Chapter 18

PRocess of educating Native Americans

1860s: 48 "day schools" • Students went off reservation for schooling - returned at night • Goal: civilize parents by sharing what was learned - opposite happened • Late 1870s: reservation boarding schools • Students would stay at school all week - families just moved closer • Pratt's idea: off-reservation boarding schools

Closing of Carlisle School

Closed in 1918 • Officially: property used for returning WWI soldiers • Unofficially: school's administration criticized federal Indian policies • Skills often not practical back on reservations • End of Carlisle does not mean end to boarding schools • Many continued operation into the 1930s

Red River War (1874-1875)

Comanches, Apaches and Kiowas join together to expel white troops from native land ‣ Known for being fierce warriors ◦ Geronimo was an Apache leader and became well known for his horse riding and raids on white villages ◦ War ends in favor of US army and military cuts off food supply to native Americans ◦ By late 1880s there is only about 30 Apache warriors including Geronimo who were still fighting the US ‣ They have to surrender and ultimately end the Native American wars

Reservation System

1851 Indian Appropriations Act authorized the creation of Native American reservations ◦ Native Americans agreed to live on reservations in exchange for aid from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and protection from US military ‣ Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in 1920s and would go back and forth between Native Americans and the governments • Distributed food and supplies to Native Americans • There are some bureau agents who take advantage of their role and not following through with what they say that they will do ◦ Many of the reservations become poorer and poorer ‣ Malnutrition and poor • The Native Americans become so desperate for support that they agree to whatever is offered to them in hopes that the conditions improve ◦ The conditions do not improve ◦ Several tribes signed treaties ceding their land to white officials ‣ Duress ‣ European diseases decimated Native populations ‣ Buffalo population was depleted by white settlers • Native Americans used every part of buffalo but white settlers began hunting. buffalo for sport ◦ Starvation of these Native American tribes fuel the reservation systems ‣ Slaughter of buffalo and lack of distribution is used as a tactic for white settlers to drive Native Americans out of their homes and onto reservations

Cortina's War

1859: Cortina's War (Juan Nepomuceno Cortina) ◦ Series of little rebellions that are taking in this Rio Grande region ◦ Cortina and his 60 followers started destroying white owned businesses ‣ Triggered by Anglos in the area were murdering Mexicans and weren't punished for it ◦ 4 Anglos were killed ‣ The Mexicans who were held responsible for it ◦ Leads to a much more organized network of crime

Buffalo moving to extinction

By 1900, the buffalo were nearly extinct ◦ Went from several million buffalo to 5,000

Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis

Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 "Frontier Thesis" reinforced mythic views of the West ◦ He first read it at the Chicago Worlds Fair ‣ Buffalo Bill performed there as well ◦ Western scholar ◦ Presents his thesis and says that the west is now closed ‣ With the closing of the the frontier, all of America has been explored ‣ The west was the last frontier • The mythical "Wild West" was portrayed on coins and money

Native American education

Learned through stories, rituals, play, experience, and the example of older relatives • Boys: learned how to hunt and fight • Girls: learned how to cultivate food and take care of family • Physical abuse never used

cattle business failed

Mid-1880s: cattle business failed ◦ Due to overstocking the supply ‣ Too much cattle for the land ‣ The poor weather conditions ‣ About 90% of that cattle would not be present by 1890s

• 1870-1900: more than 2 million Europeans settled in the Great Plains

Most of these people were recruited by railroad companies ◦ Immigrants formed tight-knit communities (unlike native-born settlers) ‣ Settle where other people of their culture lived ‣ Example: Germans settled with other Germans ◦ Tight social hierarchies, religion, and ethnic habits persisted for generations ‣ More money = more prominent

Immigration from Mexico

New immigration from Mexico reinforced traditional culture (esp. religious ceremonies) ◦ As more and more Mexicans are arriving to this borderland region, they will maintain their identity, religion, and culture •

Prostitution was common in the mining and cattle towns .

