Social Studies Chapter 17

inflation

a general rise in prices

Great Spirit

ruler of the universe

foreclosure

the taking of poverty to settle a debt

Broken Treaties

US treaties promised to safeguard native american lands, as miners and railroad crews pushed west, they broke those treaties

transcontinental railroad

a railroad line that spanned the continent

comstock lode

a rich vein of ore

vaqueros

a spanish word for cowhand, or cowboy

sod

a surface layer of earth, in which the roots of grasses tangle with soil

The Boom Spreads

after the Civil War, prospectors fanned out over the west, they found valuable ores in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, they made a gold strike in south dakota's black hills, in the 1890's, a gold find drew people from all over the world to Alaska, the ore was deep underground and expensive to extract, by the 1880's, western mining had become a big business, much of the silver and gold were deep in mountains, not easy to get by hand

a risky ride

andy adams had driven many herds north, never before he'd seen cattle going bing with thirst, when the cattle get water, their sight returned, cowhands such as andy adams kept the herds together as the cattle moved along the trails, the cowhands developed nerves of steel, staying calm even in times of extreme stress, trip after trip, they persisted in performing their exciting but dangerous job, herding cattle was certainly risky, a lightning bolt could send a herd stampeding in all directions, swift river currents raised the longhorns away, and cowhands would have to struggle to get the panicked animals back on solid ground, cowhand, also fraught grass fires, pulled the cattle from swamps, and chased off thieves, on the hot, dusty trails, cowhands could spend 18 hours a day in the saddle, like mining, cattle ranching relied on a workforce of low-paid laborers

Aid to Railroads

before 1860, railroad lines ended at the Mississippi River, then the federal government began to offer subsidies, for every mile of track, the government gave the railroad 10 miles of square miles of land next to the track, railroads got more than 180 million acres, an area the size of texas, they also received federal loans

Boomers and Sooners

boomers were the people who gathered at a line near present day OKC, boomers had come to claim some of the 2 million acres of free homesteads in what was once indian territory, at noon, a volley of gunfire signaled the start of the oklahoma land rush, other rushes followed until all 2 million acres had been claimed

People of the Plains

by 1865, about 360,000 native americans lived in the west, mainly on the Great Plains, many had been there for centuries

Homesteading

by 1900, half a million farmers had settled on the Great Plains, many were attracted by an offer of free land

A last rush for land

by the 1880's, few areas on the plains remained free to settlers, the federal government agreed to open Oklahoma homesteaders

The Boom Ends

by the mid 1880's, more than 7 million cattle roamed the open range, that was more than the land could feed, in the beginning of 1886 and 1887, a cycle of scorching summers and frigid winters killed millions of cattle, an economic depression threw many city dwellers out of work, demand for beef dropped, sheep began to compete with cattle for prairie grasses across the plains, farmers fenced in the open range to keep cattle away from crops, as railroads expanded, their lines moved closer to the ranches, large roundups and long cattle drives vanished, the cattle boom was over

The wild west

cattle drives ended at towns along railroad lines, these towns, often unruly places, helped to create the fantasy of the wild west

teepees

cone-shaped tents made of buffalo skin

Homestead Act

during the civil war, congress passed this act of 1862, it offered a 160 acre plot to anyone who resided on the land for five years, congress wanted to give the poor a chance to own farms, thousands became homesteaders on the great plains, but few had the money to move west and start a farm, also, land companies took over large areas illegally, on the dry plains, 160 acres was to small to plot to grow enough grain to profit, one homesteader in three lasted the required five years

New farming method

farmers broke through the sod with plows, sod often cracked plows made of wood or iron, in 1837, John Deere of Illinois invented a sod busting plow made of steel, steel plows were stronger and lighter, sodbusters used machines called drills to plant crops, drills buried seeds deep in the ground where there was moisture, farmers used reapers to harvest crops and threshers to heat off the hard coverings of the grains, farmers used windmills to pump water out that lay hundreds of feet below ground, farmers put up fences to prevent cattle from trampling their crops, Joseph Gladden, an illonois farmer, invented the barbed wire in 1874

