalo robes on carriages and sleighs, and along with its hides used for industrial belting, white hunters began to slaughter the herds upon which the Plains peoples depended.
	"Buffalo Bill" killed nearly 4300 buffalos in 8 months to feed construction crews building the Union Pacific railroad.
	The Army began killing Buffalos in order to undermine the Indians.
	Congress in order to try to put a halt to violence between Indians and whites set aside two large districts, one north of Nebraska, the other south of Kansas where they hoped nomadic tribes would settle down and convert to Christianity. There was Indian dissatisfaction and once again violence ensued.
	1869: Congress established Board of Indian Commissioners: mold reservation life along lines that Christian reformers thought desirable. The goal was to break the Indians' nomadic tradition and force them to remain on their reservations, where they would be Christianized, taught to farm on individual plots of land, and given government assistance.
	Custer's Last Stand: conflict between the Sioux and the U.S. Army. As Custer was sent into the Black Hills of South Dakota, gold was found, not a lot but it got out of proportion. June 1876: 600 troops of the 7th Cavalry, led by Custer proceeded to the Little Bighorn River area of present day Montana. On the morning of June 25, Custer with 209 men advanced to an Indian force of as many as 5,000 warriors. Custer and his entire force were wiped out. Resulted in support from the people living back in the cities in the east for federal government policy against Indians, and Indians were persecuted.
	Indian schools were established with its purpose in reeducating Indian youth in whites' skills and outlooks. Culturally this was another assault on Native Americans.
	Well intentioned Humanitarians proposed to eliminating the "Indian Problem" by eliminating the Indians as a culturally distinct entity.
	Dawes Severalty Act of 1887: Law emphasized treatment of Indians as individuals rather than as members of tribes, and called for the breakup of the reservations. 160 acres were giving to each head of an Indian family who accepted the law's provision. The remaining land - most of the time the richest - were sold to speculators and settlers. Speculators, military authorities, and the "friends of the Indian" like Helen Hunt Jackson lobbied heavily for passage of the act.
	"Friends of the Indian" believed that teaching Indians English and farming would open the doors of opportunity to them. They tried to "civilize" them.
	Dawes Act mostly benefited land speculators.
	Wovoka: Sioux Prophet. Promised to restore the Sioux to their original dominance on the Plains if they performed the Ghost Dance. Rituals such as the Ghost Dance enabled Indians to reaffirm their own culture.
	McLaughlin ordered Chief Sitting Bull arrested, frenzy followed, Sitting Bull was shot in point-blank range.
	At Wounded Knee another strain in White-Indian relations occurred.
	The Navajos of the southwest, unlike the Plains Indians adapted more to their encounter with White Civilization.

SETTLING THE WEST:

May 10, 1869: Completion of the first railroad spanning North America. The Union Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific from Sacramento California, met at Promontory Point, Utah.

Railroad Labor: Immigrants made up the labor force, most hired by the Central Pacific were Chinese. The Union Pacific had countless numbers of Irish immigrants. Blacks and Mexican-Americans also joined the labor force.

Pacific Railroad Act of July 1, 1862: Authorized the construction of the transcontinental, the amount of track laid and the land that went with it made the transcontinental the single-most largest landowners in the West.

1872: Congress awarded the railroads 170 million acres, worth at the time over half a billion dollars. Along with the feds, state governments also awarded railroads huge amounts of land.

Railroads created land bureaus and sent agents to the East and Europe in order to attract settlers. 2.2 million immigrants came to the West between 1870 and 1900. Railroads urged immigrants to specialize in cash crops, and we do remember what happens to those who confide entirely on a single cash crop...

Homestead Act: 160 acres of land to anyone who would pay $10, live on land for 5 years, cultivate and improve it. Corruption cast its shadow over the act as Speculators, railroads, and state governments acquired huge landholdings.

Timber Culture Act: gave homesteaders additional 160 acres if they planted trees on 40 acres.

Desert Land Act: 640 acres for $1.25 an acre if owner irrigate part of it in three years.

New inventions occurred which helped out the farmers.

Barb Wire was invented.

Railroads gave transportation to the farmers.

Supply and Demand, drove the prices down, and the farmers were indebted.

Those who settled lived in harsh conditions, many moved back east again but to those who stayed, eventually established ties to the land and built successful communities.

Racism was also present in this new community for those blacks who emigrated from the South to Kansas and other parts of the plains.

Most difficult to adapt: Women.

A lot of people left once they saw that they could not live out in the West, but as I said to those who stayed a new community was established.

People started to build Churches and Sunday schools, the community of neighbors was close-knit, lyceums and libraries were made in order to erase the backwardness reputation that they had gotten from those back east

Communities were conservative, yet liberal when it came to women's rights.