Prostitution was common ◦ Largest income producing job for women outside of the home ◦ It was illegal, but it was really hard to regulate especially because it was so common ◦ 50,000 women were estimated to work as prostitutes ◦ Earned $30 a week ‣ People who owned boarding houses or saloons would take 2/3 of that money for room and

Racism with the wild west

Public wanted to learn about cowboys and the "exotic savages" ‣ Negative portrayals of Native Americans ‣ Almost always when Native Americans are portrayed in the Wild West, they were portrayed as "exotic savages"

Pacific Railway Act

Railroads were essential for western settlement and held economic and political power in the West ◦ Physically transporting people and supplies, but it also gave people the opportunity to expand but also have a connection to the east ◦ 1862 Pacific Railroad Act ‣ Railroad companies were given grants to acquire land ‣ First time in history that the federal government is giving money directly to corporations ‣ When the railroad companies were given money, they could give the money to homesteaders ‣ The closer the homestead was to a railroad, the more valuable it was • Connection to east Railroads were built and the land leftover was turned into land for settlers ‣ Attracted people from east to come and settle along the railroad lines ‣ They railroad would lose money if nobody came and settled there

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Heldago comes from Gadsden Purchase ‣ You could chose which government to follow if you lived in that strip of land about Rio Grande Series of clashes between Anglos (what Mexicans called white Americans) and Mexicanos over control of the land

Carlisle Indian School

in Pennsylvania to educate and civilize Indians, motto = "Kill the Indian and save the man" • Carlisle Indian School (PA) ◦ 1879-1918 ◦ Native American families were forced to send their children to these boarding schools ◦ Everything about their Native Americans heritage was changed ◦ You were given a new name, a new language Was a disused army barrack in PA • The first off-reservation boarding school for Native Americans • Became a model for other boarding schools • First students: 60 boys and 24 girls from Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations in Dakotas • Military style regimentation • Language: English (if not, punished) • Majority would end up completely forgetting their home language, making it extremely difficult to even talk with their parents • Religion: Christianity • Names: Anglo-Saxon Christian names - were beaten if they did not answer to them • Hair: immediately cut short • Clothes: western style/military uniforms • Boys: required to learn agricultural or trade skills • Girls: were mostly taught housekeeping skills • Sports programs • Music programs (learned instruments that were different from their home instruments as a way to not be reminded of home (specifically drums) or so they couldn't create a coded message) • After: indentured to white families for several years - never fully accepted into white society • When they would return home to their reservation, they could not identify with their relatives

Range Wars

• "Range wars" of 1870s: turned violent when farmers, sheep ranchers, and cattle ranchers battled over the same land ◦ The sheep wouldn't graze as far as the cattle ‣ It wouldn't leave enough food for the cattle and ruin the soil so they could not use land for crops ◦ These people battle over same plots of land ◦ People perimeters of barbed wire to protect their land ‣ Boss gave orders to cut barbed wired to get into other land

"soddie"

• "Soddie" : houses built from layers of prairie turf and roots ◦ Roots supported by timber and covered in sod, straw, and branches

Joseph Smith

• 1830: Joseph Smith established Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ◦ Mormon religion started in upstate NY ◦ 1839: moved to Illinois ◦ Controversy over polygamy ‣ You're married to multiple people ◦ Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844

Brigham Young

• 1847: Brigham Young led mormons west to establish New Zion ◦ New Zion is not US territory, its Mexican territory ◦ Massive increase on followers and unique living situations worried US government ‣ Mormons did not believe in individual ownership so they settled on large communal plots of land • Concerning to US government ◦ By 1870s, there are close to 90,000 followers

1848: Mexican American War ended

• 1848: Mexican-American War ended (US gained 1/2 the territory) ◦ War ended in favor of US

Homestead Act

• 1862 Homestead Act: white farmers were given 160 acres of western land ◦ Required to live on the land for 5 years and "improve" it (cultivation and dwelling) ‣ About 600,000 families take advantage of the Homestead Act ◦ 1/3 to 1/2 of all households moved within a decade ‣ Either moving back east or further west for a different environment ◦ Nearly 1/2 didn't improve the land = lost their claim ‣ Federal government gave their claim to a new family ◦ Women took advantage of the Homestead Act ‣ Estimated between 5-15% were from single women ‣ You did not have to be a man to move have a land claim ◦ This is considered one of the largest migrations in history ◦ Very few people became prominent farmers from this ‣ 160 acres wasn't enough to make a commercial farm

Morrill Act

• 1862 Morrill Act (AKA Land Grant Act): provided land to states for the establishment of colleges specializing in agricultural programs • Extended to a global market because of new interest and federal focus on improving agriculture ◦ Weather, international markets, and railroad or steamship transport prices were unpredictable ‣ If you had a really good harvest you could benefit from this especially if you had good machinery ◦ Farming as business vs. farming as way of life - CA became home of heavily capitalized farms ‣ Vast majority of farms would be a way of life ‣ Wealthy people from the east could buy huge plots of land • They produce so much that they could buy heavy machinery • They can produce more = farming for business • CA was known for this • This does not leave much for the average farmer