The Apaches

fierce resistance came from the apache warriors like Geronimo, who refused to go to a reservation, from Mexico, Geronimo and his men attacked settlers in arizona and new mexico for 10 years, after his capture in 1886, he was sent to a reservation in oklahoma

The rise of the cattle industry

for years, wild cattle wandered the open range of texas, called longhorns for their broad horns, they needed almost no care, they survived on prairie grass and watching holes

subsidies

grants of land or money

grange

groups of farmers who met for lectures, sewing bees, and other events

cooperatives

groups of farmers who pool their money to make large purchases of tools, seed, and other supplies at a discount

the dawes act

hoping to improve native american life, congress passed the dawes act in 1887, it tried to end native americans wandering and turn them into farmers, native american males each received 160 acres to farm, the act set up schools to make native american children more like other americans, however, the act failed, few native americans took to farming, many sold their land cheaply to dishonest whites, federal agents replaced native leaders, and native americans had to give up traditional ways, such as the buffalo hunt, as a result, they remained poor, many relied on the government for food and supplies

Fort Laramie Treaty

in 1851, ten thousand people from many plains nations gathered near fort laramie in wyoming for a big talk with US officials, the officials wanted the nations to stop following the buffalo, if they'd settle permanently, the government promised to protect their lands, no sooner had some native american leaders sign the fort laramie treaty than settlers moved onto their lands, in 1859, a gold strike at pikes peak in colorado sent miners swarming to the region

cow towns

in 1867, joseph mccoy hit on an idea, the illonois business figured that after months on the trail, cowboys were ready for a bath, a good meal, a soft bed, and some fun, cattle needed to be penned as they awaited shipment east, so mccoy founded abilene, kansas, where the chrisholm trail met the kansas pacific railroad, abilene was the first cow town, with money to be made from cowboys and their herds, rival cow towns such as wichita and dodge city, kansas, soon sprang up along rail lines, dance halls, saloons, hotels, and restaurants served the cowboys, gunfights were rare but common enough to lead towns such as wichita to ban carrying pistols

The frontier closes

in 1890, the national census reported that the US no longer had land available for homesteading

Little Big horn

in june of 1876, under orders to force the native americans onto a reservation, colonel george armstrong custer entered the little bighorn valley in montana territory, although outnumbered, he attacked a large land of sioux and cheyennes, custer and all of his men died at the battle of little bighorn, but the victory of sitting bull and crazy horse was fleeting

Boom and Bust

in many parts of the west, settlement came in a rush, this was most true in areas where prospectors found gold or silver, the gold rush of 1849 in California excited the nation

Division of Laborers

in many plains nations, women managed village life, they cared for children and prepared food, they carved tools and made clothing and teepees, they sometimes went to war, like in 1876, a crow woman named The Other Magpie rode against the Sioux for killing her brother, men were hunters and warriors, often, they also led religious life, one important ritual was the sun dance, the 4 day ceremony brought together thousands of native americans from many nations, men would make pledges to the Great Spirit

Sand Creek Massacre

in the early 1860's, new treaties forced native americans to give up land around pikes peak, many warriors resisted, they attacked supply trains and homes, in response colonel john chivington and 700 volunteers attacked a band of cheyennes at sand creek in eastern colorado in 1864, these cheyennes were friendly and under army protection, they raised a white flag to signal peace, but chivington ordered his men to attack, in the end, more than 100 men, women, and children died

The election of 1896

in the presidential election of 1896, populists supported democrat William Jennings Bryan, known as the great commoner, bryan won the votes of farmers from the south and west for supporting the use of silver to raise prices, bankers and business owners claimed rising prices would ruin the economy, they backed republican william mckinley and his gold alone standard, mckinley won, republicans took the white house and congress for the first time in decades, the populists faded, although the major parties absorbed many of their ideas, most americans saw no link between farm problems and their own

