The American West

1
The American West
The 12 Key Dates
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2
The American West
The 12 Key Dates
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Click here to test yourself on the 12 dates
3
Financial Crisis in the Eastern USA.
In 1837 the economy of the Eastern USA collapsed.
Factories closed and people lost their jobs.
Banks collapsed and people lost their savings.
Crime rose and the East no longer seemed like an
attractive place to live. Land in the East was
hard to come by at this time as the region was
filling up with Americans. This all acted as a
major PUSH factor for people moving out of the
East to go to the West. The West appeared as the
promised land with lots of cheap land for
settlers able to make the journey there.
1837
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4
The death of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church and became
its first leader. He attracted thousands of
followers and led them in a desperate search for
a place where they could build Zion in the East.
Smith would not take the Mormons to the West as
he believed it was unsafe and that they could
find a place to live in the East. Smith was shot
in 1845 whilst escaping from jail. He was
replaced as leader by Brigham Young. Young made
the decision to take the Mormons to the Great
Salt Lake. This date is a turning point in the
history of the Mormons.
1844
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5
The discovery of gold in California.
Before 1848 the flow of migrants to the West
(California and Oregon) was slow with less than
5,000 a year crossing the Plains. In January 1848
gold was discovered in California and the
settlement of the West speeded up. 50,000 miners
flooded across the Plains into California in
search of gold in 1849. They established definite
trails for families of settlers to use after
them. The 49ers proved it was possible for huge
numbers to go to the West. By 1850 California was
a state in the USA. The Goldrush of 1848 acted
as a massive boost to the settlement of the West
by the USA.
1848
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6
The 1st Fort Laramie Treaty.
In 1831 the USA had set up the Permanent Indian
Frontier. This gave the Native American Indians
control of the Great Plains forever. However
with the discovery of gold in California and the
flood of migrants on the Wagon Trails across the
Great Plains in the 1840s, the Frontier was soon
broken. In 1851 a new treaty was signed, the 1st
Fort Laramie Treaty. Under this treaty the Plains
Indians agreed to keep away from the wagon trails
in return for annual payments. This made travel
to the West easier for white Americans, as well
as establishing the idea of limiting the Plains
Indians to certain parts of the Great Plains.
1851
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7
The Homestead Act.
By the early 1860s the only area of the USA not
settled by white Americans was the Great Plains.
These had been ignored by settlers going west.
The fertile lands in California and Oregon were
more attractive than the so called Great
American Desert. However to truly control the
whole of the USA and fulfil Manifest Destiny the
government needed settlers to move on to the
Plains. The act gave each American 160 acres of
land for a small registration fee. This
encouraged Homesteaders to move to the Plains and
started the settlement of the last bit of the USA.
1862
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8
The Sand Creek Massacre.
By the early 1860s the Cheyenne lands in Colorado
were being occupied by miners, ranchers and
Homesteaders. The presence of the Cheyenne was
viewed as a threat by the settlers and miners of
the region. Led by Colonel Chivington, a local
regiment of volunteer soldiers massacred hundreds
of men, women and children camped at Sand Creek
near Denver, Colorado. This was the first of the
Indian massacres. It shows the lengths that the
USA was prepared to go to assert its control over
the Great Plains, and how the Plains Indians
would find it impossible to live in peace with
the American settlers.
1864
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9
Goodnight and Loving establish the first Cattle
trail.
At the end of the Civil War in 1865, cattle
ranchers returned to their Texan herds to
discover that their numbers had increased to over
5 million cows. Cut off from markets in the East
and North by the war, the cattle had bred.
Goodnight and Loving took 5,000 cows from Texas
on a drive up to Colorado where they sold them to
railroad workers and the US Army to feed the
Indians on reservations. This was the start of
the cattle industry boom. Soon trails were
established to the new cowtowns of Abilene and
Dodge City. The cows were transported on the
railroads to the cities of the East such as New
York and Chicago.
1866
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10
The 2nd Fort Laramie Treaty.
