Homestead Act

New Technology

Life on the Farm

Decline of Farming

Life on the Plains

Plains Indians

American Interests

Indian Restrictions

Indian Wars

Assimilation

End of the Indian Lifestyle

Plains Indian

s

Open Range

Cattle Kingdom

Cattle’s Decline

Mining Towns

Mining Life

“Wild West

Ranching and

Mining

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862 To encourage settlement of the Plains

area Gave 160 acres of land to settlers if they

improved the land and lived on it Land speculators Oklahoma giveaway, 1889 People continued to come for the cheap

lands and opportunity

New Technology

Deeper wells Steel plows Better farm equipment

reaper, harvesters Morrill Land Grants Railroad expansion

Transcontinental railroad, 1869

Life on the Farm

Sod houses

Weather extremes

Drought

isolation

Decline of Farming

Rise of industry

Urbanization

End of the frontier

Great debts

Railroad charges

Open Range

Great Plains area

No boundaries to man or cattle

Low population

Cattle Kingdom

Greater urban populations demanded more food

Cattle drives to meet railroadsChishom TrailAbilene

Legend of the cowboyMexican Influences

Cattle’s Decline

Too many cattle

Disease

Drought

Barbed wire fences blocked open range

Mining Towns

Gold RushesCalifornia, 1849Black HillsComstock LodeAlaska

Ghost Towns

Mining Life

Large mix of people

Many opportunities for everyone

Saloons, gambling

Hard luck

“Wild West”

Legend of adventureWild Bill HickcockCalamity JaneWyatt EarpJesse JamesBilly the Kid

Dime novels that told western tales Only lasted about 30 years

Plains Indians

Great Plains or Great American Desert Nomadic Lifestyle Importance of the horse and buffalo Communal living Common use of the tribe’s land Sioux, Lakota, Cheyenne, apache, Nez

Pierce, Blackfeet

American Interests

Lands given by treaty to Indian groups

California Gold Rush, 1848 Homestead Act, 1862 Transcontinental railroad building

Massacre of the buffalo herdsCentral and Union Pacific RailroadsPromontory Point, Utah, 1869

Indian Restrictions Treaties were broken

Indians forced onto reservationsGov’t payment and supplies were not delivered as

promised Indian Uprisings

Dakota Uprising, 1862 Massacre at Sand Creek, 1864

John Chivington Leads Army unit in massacre of Cheyenne

Fetterman’s Massacre, 1866Fetterman’s small army band crushed by Sitting

Bull, Crazy Horse, and red Cloud’s warriors

Indian Wars Gold found in the Black Hills of the Dakotas

Sioux try to defend area promised to themArmy sends George Armstrong Custer

Little Bighorn, 1876Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull lead warriors as

Custer and all his men were killed Nez Perce Indians, 1877

Led by Chief Joseph, they refused to go to reservation

Chased by the army for over 1000 mils until captures

“I will fight no more forever”

Assimilation

Century of DishonorHelen Hunt Jackson’s

Some people supported assimilation of Indians

Dawes Act passed, 1887160 acres to each familyMost of land was eventually taken

End of the Indian Lifestyle

AssimilationEducation of Indians to be more like whites

Destruction of the buffalo Ghost Dance Movement

Sioux spiritual danceDance was outlawed

Wounded Knee, 1980Massacre of several hundred Sioux

Indian era comes to an end