EXPLOITING THE WEST

Most of the West's mining wealth fell into the hands of investment bankers and mining company owners since they had the huge investments in expensive equipment as well as substantial legal help for protection against competing claims.

Justice on the mining frontier was occasionally a rough affair.

Miners typically earned about $2,000 a year at a time when teachers made $450 - $650, and domestic help $250 - $350. Yet meals and a room costs ranged between $480 - $720 annually. In addition, mining was difficult and dangerous work.

The press's account of big gold strikes had helped to fuel expansion to the west during the 1860s and the 1870s. These stories romanticized the life of the cowboy.

Cattlemen lived at the mercy of high interest rates and unstable markets.

During the Panic of 1873, cattle drovers, unable to get extensions on their loans, fell into bankruptcy.

Foreign investors sunk a lot of money into the cattle business.

1/5 of all cowboys were black or Mexican.

Black cowboys enjoyed the freedom of life on their trail.

Cowboys were romanticized.

The most typical western conflict were the "range wars" that put "cattle kings" against farmers.

There was a wheat boom and then it collapsed because of overproduction, high investment costs, too little or too much rain, excessive reliance on a single crop, and depressed grain prices on the international market.

The western myth was far removed from the actual, real West.

The Virginian actually showed the hard physical labor of the cattle range.

	May 10, 1869: Completion of the first railroad spanning North America. The Union Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific from Sacramento California, met at Promontory Point, Utah.
	Railroad Labor: Immigrants made up the labor force, most hired by the Central Pacific were Chinese. The Union Pacific had countless numbers of Irish immigrants. Blacks and Mexican-Americans also joined the labor force.
	Pacific Railroad Act of July 1, 1862: Authorized the construction of the transcontinental, the amount of track laid and the land that went with it made the transcontinental the single-most largest landowners in the West.
	1872: Congress awarded the railroads 170 million acres, worth at the time over half a billion dollars. Along with the feds, state governments also awarded railroads huge amounts of land.
	Railroads created land bureaus and sent agents to the East and Europe in order to attract settlers. 2.2 million immigrants came to the West between 1870 and 1900. Railroads urged immigrants to specialize in cash crops, and we do remember what happens to those who confide entirely on a single cash crop...
	Homestead Act: 160 acres of land to anyone who would pay $10, live on land for 5 years, cultivate and improve it. Corruption cast its shadow over the act as Speculators, railroads, and state governments acquired huge landholdings.
	Timber Culture Act: gave homesteaders additional 160 acres if they planted trees on 40 acres.
	Desert Land Act: 640 acres for $1.25 an acre if owner irrigate part of it in three years.
	New inventions occurred which helped out the farmers.
	Barb Wire was invented.
	Railroads gave transportation to the farmers.
	Supply and Demand, drove the prices down, and the farmers were indebted.
	Those who settled lived in harsh conditions, many moved back east again but to those who stayed, eventually established ties to the land and built successful communities.
	Racism was also present in this new community for those blacks who emigrated from the South to Kansas and other parts of the plains.
	Most difficult to adapt: Women.
	A lot of people left once they saw that they could not live out in the West, but as I said to those who stayed a new community was established.
	People started to build Churches and Sunday schools, the community of neighbors was close-knit, lyceums and libraries were made in order to erase the backwardness reputation that they had gotten from those back east
	Communities were conservative, yet liberal when it came to women's rights.

	Most of the West's mining wealth fell into the hands of investment bankers and mining company owners since they had the huge investments in expensive equipment as well as substantial legal help for protection against competing claims.
	Justice on the mining frontier was occasionally a rough affair.
	Miners typically earned about $2,000 a year at a time when teachers made $450 - $650, and domestic help $250 - $350. Yet meals and a room costs ranged between $480 - $720 annually. In addition, mining was difficult and dangerous work.
	The press's account of big gold strikes had helped to fuel expansion to the west during the 1860s and the 1870s. These stories romanticized the life of the cowboy.
	Cattlemen lived at the mercy of high interest rates and unstable markets.
	During the Panic of 1873, cattle drovers, unable to get extensions on their loans, fell into bankruptcy.
	Foreign investors sunk a lot of money into the cattle business.
	1/5 of all cowboys were black or Mexican.
	Black cowboys enjoyed the freedom of life on their trail.
	Cowboys were romanticized.
	The most typical western conflict were the "range wars" that put "cattle kings" against farmers.
	There was a wheat boom and then it collapsed because of overproduction, high investment costs, too little or too much rain, excessive reliance on a single crop, and depressed grain prices on the international market.
	The western myth was far removed from the actual, real West.
	The Virginian actually showed the hard physical labor of the cattle range.