By 1868 white settlers were pouring on to the
Great Plains. The treaties signed with the Plains
Indians in the 1850s and early 1860s were
increasingly worthless as miners, Homesteaders
and cattle ranchers ignored the rights of the
Plains Indians to their lands. Following the
defeat of the USA in Red Clouds War, the 2nd
Fort Laramie Treaty was signed. This treaty gave
the Sioux control of the sacred Black Hills area
forever. It also gave them rights to hunt
buffalo in the Powder River country. The treaty
also marked the formal start of the governments
Indian Reservation policy, putting Plains Indians
into small areas where they would be dependent on
government money and food to survive.
1868
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11
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Before the railroad was built it took six months
for a family to travel from the East to
California or Oregon. Settlement of the Plains
was also limited as Homesteaders were cut off
from civilisation and access to markets for their
crops or supplies of machinery and seeds. In 1869
the first railroad connecting the East and West
was completed with the Golden Spike Ceremony. The
railroad cut journey times to just one week from
East to West. It also encouraged trade across the
USA, brought government and law and order to the
Plains, carried cattle to market, and led to the
first towns on the Great Plains giving
Homesteaders access to civilisation and markets.
1869
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12
The Battle of the Little Bighorn.
By 1874 the USA was building a railroad through
the Black Hills. This broke the 2nd Fort Laramie
Treaty. Custer and the 7th Cavalry were sent to
protect the railroad from Indian attacks. They
also discovered gold, and set off a goldrush in
the area. Led by Sitting Bull, Sioux Indians left
the Black Hills Reservation to hunt buffalo in
the Powder River country. This led to a US Army
campaign to force the Sioux back on to the
reservation. The Battle of the Little Bighorn
resulted, and Custers 7th Cavalry were destroyed
by the Indian forces. After this however the US
Army poured in reinforcements and within 12
months the Indians were either dead or back on
reservations. The Sioux lost the Black Hills and
all treaties were cancelled by the US Government.
1876
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13
The end of the Open range.
By the 1880s there were millions of cows on the
Great Plains. They were left unfenced to roam
around. The profits to be made were enormous and
this encouraged ever more cows to be placed on
the Open Range. By 1887 however the Open Range
was over due to a combination of factors. The
overgrazing of limited grass supplies and scarce
water was one reason. To protect their grass and
water supplies cattle ranchers put up barbed wire
fences. To pay for these they sold cattle which
flooded the market and led to low prices by 1885.
This was followed by cold winters in 1885-86 and
1886-87. The summer of 1886 was marked by a
severe drought. With falling demand and the need
to protect new weaker breeds of meatier cows, the
Open Range had come to an end by 1887.
1887
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14
The Battle of Wounded Knee.
By the late 1880s the Plains Indians were almost
all on reservations. The buffalo were
exterminated, and the Plains were controlled by
the USA as Homesteaders and cattle ranches
covered the land. In desperation the Plains
Indians adopted the Ghost Dance. They sang,
prayed and danced in the belief that the Great
Spirit would come to their aid. They believed
that the whites and their civilisation would be
swallowed by the Earth and that the buffalo would
return with the Indians killed by the whites.
However this was all shattered when in December
1890, Sitting Bull was killed by another Indian,
and Big Foots Sioux were massacred in the snow
at Wounded Knee Creek. This marked the end of the
resistance of the Plains Indians to US control of
the Great Plains.
1890
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16
1837
Financial Collapse in the Eastern USA
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17
1844
The death of Joseph Smith
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18
1848
California Gold Rush
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19
1851
1st Fort Laramie Treaty
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20
1862
Homestead Act
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21
1864
Sand Creek Massacre
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22
1866
First Cattle Trail Goodnight Loving
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23
1868
2nd Fort Laramie Treaty
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24
1869
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
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25
1876
Battle of the Little Bighorn
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26
1887
End of the Open Range
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27
1890
Battle of Wounded Knee
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28
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