The Great Plains

Objective- Describe the causes and effects of the financial difficulties that plagued the American farmers and trace the

rise and decline of Populism.

EQ- To What extent did the Great West have a Positive or Negative Impact on the United States.

1st Transcontinental Railroad

1st Transcontinental RR ( 1869) – Union Pacific and Central Pacific united at Promontory Point, Utah – 4 more RR completed by 1890

Irish worked on the Union Pacific while the Chinese worked on the Central Pacific

(Government gave out land grants)

I. Railroads

Steel rails replaced iron

Standardized time zones

George Westinghouse invented the air brake

Granville Woods – Telegraph system

All made it easier to ship goods

Inventions that aided the RR

Railroads made it easier to ship cattle east

but had to get cattle to major RR

Long Drives – harsh conditions, stampedes, low wages

1/3 -1/5 of cowboys Hispanic or African American

Main type of cattle – Texas Longhorn

II. Cattle Ranching

Had used open range but

with the invention of barbed wire by Joseph Glidden ranges closed off

Natural disasters also hurt industry – 1880’s – 90% killed in blizzard – ranchers went bankrupt – big business took over

Problems (cattle ranching)

1859- Comstock Lode – large

silver strike –lured people out west

Problems:

Mining towns – bad reputation but helped in settlement

Most miners didn’t strike it rich – large corporationsbought up ore deposits

III. Strikes

Homestead Act – gave 160 acres to anyone

willing to farm it and make it productive w/in 5 years.

Inventions aided the homesteader:1) barbed wire 2) windmill – provided need

H20 3) steel plow 4) reaper1889- Harrison’s Hoss Race in Oklahoma

attempt to give 1.9 acres awayFrontier announce closed in 1890

IV. Homesteader

Inventions That Helped Homesteader

Problems came from:

1) killing off of Buffalo by RR – Nat. Am. Relied on the buffalo for everything.

2) breaking treaties/ taking land

3) Concentration policy – tried to Americanize them by turning them into farmers – put them on reservations – face confinement or extermination

V. Conflicts with the Plains Indians

Destruction of the Buffalo

Chivington Massacre ( 1864) – killing of 450

CheyenneLittle Big Horn ( 1876) 7th cavalry led by George

Armstrong Custer wiped out by Sitting Bull and a mixture of Sioux and Cheyenne

Nez Perce – peaceful tribe attempted to escape to Canada – led by Chief Joseph – led his tribe on a 1,000 mile journey before surrendering “ I will fight no more forever”

Wounded Knee ( 1890) – last confrontation –death of 290 Native Americans

Major Confrontations

Major Confrontations

Many tribes turned to the Ghost DanceReligion – a mixture of Native American and Christian beliefs –focused on the return of the land – this was led by Sitting Bull

Dawes ( Act) 1887 – broke up tribes –not allowed to practice tribal customs

(Americanize)- Assimilation efforts by the Government

Native Americans

Frederick Jackson Turner: Argued Frontier chief influence in shaping a distinctive American way of life

1) social equality 2) economicindependence 3) political democracy

Frontier Thesis