Sand Creek Massacre

• 1864 Sand Creek Massacre ◦ Unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians versus 700 Colorado militiamen that called themselves the Colorado volunteers ◦ Colorado volunteers: group of people who were ordered by the Colorado government to raid Native American settlements ◦ 800 Natives and some chiefs tried to show that they were unarmed and tried to show the American Flag ‣ Colorado militiamen opened fired ‣ 70-165 were killed ◦ US government sends out soldiers to Colorado to squash the massacre ◦ There were not repercussions and the soldiers that went to the reservation could keep anything that they take

Great Sioux War

• 1865-1867 ◦ This was a problem brewing for many years ◦ Around 1850, the Sioux gave up a large chunk of land to US government in hopes that the government would recognize the rights of the Sioux ‣ Massive influx of white settlers- taking over of their land ◦ Catalyst: US military builds military forts on land that wasn't given to them ‣ Built on the main hunting ground for the Sioux which drives away the buffalo ◦ Sioux leader Redcloud leads the Sioux in killing the US general Fetterman ‣ Massive public outcry because Native American chief killed a US general ◦ No direct result from this battle ‣ Public idea that the only way the murder of US troops will stop is if the Native Americans will assimilate to US culture

timber culture act

• 1873 Timber Culture Act ◦ Homesteaders given extra 160 acres in return for planting and cultivating 40 acres of trees ◦ Enticing people to replant forests to get more land ◦ Many people would commit fraud with that- government could not really check on the trees ‣ People would agree to plant land, get the land, and then portion out the land and sell it ‣ Historians believe very few trees were planted

US v. Reynolds

• 1879 United States v. Reynolds: granted freedom of belief, but not freedom of practice in the US - ruled against polygamy ◦ Only about 15-20% of Mormons at that time actually practiced polygamy, but if the US wanted that land to become a state polygamy had to be outlawed ◦ Not technically US land yet, but they were trying to obtain it ◦ 1882 Edmunds Act: disenfranchised those who believed in or practiced polygamy ‣ Took away right to vote if you believed in or practiced polygamy ‣ Could be put in prison too ‣ Land and assets were taken away from Mormons • Disputes over polygamy delayed Utah statehood until 1896 ◦ Mormon society soon resembled the eastern societies that the original settlers had sought to escape ◦ The Mormon community (idea of large families and communal living) reverted to the eastern ideals

Las Gorras Blancas

• 1880s: Las Gorras Blancas arose as agrarian rebels in the Southwest ◦ Las Gorras Blancas destroyed railroads, farm machinery, and anything that would hurt the local white farmers ‣ As time goes on, they organize into a political network rather than a band of rebels

Social differences between Mexicans and White americans in NM

• Some Mexicano elites continued to maintain wealth and political power (ranchers, landlords, or real estate developers) ◦ Majority of Mexicans were trapped in poverty and turned to migratory work or moved to urban areas to work for wages ◦ Put them in an inferior position to the white Americans

Dawes General Allotment Act

• 1887 Dawes General Allotment Act: ◦ Replaced the reservation system with an allotment system ◦ Each Indian family was granted 160-acre farmstead IF they chose to sever ties with their tribe ◦ They are given terrible farmland ‣ It was not enough land to support their own families ◦ If you agreed to this, you could not practice any cultural traditions ‣ Most of the time, the children would be sent to boarding schools to assimilate them to white culture

Cattle ranges were ethnically diverse

• Cattle ranges were ethnically diverse ◦ Majority of cowboys were white ◦ 1/5 to 1/3 of cowboys were Indian, Mexican, or African American ‣ African Americans would earn less than any other group ◦ Few women worked on the open range ‣ Most women in cattle towns were prostitutes

Cowboys herding cattle across desolate lands to railroad depots

• Cowboys would be driving the cattle from Texas, through Oklahoma, to Kansas ◦ 1500 miles ◦ Each cowboy could have from 300-500 cattle ◦ Owners of cattle marked the cattle so they knew which was there's

Entrepreneurs in the cattle business

• Entrepreneurs (like Joseph McCoy) brought longhorn cattle from ranches Texas to the Kansas railroad towns (links to slaughter and packing houses) for shipment East ◦ Went to Kansas because that was where the railroad depots were ◦ Cattle were bought for $7-9 each but sold for $30+ ◦ Slaughterhouses and meat packing plants became huge industries

What did europeans bring to great plains?

