Chapter 13: Settling the West

1. Chapter 13: Settling the West AmericanHistory

2. Growth of the Mining Industry • Discoveries of gold, silver, and copper deposits in the West brought interest from the East, as well as settlers • Prospectors used two types of mining • Placer mining: extracting shallow deposits of ore • Quartz mining: digging deeper beneath the surface • Findings of deposits caused boomtowns to erect, but with towns brought crime • Prospectors fighting and thieves • Vigilance committees came to enforce the law

3. Bonanzas in the West • Women also traveled to the West in search of wealth • owned property and were community leaders • worked as cooks or in laundries • worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houses, dancing with men for a drink • Mining towns spurred up in the Dakota Valley, Colorado, and Montana • Ex. Pike’s Peak • Expansions in these Western portions brought on the building of railroads connecting to these towns • transformed Denver into the 2nd largest city in the West • led to rapid development of the Great Plains

4. Cattle Ranching • While many went to the West in search of gold, others began cattle ranching • Mexicans introduced cattle ranching in the Western states • grew in part because of open range, or vast land owned by the government, that could be used for grazing • gave them the tools to herd cattle • Beef prices soared due to feeding armies during the Civil War and the building of railroads in the West

5. The Long Drive • The long drive was a long journey cattle ranchers made with their cattle to railway lines in order to sell their cattle • began with a spring roundup of open range cattle • owners could identify their stock by branding them; unidentified cattle were mavericks • cowboys, or former Confederate soldiers escaping Reconstruction, herded the cattle north to the rail lines • When business grew, “range wars” would commence between competitors • range became fenced off with barbed wire to protect herd] • Long driving ended from barbed wire fencing and overproduction of cattle, causing prices to drop and ranchers becoming bankrupt

6. Settling the Great Plains • The settlement of the Great Plains came from the following: • building of railroads across the West • desire to cultivate the land • Homestead Act: for a $10 fee, an individual could file for a homestead, or a tract of public land used for settlement • Life proved difficult in the Plains • lack of trees and water • temperatures were high in the summer and cold in the winter • pestilence

7. The Wheat Belt • Many new techniques were used to farm the Great Plains • Dry farming: planting seeds in the ground deep enough where moisture was • Sodbusters cultivated this land, but lost land due to drought, wind erosion, and overuse of land • New machines, such as mechanical binders and threshing machines, were used • Many farmers moved to the Great Plains to grow wheat, due to the conditions of the Plains was suitable for wheat growth • The Wheat Belt • These farms were bonanza farms because they created a lot of revenue

8. Plains Indians • Most Plains Indians were nomads, or peoples who traveled in search of food • As settlers came into the Plains, they deprived them of their hunting grounds, broke boundary treaties, and forced them to relocate to new territories • Indians retaliated by attacking stagecoaches, wagon trains, and ranches

9. Dakota Sioux Uprising • The Dakota Sioux agreed to live on reservations in Minnesota in exchange for annuities, or payments to reservation dwellers • Annuities were taken from them by traders and merchants • In 1862, Congress delayed these annuities, causing the Sioux to starve • Chief Little Crow led an uprising against traders • Hundreds died before troops came to St. Paul to stop the uprising • 38 Indians were executed for the uprising, and many others fled to reservations in the Dakota territory

10. Fetterman’s and Sand Creek Massacre • Troops were deployed to keep Indians in line • stirred up more hostility from the Lakota Sioux • attempted to protect hunting grounds • Troops suffered a surprising defeat from the Sioux in Wyoming • Fetterman’s Massacre-Chief Crazy Horse set up a trap for Captain William Fetterman • Cheyenne Indians kept attacking settlers coming through their territories • Governor John Evans requested Chief Black Kettle and his Cheyenne to negotiate peace at Fort Lyon • Sand Creek Massacre-Evans and troops massacred Cheyenne trip

11. Indian Peace Commission • Congress formed the Indian Peace Commission in 1867 in order to establish peace with the Plains Indians • proposed creating two large reservations for the Sioux and southern Plains Indians, which would be run by agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs • U.S. army would deal with those who did not comply • Plan was doomed, however • pressuring Natives to sign treaties would encourage chiefs to not comply with the terms • many who moved to the reservations experienced the same conditions as the Sioux: poverty, despair, and corrupt traders

12. Custer’s blunder at Little Bighorn • In 1876, fortune hunters overran the Sioux reservation in the Dakotas to mine • Sioux left and went to hunt in Montana • General Alfred Terry and Lieutenant George Custer led an expedition to intercept the Sioux, led by Sitting Bull • Custer led an ambush in broad daylight that ended in a massacre-Battle of Little Bighorn • In inspiration of the Sioux victory at Little Bighorn, the Nez Perce, led by Chief Joseph, refused to move to a smaller reservation • Surrendered after being intercepted by U.S. forces and relocated to Oklahoma

13. Wounded Knee • Defying the orders of the government, the Sioux performed a Ghost Dance, or a ritual that celebrated the hope that one day, the settlers would be gone, the buffalo would return, and the Natives would reunite with dead ancestors • In an attempt to control the situation, police came to arrest Sitting Bull • Gunfire was exchanged, and Sitting Bull was killed • The remaining Native fled, and U.S. forces chased the Natives to Wounded Knee Creek, where they massacred 200 Lakota men, women, an children

14. Assimilation • Many Americans disagreed with the treatment of Native Americans • Believed that the situation would improve if the Natives would assimilate, or become absorbed, by society if they were landowners, breaking down reservation into individual allotments • The idea of assimilation came into law in 1887 with the Dawes Act • Promised head of households 160 acres of land, 80 acres to single adults, 40 acres to children, and the remaining reservation land sold to settlers, with proceeds going to Native American trusts • Dawes Act and assimilation proved to be a failure • Many Natives weren’t experienced or enthusiastic about farming, so they sold their lands • Many were angry and heartbroken over the selling of their reservations • Many were reliant on the Plains lands, and few were willing to make changes