The spanish southwest

in the southwest along the border with mexico, arriving settlers found spanish sparking farmers and sheepherders, many had raided there since before the mexican-american war, when the US had acquired this territory, the coming of railroads brought more immigrants from mexico, many helped build new lines, some of the older hispanic residents were large landowners, known as riches, they fought to keep their lands, deeded under spanish or mexican law

The Comstock Lode

just before the Civil War, prospectors began searching for gold in the Sierra Nevada, in 1859, two irish prospectors found the gold they were looking for, however, a third man, Henry Comstock, said the claim was on his land, the find became known as the Comstock Lode, at the Comstock Lode, blue tinted sand stuck to all the equipment and made the gold hard to dig out, the blue mud turned out to be loaded with silver, the silver was much more valuable than the gold, this was one of the richest silver mines in the world, in the next 20 years, the Comstock Lode produced $300 million worth of silver, and made Nevada a center of mining

reservation

land set aside for native americans to live in

A lard life on the plains

life on the great plains wasn't easy, water was scarce, and cops were hard to grow, farmers struggled to make ends meet

Life on the trail

life on the trail was hard and dangerous, the long cattle drives tested the nerve and skill of every cowhand

Cooperatives and Political Parties

many farmers lived in poverty and isolation, some communists began to form granges, in 1867, local granges joined to form the national grange, what began as a social and educational movement evolved into an economic protest, in the 1870's and 1880's, grangers demanded the same low rates from railroads and warehouses that were given to big farmers, they elected state officials who passed laws limiting rates, a group called the farmers alliance organized in the late in the late 1870's to help farmers, it set up cooperatives, in the south, both whites and blacks joined the alliance, in 1892, unhappy farmers joined with members of labor unions to form the populist party, this was a political party that pushed for social reforms, it demanded public ownership of railroads and warehouses to control rates, a tax on income to replace property taxes, an eight hour workday, and other reforms, populists wanted to use silver in addition to gold as a basis for the money supply, with more money circulating, populists hoped to see inflation, they believed rising grain prices would help farmers pay off their debts, in that way, farmers could avoid foreclosure

Spanning the continent

many westerners dreamed of a transcontinental railroad, in 1862, Leland Stanford and his partners won the right to build a pacific, another railroad, the union pacific ,would build west more omaha, when the lines met, tracks would stretch from coast to coast, the railroads hired thousands of workers such as native born whites, Mexican americans, and African americans, and immigrants, workers also immigrated to the US from Mexico and Ireland, the work was hazardous, the pay was low, cutting through the sierra nevada, chinese manual laborers were lacked by snow and winds, avalanches buried weeks of work in moments and workers by the score, daily progress sometimes came in inches, on may 10, 1869, the two lines met at promontory, utah, stanford drove the final spike into the last rail with a mallet

Frontier Justice

mining towns sprouted so fast that law and order were hard to find, miners formed groups of vigilantes, such groups hunted down bandits and imposed their own rough brands of justice, as boomtowns grew, local residents began to seek more lasting forms of government, sheriffs, marshals, and judges replaced vigilantes, colorado, dakota, and nevada organized into territories in 1861, followed by Arizona and Idaho in 1863 and montana in 1864, in some mining towns, all the ore was soon extracted, mines shut down and miners moved away, with few customs, businesses failed and merchants left, boomtowns became ghost towns

Effects of the railroads

new towns sprang up in the west, people and supplies poured in, gold and silver poured out, rapid population growth brought politics changes, nevada became a state in 1864, colorado in 1876, north dakota, south dakota, montana, and washington in 1889, idaho and wyoming in 1890, supplies shipped from the east, territories became states

Last stand for custer and the sioux

new treaties in the 1860's sought to end the wars on the plains, federal officials urged plains nations to settle down and farm

Other Efforts at Resistence

other native american nations in the west also came under pressure, among them were the new perces to the north and the navajos and apaches to the south

The use of the buffalo

people found many use for the buffalo, its meat was a protein rich food, horns and bones could be made into tools, tendons could be made into thread, buffalo hunting thus played a key role in people's survival