• European arrival brought disease, religious conversion, and change to commerce ◦ Europeans thought NativeAmericans were lacking religion because they didn't follow traditional European Christian religions ◦ Many Native Americans will become dependent on trading European goods

Captain Richard Henry Pratt

• Fought in the Civil War • In charge of 72 Indian prisoners • Received governmental approval to educate Indian children = boarding schools • "educated far from the contaminating influences of family and tribal society"

Gradual incorporation of the west into US

• Gradual incorporation of the West into America continuously added pressure and strain to Native Americans ◦ 1850 CA statehood ◦ 1859 OR statehood ◦ Territorial status granted to Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, and Dakota ◦ 1867 purchase of Alaska • 1865: Roughly 360,000 Native Americans lived in trans-Mississippi West ◦ Past the Mississippi River

Native Americans on the great plains

• Indians occupied the plains for more than 20,000 years ◦ Plains = West ◦ Adapted to landscape, built cities, traded across thousands of miles ◦ Skilled with learning their environment, interacting with other Native American tribes ◦ Some cities were populated by 1000s of people ◦ Native Americans were NOT primitive; had religion, culture, cities,

Mining Towns

• Mining fostered a huge rush of people coming to the west ◦ In 1848, there was about 14,000 people living in CA ◦ In 1852, there were close to 223,000 people living in CA • Mining fostered western expansion and brought west into global market for capital, commodities and labor • Mining began as an individual enterprise but grew into a corporate enterprise ◦ People financing the mines are investing a lot of money but are making a lot of money from this ◦ People would buy small mines to create a corporation

how did native americans react to changes in the environment

• Native American tribes reacted different to the changing landscape and people ◦ The environment that they were used to settling on might not be what they are used to ‣ Soil and food source were different than what they were used too ‣ They had to adapt to European arrival ‣ Using weapons and horses was an adaption ◦ Some tried to have no relation with Europeans and tried to move away- did not work ◦ Some tried to change who they were in orders to try to appease the Europeans ‣ Changed their. dress, religion education, culture, language to try to stay on their land ‣ Did not work

John Deere and Cyrus McCormick

• New technologies led to unprecedented levels of efficiency in planting and harvesting ◦ Drastically increase the amount of farmable land ◦ John Deere and Cyrus McCormick ‣ John Deere's Plow: Attached the plow to horses and it added extra nutrients ‣ Cyrus McCormick's Reaper: It would cut the grain in mass quantities • Harvester would bundle all of the cut grain for you ◦ New tools allowed farmers to produce 10x what they used to

Nez Perce

• Nez Perce had a good relationship with white settlers and traders ◦ Helped Lewis and Clark ◦ Many tried to assimilate to white culture ◦ 1860: gold was discovered, ruining their relationship with whites ‣ Gold was found on their land • 1863: US demanded the Nez Perce cede 6 million acres ◦ About 90% of their land ◦ Some Native Americans agree, but most of the treaties were done fraudulently ◦ Initially, the US allowed the Nez Perce to stay there but as more white people settled there, the Nez Perce was moved to a reservation

Violence with Nez Perce and US soldiers

• Nez Perce left their land, but violence erupted between them and US soldiers ◦ A different group of Native Americans attacked the US soldiers and the soldiers thought they were the NEz Perce because they were traveling with them ‣ US soldiers had opened fire and the Nez Perce retaliated and killed 1/3 of the US soldiers ◦ 750 Nez Perce fled 1,400 miles in Montana and Wyoming over 3.5 months, fighting several thousands soldiers and Indian fighters ◦ Nez Perce surrendered (very close to Canada) and were told they would return to Oregon area ‣ Were sent to disease-ridden land in Kansas, then to Oklahoma • Were ultimately sent to a non-Nez Perce reservation in Washington

Violence in cattle and mining towns

• Personal violence commonplace in cattle towns and mining camps ◦ There were some police officers, but they were understaffed and overworked ◦ Most common crimes: horse and cattle theft ◦ Legal hanging or illegal lynching most common punishment ‣ Difference: legal hanging required prosecution but the illegal lynching would be a group of vigilantes taking the law into their own hands ◦ Hand guns were illegal in most of the mining camps or cattle towns ‣ Vast majority would occur inside the saloon ◦ 1850-1900: roughly 500 victims of crime

