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