THE OLD WEST

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THE OLD WEST
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Transcontinental Railroad(During Civil War to
connect CA with the Union)

• Pacific Railway Act makes it a RACE!
• RRs received land and for every mile of track
  laid
• Union Pacific building west from Omaha, NE
• Used many Irish immigrants
• Central Pacific building east from Sacramento,
  CA
• Chinese immigrants used
• Most difficult time had to start out crossing
  the Sierra Nevada Mtns.
• Union wins lays 1,086 miles Central 689

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WEDDING OF THE RAILS
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Railroad Construction
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Plains Indians

• Nomads followed their food source
• buffalo, 12 to 15 million
• Horses made them better hunters and warriors
• Plains Wars, 1860-1890
• Fight to protect land and stop waste (buffalo)

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Plains Indians
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THE BUFFALO

• The buffalo or bison was an extremely important
  part of the plains peoples lives.
• They used virtually every part of the buffalo
  from the hide for clothing, to the stomach for
  holding water.
• At one time, an estimated 60 million buffalo
  roamed the plains of the present day United
  States and Canada.

A buffalo can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and live
as long as 30 years.
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The Hunt

• For thousands of years, Native Americans used
  buffalo jumps to kill the creatures.
• They would place some of the hunters on either
  side of a path (usually wearing wolf skins) which
  they would use to drive large numbers of animals
  over a steep cliff.
• It wasnt until the arrival of the Spanish in the
  1500s that the horse began to be used by Native
  Americans. It quickly became an important part of
  native peoples lives.

Typical buffalo jump
Native Americans did not hunt using horses until
the 1500s
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The Buffalo Soldiers on the Great Plains
1/5 of soldiers on frontier
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The Buffalo Soldiers the Indian Wars
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SAND CREEK MASSACRE

• Colorado
• Cheyenne, under Chief Black Kettle, came to U.S.
  fort to negotiate
• Col. Chivington arrives at fort ignores
  attempts to negotiate
• Executes them all men, women children
• Much mutilation

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The Battle of Little Big Horn1876
Chief Sitting Bull
Gen. GeorgeArmstrong Custer
Chief Crazy Horse
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BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN

• Gold found in Black Hills, DK, 1874
• Col. George A. Custer, 7th Calvary leads
  expedition of 264 soldiers
• Sioux Cheyenne force of 2,500
• Crazy Horse Sitting Bull
• Custers Last Stand
• 1st major victory for Indians after a long series
  of defeats
• But, short-lived victory

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Battle of Wounded Knee

• Sioux fleeing reservation after Sitting Bull shot
• Rounded up by Army surrendered herded into
  Wounded Knee Army Camp
• Ghost Dance
• Army ordered to disarm Indians
• 190 unarmed Indians massacred in the process
• End of Plains Indians Wars

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ASSIMILATION

• Attempt to have Indians become white and become
  part of white mans culture
• DAWES ACT, 1887
• U.S. government tries to give them land which
  they could eventually own if they became farmers
  on the land
• Failed Indian culture was nomadic not settled
  farmers

Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian
School (Pennsylvania)
Apache children at the Carlisle School 4 months
later.
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Factors which brought an end to Plains Indians
way of life

• RAILROADS!!
• Destroy Buffalo
• Bring out settlers, miners, etc.
• Discovery of gold/silver on Indian lands
• Indian Wars
• Either killed them OR
• Survivors forced to move to reservations (Dakota
  and Oklahoma) what was life like on the
  reservations?

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MINING IN THE OLD WEST

• MAJOR SILVER STRIKE
• The Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada
• 300 million of silver extracted over 18 years

• MAJOR GOLD STRIKES
• California, 1848
• Colorado, 1858 (Pikes Peak or Bust!)
• Black Hills of the Dakotas, 1877

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MINING IN THE OLD WEST
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Mining Centers 1900
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Cattle Towns and Mining Towns of the Old West
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GOLD SILVER STRIKES CATTLE RANCHING CAUSED
TOWNS TO SPRING UP

• Known as Helldorados
• 1 in 3 buildings is a saloon
• Gambling, prostitutes, etc.
• Vigilante and lynch law justice

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Colt .45 Revolver
God didnt make men equal.Colonel Colt did!
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Legendary Gunslingers Train Robbers
Jesse James
Billy the Kid
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CATTLE RANCHINGLONGHORNS

• TEXAS
• Open range ranching
• Spanish gave us techniques of roping, herding,
  etc.
• Also gave us style of dress equipment
• Between 1836 1860 3-4 million mavericks
  (unbranded cattle) roamed on the open range
• distinguished only by branding
• Owners didnt have to own much land to get in the
  cattle business
• North had huge markets for meat new invention
  of refrigerated rail cars will help get the meat
  to the North

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BUT. Still had to get the cattle to the RR SO
THE LONG DRIVE BEGAN to drive herds of cattle to
rail centers in Kansas and Missouri.
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• 8 to 10 cowboys could work 2,500 steer
• Several thousand were black, also many Mexican
• Dime novels (tall tales) were created about
  such legends as Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc.

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MANY DIFFICULTIES ONTHE LONG DRIVE

• Overgrazing
• Disease
• Floods
• Droughts
• Stampedes
• Rustlers
• Homesteaders
• Cold Winters/Blizzards

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These difficulties led to the end of Open Range
Cattle Ranching

• Fenced-in ranching took over
• Ranching became more expensive since a rancher
  now must own enough land to keep cattle fenced in
  and must have a water source on that land
• Ranching, just like mining, becomes big business

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Land Use 1880s
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RAILROADS

• Biggest factor in encouraging settlement of the
  West
• Destroyed the Plains Indians HOW?
• Encouraged ranchers and farmers settle the Great
  Plains WHY?
• No longer isolated from the East
• Can ship goods to market and get manufactured
  goods shipped West

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Settlement of the WestThe Homestead Act

• Purpose to encourage settlement of the Great
  Plains
• Provisions 160 acres for 10 to head of
  household settlers must live on it cultivate
  it for 5 years and then would own it

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF PLAINS FARMERS

• NATURAL DISASTERS
• DROUGHT
• SEVERE CLIMATE
• PRAIRIE FIRES
• GRASSHOPPER PLAGUES

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NEW TECHNOLOGY TO ASSIST FARMERS

• John Deeres Steel Plow
• Cyrus McCormicks Reaper
• Windmills
• BARBED WIRE!

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ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

• SPECIALIZED IN SINGLE CASH CROPS
• HIGH INTEREST RATES ON THEIR FARMS
• DEPENDENT ON RR TO GET PRODUCT TO MARKET
  SHIPPING RATES HIGH

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PLAINS WOMEN

• Born and scrubbed suffered and died.
• Western women are seen more as equals in the West
  why?
• Western women will get the right to vote before
  women in the rest of the country

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THE WILD WEST

• Wild West vaudeville shows traveled worldwide
• A rodeo show which had sharpshooters, riding and
  herding tricks and skills and always a
  cowboys-Indians fight
• Annie Oakley

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Buffalo Bill Cody Sitting Bull
Calamity Jane
Annie Oakley