TENSIONS IN THE WEST

Settlers vs. Native AmericansChapter 23

THE FIGHT OVER LAND…

Remember to keep in mind:

Native Americans wanted to share the land equally with no property.

Settlers, on the other hand, wanted to divvy up the land and make individual plots for themselves as they moved westward.

THE NEZ PERCÉ

Led by a man called Chief Joseph by the white settlers, they were a peaceful people that lived what is now Idaho

Was told to give up the land to settlers for mining, or have the army come and force them out.

On their way out, some soldiers lashed out and killed some of the white settlers, sparking a battle.

NEZ PERCÉ CONTINUED…

After the fighting, like many other tribes, they were relocated several times across the west, from Oklahoma, to Washington, to Idaho.

All of this moving came at the hand of the white settlers looking for land and treasure in the West.

THE WESTERN BOOM

The Homestead Act: US Gov’t gives 160 acres to any person that will move west, clear the land and farm on it for 5 years After that, it’s your land

Huge success: US #of farms goes from 2million to 6 millionbetween 1860-1910

Boomer Sooner at Oklahoma Univ.

PACIFIC RAILROAD ACT

BUILDING THE RAIL

The Transcontinental Railroad was set up to connect the whole country and was split into two teams that would meet in the middle.

Union Pacific and Central Pacific were in charge of the building, with Union starting in Neb. and Central in California

Central hired many Asian immigrants to help build, and paid them $1/day to lay tracks through the Sierra Nevada Mountains

CONNECTING THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC

During this time (1860-1900) the amount of railroads went from 30,000 miles to 200,000 miles (7x as much!!!)

Now there was an easy way to get more people to the West and keep expanding.

MATH OF LAYING DOWN TRACK

Three swings with a hammer = one spike

Ten spikes = one rail (30 hammer swings)

One rail = 700 pounds (7000 spikes, 210,000 swings)

One mile of track = 400 rails (280,000 pounds, 2,800,000 spikes 84,000,000 swings)

Between 1860-1900 170,000 miles of track laid (68 Million Rails)

GRENVILLE DODGE AND UNION PACIFIC Built Railroads before Civil War, was an

officer during war, and good leader Took advantages of the 10,000 workers

he had to connect the West Ran into N.A. attacks that were upset

with the rail workers killing buffalo and taking land.

Gov’t troops stepped in to help protect Dodge and his men (5,000 of them)

CENTRAL PACIFIC FROM THE COAST TO UNION RAIL.

Lost a lot of workers to stories of silver mines

Then hired Asian (esp. Chinese) workers, who were so good that they sent people to China to bring back more workers. (12,000)

CONNECTING A NATION

On May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Rail companies met at Promontory Point, Utah with a golden spike connecting the 1800 mile track.

Chinese workers were not acknowledged during the ceremony

MINERS

The California Gold Rush of 1848-1849 sparked a mad rush for treasure from New Mexico to Washington

(San Fran 49ers anyone?)

Some towns thrived while others were not as prosperous as they had hoped

NATIVE AMERICANS AND EXPANSION

Mining is very destructive to land, and Native Americans were getting tired of dealing with all of it.

They were also upset with the cattle ranching of ranchers

Buffalo were either wiped out or scared off by the new settlers of the West.

THE LONG DRIVE

Cattle could now be trained to the East (where the big $$ was).

Lot of cowboys started fights once they got to cities since work was mostly boring

Winter of 1886-1887 ended the cattle run because it was so cold

FARMING ON THE PLAINS

By 1900, 500Thousand farmers moved to the Great Plains, which was said to be too dry for years.

Farming here was much different than in the East, but after a while the settlers figured out the tricks to good farming

(Digging deeper, sod houses, Windmill pumps for wells

TIRED OF BEING MOVED AROUND…

During this whole time, N.A.s have been continuously moved around throughout the nation, given “reservations” and promised food, supplies, and an education for giving up the land to settlers(Which rarely came if at all)

Many N.A.s starved and the men would leave the reservation to hunt and find food. If they did, they were often hunted down by U.S. soldiers

CUSTER’S LAST STAND (CUSTER'S BLUNDER)AT LITTLE BIG HORN

Went to the Black Hills (Sioux land) looking for gold (Think National Treasure 2)

There was a treaty to leave the Sioux alone, but the treasure-minded soldiers ignored it

Sioux and Cheyenne tribes became angry and rose up since they didn’t want to leave

Custer and his 260 men attacked the N.A.s and were slaughtered quickly at Little Big Horn River

This uprising of N.A. sparked a movement by the US Gov’t to suppress all N.A.s to reservations and ignore any previous treaties.

BATTLE AT LITTLE BIG HORN

WAS IT WORTH IT?

So we’ve learned that America expanded into the West and was great for the wealth of the nation. But at what cost, Millions of N.A.s were moved from their homes, many lost their lives.

Explain in 2-3 paragraphs whether you think it was worth it to expand West at the cost of the N.A.s. Defend your answer with topics/facts discussed this chapter