Life in Transition

people of the plains lived by gathering wild foods, hunting, and fishing, some raised crops, early native americans hunted buffalo and other game on foot, when Europeans arrived, it changed their lives, plans nations tamed herds of wild horses, descended from tough breeds brought by the spanish, they also traded with the french and british for guns, with guns, native americans could kill more game, on horse back, they could travel faster and farther, some early groups traveled far and wide even before Europeans came by carrying their belongings on travois, they lived in teepees, in the winter, plainsmen trained the herds into protected valleys and forests, in the summer, when grass on the plains grew tall, hunters tracked the buffalo as they gathered to gaze

sooners

people who sneaked onto the land, they jumped from hiding and grabbed the best land

sodbusters

plains farmers

The cattle boom

profits rose still higher with the introduction of new breeds of cattle, these breeds caught fewer diseases and had more meat than longhorns, as a result, backers from the east and europe invested millions in huge cattle companies

Railroads promote farming

railroads promoted more farming than homestead act, more farms meant more shipping for western railroads, the railroads gave away some of the 180 million acres they got from the government, they recruited thousands of people from the eastern US, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavian to settle on the great plains

The Railroad Boom

railroads raced to lay track to the mines and boomtowns, they received generous help from the federal government

The Navajos

raised sheep, horses, and cattle in the southwest, bends of the navajos also raided settlers farms for livestock, to stop raids, white settlers called in the army, after a series of wars, the navajos were defeated in 1864 in arizona

The long drives

ranchers began rounding up the cattle in the 1860's, they hired cowhands to move the cattle to rail lines in kansas, missouri, and wyoming, some rail lines were as far away as 1000 miles, spring was an ideal time to begin a cattle drive, grass grew tall, and rivers flowed fun from spring rains, since the work was so demanding that cowhands brought a number horses so that each day a fresh one would be available, they followed well worn trails, to the east lay the famous chrisholm trail from san antonio, texas to abilene, kansas, to the west, the goodnight loving trail led to rail towns in wyoming

the failure of reform

reformers criticized the government for its harsh treatment of native american nations, criticism grew as more groups were forced onto reservations in the late 1800's

The myth of the west

rough and tumble life in cow towns helped to spread the myth of the west as a place of violence, adventure, and endless opportunity, easterners called it the wild west, no one did more to promote this fantasy than William "buffalo bill" cody, a former buffalo hunter, cody created a traveling wild west show in 1863, gun slinging cowboys and native americans performed daring feats of sharp shooting and horseback riding, they staged performances depicting frontier events, including custers last stand, annie oakley broke the stereotype of the dainty women with shooting as precise as any mans, the myth of the wild west had some basis in fact, native americans were being forced onto reservations, wild cow towns were being quieted down by settlers and ministers who wanted peaceful communities for their families and their faiths

vigilantes

self-appointed law keepers

cow town

settlement at the end of a cattle trail

homesteaders

settlers who acquired free land from the government

cowhands

skilled riders who know how to herd cattle

travois

small sleds

The Ghost Dance

some native americans dreams of returning to old ways, native american dancers fell into a trance, or a dreamlike state, they believed they were talking to ghosts of their ancestors, so the dance was called the ghost dance, dancers believed their ancestors and buffalo would return and white people would leave the plains, in december, 1890, native american police went to a sioux village to stop the dances, some police killed them, fearful of further violence, a band of sioux tried to flee to safety, army troops surrounded them at wounded knee creek in south dakota, the battle of wounded knee marked the end of an era of indian wars

Reservations

southern plains nation like the kiwis, comanches, and apaches moved to reservations in oklahoma, life there was a disaster, poor soil in oklahoma made farming difficult, many sioux and cheyennes gathered on land aside for them in the black hills of the dakotas, in 1874, a gold strike brought a flood of miners, sitting bull and crazy horse led attacks to keep whites out

calls for reform

susette la flesche knew all about the calamity befalling native american's, her father was an omaha chief, in 1881, inspired by la flesche the poet helen hunt jackson wrote a century of dishonor, the book recorded the many treaties violated by the government and native american expense, alice fletcher also promoted native rights, she became an agent for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, which dealt with native americans

