Chapter 16 The American West

The Great Plains

After 98th meridian, Rocky Mountains rose and runoff created smooth land with dry climate for grass and grazing wildlife

Indians of the Great Plains

100,000 Native Americans, diverse groups The Teton Sioux Some Sioux in northern MN go west around 1760 for more resources and became nomadic, acquired horses, strong fighters > controlled N. Plains Pre-horse Sioux women and men both made pounds to drive buffalo stampedes > horse Sioux women stay behind but are rebellious, partners Teton Religion Sacred meaning everywhere God was a series of hierarchal powers (natural order) in the universe Prayer and fasting made Sioux (both sexes) commune with powers, visions created lifelong talismans, Sun Dance: celebration then worship Connected; entered trade system linked to Euro-American market economy but integrated into the Sioux way of life

Wagon Trains, Railroads, and Ranchers

Used to be the Great American Desert, *permanent* (1834 Indian territory) buffer between British and Mexicans, federalized trading/no whites Oregon/California fever made Great Plains a bridge to the pacific, carrying people but ruining the grass, game, and littering The Railroads Railroads needed to link Mexican/British territories to Union, Southern rebellion makes govt move forward: Expensive; govt awarded generous land grants and millions in loans to: o Union Pacific: Omaha to Wyoming in 1867; Central Pacific: Sacramento across Sierra Nevada, met at Promontory Point, Utah, 1869 Railroad tycoons shift gears to economic exploitation of Great Plains, spurred the railroad boom in recovery 1878, 40k miles of track laid in 1880s The Cattle Kingdom Cattle grazing opportunity, but buffalo had to go first (tanning demand): pro hunters sweep plains and systematically slaughter/almost exterminate Texas cows worth much more out west (railroads) so TX inaugurated Long Drive, hiring cowboys to herd longhorn cattle north to KS railroads o Makeshift method of bridging a gap in developing transportation system (abandoned when railroads reached TX) o Cattle towns Wild West imagery vs. ordinary hard-working cowboys, claimed land through range right to all land up to divide (creek) Good weather easy money, investors and romantics (T-Rose) go West w/ cows then hard winter of 1885 killed 100ks of cattle, ending boom Grasses destroyed, open-range ranching ended > fences and hay for winter, sheep raising became major enterprise

Homesteaders

Railroads advertised, cheap tickets, sold land holdings cheap, to get people out there 1878-1886 wet season Migration painful loneliness; some women liberated gender roles broke down as women helped on farm, widows owned, independence Dual economy: mens labor brought big wage at harvest, women provisioned day by day; marriage important Huge foreign immigration 1882 105k Scandinavians, Norwegians and Swedes 1/3 of the northern plains Kansas was a haven for post-Recon blacks who feared white vengeance (Exodusters), 40k in 1880 Kansas, attracted more migrants in 70s-80s Farming the Plains Alien place with few trees (wood useful), but easier to clear the land (plows, barbed wire, hard-kernel wheat) > hopes for tolerable life 1880s dry years destroyed crops, leaved farmers helpless, land recently settled emptied (1885-1890 Dakotas -50k settlers) Settlers who stayed used dry-farming methods: deep planting to bring subsoil moisture to roots and quick harrowing after rainfalls to turn over a dry mulch that slowed evaporation, but required lots of acres and machinery for plowing, planting, and harvesting Great Plains fully submitted to agricultural development by turn of the century, providing nation with crops/cattle/sheep, little pioneering Chicago economic capital of Great Plains, traded western grain to world markets, slaughterhouses supplied meats, gave westerners lumber, barbed wire, etc. Farmers Woes Farming was a business cash crops, land speculation, borrowed money, new technology enthusiasm Went unrewarded b/c they remained individuals in a complex economic order, and knew about it o Cooperation National Granges cooperative programs purchased bulk supplies, set up own banks, insurance companies, grain elevators, and processing plants, idea resilient/created legacy, but private business fought back hard and usually won o Government 1870s Grange encouraged independent political parties on antimonopoly platforms, Granger laws protected them Organizational disadvantage did not cause unprofitability: manufacturers and banks lacked market control, mortgage companies w/o markets, railroad freight rates fell as technology reduced costs Deflation badly affected wheat farmers (subject to commodity markets price swings) and farmers in debt (pay back more than they borrowed) Wheat shifted onto Great Plains + deflationary economy > hard times = vulnerability for crisis by drop in world wheat prices

The Fate of the Indians

Indians fought settlement that went against federal law/treaties as best as they could, striking all along the frontier in hopes to tire the whites out, but the federal government formulated a new policy instead The Reservation Solution Indian removal now wanted to wean Indians from tribal life peace commission in 1867, Indians cede land to reservations under govt Office of Indian Affairs where they would learn to be white Set aside southwestern quarter of Dakota Territory to Teton Sioux and Oklahoma to southern plains/removed eastern Indians, scattered for others

 Plains Indians resisted Chief Josephs Nez Perce in 1877 moved people on 1,500 mile march/fights that succeeded until they lost/surrender US Army thin but veteran troops called by Indians buffalo soldiers, + technology (communications, railroads, repeating rifles/Gatling guns) + more funding for troops in mid 1870s + exploiting tribal rivalries + white settlement Indians fought for years Kansas, Red River Valley, Apache under Geronimo dangerous 1875 Indian Office goes against treaty and ordered Sioux off Powder River hunting grounds and withdraw to the reservation o June 25, 1876 (W): Sitting Bulls Sioux/Cheyenne warriors on Little Big Horn River, Crazy Horses warriors encircle Custers soldiers o Sioux bands give up when pursued by military; Sitting Bulls followers retreated to Canada for 5 years, then came back to surrender in 1881 White land hunger wrecked reservation solution gold prospectors dug into sacred Sioux land/reservation, then govt opened it up to them Indian Territory of Oklahomas 2 million acre empty center coveted, Boomer movement > Homestead Act extension, claimants rushed in Undermining Tribal Culture 1807s Office of Indian Affairs developed a program to train Indian children for farm work and prepare them for citizenship schools/boarding, children taken away from families to learn English and discourage tribal ways Eastern post-Civil War reformers wanted assimilation, favored efforts to undermine tribal authority, and advocated land division Dawes Act of 1887 president carved up tribal lands, gave 160-acre or smaller to families/individuals, in 25 years they would be citizens, reservation lands sold off and $$ in Indian education fund The Last Battle: Wounded Knee Sioux land opened up to white settlement on Feb. 10, 1890 in tough times: no land allotted, drought wiped crops, impending winter Wovoka Indian messiah preached that God said the continent would be restored to pre-Europe state in 1891 spring, hard to practice Ghost Dance which alarmed whites to call for army intervention Minneconjou (Chief ill) agreed to come in under military escort to an encampment at Wounded Knee Creek, Dec. 28, morning battle exploded when US soldiers attempted to disarm Indians w/ 25 US deaths and 146 Indians Division of tribal lands proceeded without hindrance - Teton Sioux fared well, as the most fortunate tribes were those on infertile land that whites didnt want, but South Dakota and Oklahoma left Indians as small minorities Tribal life survived until restoration of reservation policy in 1934 in the meantime, NA were adaptive and absorbed features of white society Cultural resistance persisted, but Native American world was gone