Rise in the cattle business

• Slaughter of buffalo opened the path for the western cattle industry ◦ By 1865: 5 million Texas Longhorns were in the west ◦ Cattle was one of the mot profitable western industries ◦ Texas Longhorn were not native to Great Plains ‣ They came from Mexico

"Helldorados"

• Some mining community became permanent settlements but most were short lived boom towns ("Helldorados") ◦ Helldorados were very ethnically diverse and male heavy towns ‣ 10 men:1 woman • Many woman were prostitutes ◦ Short lived communities ‣ Saloon were the center of town ‣ lawless society

lack of support for native americans

• Some reformers were outraged by the federal government's repeated treaty violations and lack of support for Native Americans ◦ Native Americans were promised military protection, but did not receive it ◦ However, it led to eradication of many tribal customs ‣ These reformers wanted to assimilate the Native Americans rather than push them west • Racist assumptions and indifferent government treatment drove Plains culture to the brink of destruction ◦ Vast majority of Native Americans will not be able to withstand the changes that Americans are trying to make

Environmental toll on the west

• The introduction of new farmers out west changes the environment • Farmers introduced new exotic plants and animals- as well as new pests- but drastically reduced or destroyed existing species ◦ Many of the new animals or plants would prey on the existing animals or plants ◦ Different insects were brought west ◦ Plants could strangle other plants ◦ Huge swarms of locusts destroyed crops ◦ Grizzly bears and wolves are also declinining • Buffalo were replaced with cattle and sheep- possibilities of huge dust storms ◦ Essentially there was nothing holding the dirt down because cattle and sheep ate all of the grass

Internal empire in the west

• The settlement of the West was one of the largest human migrations in history • Settlers found themselves subjects of an "internal empire" ◦ These new communities were constantly subject to the regulations or laws coming from the eastern communities ◦ Financial, political, and industrial centers of power were based in the East ◦ International markets influenced the development of new communities ‣ Many immigrants arrive in this time period • Many come to new communities in the west ◦ Very few of the settlers become rich, but the people who are funding others are becoming rich • Older populations were pushed aside by white expansion ◦ Native American, Mormon, Hispanic were pushed further out of US territory • West is a destination for people looking for fortune, but the people in the east are making

"Dime Novels"

• The west becomes a huge cultural phenomenon • West captivated Americans ◦ Thousands of "dime novels" appeared that portrayed the region in romantic, heroic terms ‣ Cheap novels that told fictional stories of the west

Community in the great plains

• To survive, families needed to work hard and communities became important ◦ All members of the family were expected to take on duties on the homestead ‣ Children starting at the age of 9 ◦ People would settle around people from people coming from the same place as you ‣ If you had a bad harvest, you could barter with your neighbors ◦ Many small farms failed due to low incomes, debt, and foreclosure ‣ By 1900, a 1/3 of farmers were tenant farmers

Indian Removal Act

• When Native Americans were removed, they were moved to modern day Oklahoma ◦ Promised it would forever be Native American territory ◦ There wasn't any act that said that Oklahoma was part of the US- technically still Native American land • 1830 Indian Removal Act ◦ Giving eastern states money to remove Native Americans ◦ Deemed unconstitutional in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ‣ 1831 ‣ Chiefs of Cherokee Nation saying that they couldn't be removed because it was their land ‣ Supreme Court rules in favor of Cherokee Nation- Georgia had no right to include some of Native American land in their border ‣ President Jackson ignored USSC ruling = forced removal to Indian Territory ◦ Many whites made it seem like this would help Native Americans become more "free," and "more civilized" ◦ By 1850s, federal government completely abandoned their promise as a permanent Native American territory

Wounded Knee

• Wounded Knee (Dec. 1890) ◦ 1890: US gov. ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull - he and several others were killed ‣ They also saw him as a Ghost Dancer ◦ Many Native Americans fled - troops chased them to Wounded Knee, SD where battle took place ‣ Battled between armed US cavalrymen and the unarmed Sioux Native Americans ‣ 200 Native Americans were killed • Half were women and children ‣ 25 of the calvary was killed ◦ Marked the unofficial end of Indian resistance

The Ghost Dance

• Wovoka (a Paiute prophet) had a vision that a divine judgment was coming and led the Sioux to practice the Ghost Dance (religious ceremony) ◦ The Ghost dance was part of his vision ◦ This spreads to other Native American tribes as well ◦ White authorities grew fearful - viewed dance as tribal retribution ‣ White Americans viewed this as a threat to their attempt to assimilate them ‣ They did not view it as a religious ceremony