Boomtown Life

tent cities like Virginia City often arose around the diggings, soon, hotels, stores, and other wood frame buildings appeared, mining camps quickly grew into boomtowns, merchants brought mule teams hauling tools, food, and clothing, when who joined the mining boom could make a good living, some opened restaurants or baked goods, others washed clothes, or took in boarders, streets of the mining towns rang with irish accents as well as italian, german,m spanish, chinese, and other languages, foreign miners often faced hostility, for example, laws restricted chinese miners to claims abandoned by others, mobs often drove the chinese from towns

Boom and bust in the cattle kingdom

the cattle boom last from the 1860's to the 1880's, the region dominated by the cattle industry and its ranches, trails, and cow towns came to be called the cattle kingdom, ranchers made large profits as herds and markets grew but the cattle industry industry

spanish roots

the cowhands driving herds north owed much to spanish and mexican vaqueros, when americans started to herd cattle, they learned from vaqueros how to ride, rope, and brand, cowboys were mexican spurs and leather chaps that kept their legs safe from thorny shrubs, cowboys used leather lariat or lasso to catch cattle and horses, about 1/3 of all western cowhands were mexican, many others were african americans, and white veteran son the civil war

Busting Sod

the first farmers on the eastern plains staked out sites near water and trees, later arrivals continued on to the treeless prairies, the farther west one went, the drier the climate came, the soil of the plains was fertile, it was covered with thick sod, with little rain, sod baked into a hardened mass, early settlers, who lacked wood, cut sod into bricks to build walls, two rows of sod bricks made walls that kept homes in cool in summer and warm in winter

End of the buffalo

the giant herds of the buffalo, so central to native americans life, began to shrink in the 1870's, railroads had hunters kill the animals to feed their crews, others also slaughtered buffalo because buffalo robes drew high prices in eastern cities

cattle drive

the herding and moving of cattle over long distances

means and markets

the herds of cattle had grown from strays lost by spanish ranchers, as american settlers moved in, they set up new ranches, but they didn't bother to round up the stray herds because they had no means of getting the cattle to distance markets, as railroads swept across the plains in the 1860's, texans at last saw a way to reach those markets, protein rich beef was in demand to feed city dwellers in the east and miners and soldiers in the west

Crisis on the farm

the more grain that farmers hauled to market, the lower grain prices fell, farmers were producing a surplus of crops, small farmers were hit the hardest by low grain prices, many had borrowed money for land and machinery, as prices fell, plains farmers couldn't repay their loans and lost their land, in the south, tenants and sharecroppers fell deeper into debt as cotton prices fell

Buffalo Soldiers

the sand creek massacre helped to ignite an era of war, the native americans called the african american soldiers buffalo soldiers, the buffalo soldiers fought on the plains for 20 years, they also captured bandit from texas to the dakotas

The Nez Perces

they were where idaho, oregon, and washington now meet, they bred horses and cattle in the snake river valley, under pressure, many agreed to go on a reservation, reluctant to see his nation humiliated, chief joseph flip toward canada with a large band of new perces in 1877, the US army pursued them, the army caught the nez perces near canada's border

Exodusters

thousands of african americans, many former slaves, streamed onto the plains, african american settlers in kansas were called exodusters because they believed they were like jews fleeing slavery in egypt, a biblical story told in the book of exodus, some exodusters took up farming, others moved to towns, men often worked as hired hands and women as laundresses

open range

unfenced land

Farmers organize

wheat and grain from plains farms fed the growing cities of america and europe, a few big farmers proposed, small farms faced an economic crisis and quickly organized to end it

Farm families

whole families worked on the farms, men labored from dark to dust, children tended animals and helped with other chores, life was also hard for women, besides keeping house, they helped plant and harvest, they educated children, they nursed the sick, they sewed clothing, preserved food, and made such basics as candles and soap