Nature's Majesty

• Writers, artists and photographers showcased the beauty and wonder of western landscape- piqued public interest • Federal government become concerned with the toll on environment • 1872: federal government created national parks- named Yellowstone as the first ◦ By 1910: more than a dozen national parks had been created in the west

El Partido del Pueblo Unido (The People's Party) and El Alianzo Hispano-Americano (The Hispanic American Alliance) formed

‣ Both formed as a way to protect Spanish-American rights in that region ‣ They are not inciting violence, but are trying to use politics to create change

Fort Laramie Treaty

‣ Ease tensions on both sides ‣ States that the Sioux will forever be allowed to live in the Black Hills region in exchange for agreeing to live on a reservation there ‣ US agrees to remove forts on Sioux land, agree to not build a road on their hunting land but they will build roads and forts nearby ‣ US government says that they will pay Sioux regularly, build schools, and provide supplies ‣ This works well until gold is discovered in Black Hill region ◦ US hires Custer to survey Black Hills region and say that there is not gold to try to limit the spread white settlers ‣ Custer embellishes how much gold is there and there is a mass migration of white settlers ‣ White settlers want to move Native Americans onto the smaller reservations and leads to the Red River War

"Exodusers"

◦ "Exodusters" ‣ African American families who left the south at the end of Reconstruction and try to establish homesteads for themselves ‣ They weren't necessarily given the same benefits as white settlers

Gadsden Purchase

◦ 1853 Gadsden Purchase- land became an economically and socially independent Anglo-Hispanic zone (linked US and Mexico) ‣ A portion of land that is north of the Rio Grande River ‣ Paid 10,000 dollars for land ‣ US wants to build railroad ◦

general land revision act

◦ 1891: General land Revision Act: gave the president the power to establish forest reserves to protect water supply

National Reclamation Act

◦ 1902 National Reclamation Act: added 1 million acres of irrigated land to US ‣ Only corporate farms benefit ‣ Added tax to land- small farmers could not benefit from this

Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876

◦ Black Hills ◦ US military against the Sioux, the Arapaho and the Cheyenne ‣ Crazyhorse and Sitting Bull were Sioux chiefs who were hoping to drive the military and white settlers out of the Black Hills region ◦ This battle spreads to the Montana region ◦ George Custer is leading this battle for the US ‣ He and his 250 troops happen upon a camp of 1000s of Native Americans ‣ All of the 250 soldiers are killed ‣ "Custer's Last Stand" • Used to promote hatred for Native Americans • Increases outcry of white settlers ‣ Crazy Horse surrenders and Sitting Bull tries to flee to Canada • Sitting Bull almost make it to Canada but they aren't caught until 1890

Cowboys job was dangerous

◦ Cowboy job was extremely dangerous ‣ Large animals in hundreds ‣ Harsh weather conditions ‣ You were on a 24 hour shift- cattle had to be moved and maintained ‣ Cowboy profession was so dangerous that most insurance companies would not give them life insurance on ◦ Cowboys faced harsh circumstances that led to strikes and an effort to unionize ‣ In Texas, Wyoming, across Great Plains because of harsh working conditions, disease, and low pay • Only made 30$ a month ‣ Attempt to unionize was not acceptable • After a few years of striking, unions will form but they aren't as strong as mining unions

Santa Fe Ring

◦ Santa Fe Ring: group of Anglos (white Americans) that stole millions of acres of public land and over 80% of Mexicano landholdings in New Mexico ‣ Highlighted the lack of law in that territory because it was claimed by both US and Mexico ‣ In the region as a whole, the Anglos took most of the power but the wealthy Mexicans act as lawmakers for the region

Western Federation of Miners

◦ Western Federation of miners ‣ Violent strike that began in the 1890s ‣ Becomes one of the strongest labor unions in the US ‣ Successful in making an 8 hour workday for the jobs and they compensate for injury on the job • Significant because not even eastern labor unions have this type of support ◦ Only accepted and protected white workers ‣ Exclude Chinese, African American, Mexican, and Indian workers from any union protection • 1893 Caminetti Act: gave states the power to regulate mines

Buffalo Bill Cody

◦ Wild West show promoters like "Buffalo Bill" Cody brought the legendary West to millions of people around the world ‣ Buffalo Bill was a soldier and hunter, but made a living by traveling and performing his wild west shows