Section 1: Mining and Cattle Ranching Section 2: Farming and Settlement Section 3: Native Americans

Old West vs. New West Growth of the Mining Industry Comstock Lode Henry Comstock Boom Town/Ghost Town Vigilantes Pikes Peak Black Hills Cattle Ranches Living/Weather Conditions Great Plains Texas Texas Longhorns Open Range Cowhands/Cowboys Old West Vocabulary Cowboy Terms Spur, Chaps, Lariat, Lasso, Stampede Railheads/Cowtowns Conditions/Life in Cowtowns Abilene Dodge City Long Drive Chisholm Trial Mavericks Nat Love Race/Ethnicity of Cowboys Dime Novels Wild West Dangers faced by Cowboys Ranching Becomes Big Business Barbed Wire End of the Open Range (reasons)

Old West Vocabulary Great Plains Great American Desert Homestead Act Homestead Living conditions in the Great Plains Wheat Belt Dry farming Sodbusters Farmers fall on hard times Closing the Frontier Oklahoma Land Rush Great Plains Indians Nomads Indian Cultures under pressure Lakota Sioux Red Cloud Crazy Horse Sitting Bull Sand Creek Massacre Colonel John Chivington Bureau of Indian Affairs The Native American Wars End of the Buffalo Battle of Little Bighorn George A Custer Custer s Last Stand Nez Perce Chief Joseph Tragedy at Wounded Knee Assimilation Helen Hunt Jackson A Century of Dishonor Ghost Dance Dawes Act Jesse James Wyatt Earp Billy the Kid

Section 1: Mining Henry Comstock is famous for discovering the Comstock Lode in Nevada. In 1859 he staked a 6 mile canyon and claimed it. The sticky blue mud was pure silver ore. There were four major gold rushes as well: - California 1849 - Pikes Peak (Colorado) 1858 - Black Hills (Dakotas and Montana)1874 - Klondike (Alaska) 1897

Mining towns often sprang up almost overnight (Boomtown) and usually had a saloon, an inn, hotel, town hall, police office, jail, blacksmith, general store, bank, and a mining supply store. - On average, the money made was by the vendors or inn keepers in these towns. Prospectors had to follow the gold and silver strikes around the country, so it s no surprise these boomtowns turned to ghost towns. Section 1: Mining Town members often formed vigilance committees, who were self appointed officers who enforced the law. These volunteer were called vigilantes.

Section 1: The Cattle Kingdom After the Civil War, resources and jobs were depleted in the South With beef prices soaring after the Civil War, cattle ranching became a lucrative business to get into. Many people went West for a promise of new land and a fresh start - These people included women, freedmen and excivil war soldiers Some of these people became farmers, ranchers, miners or cowboys The extensive networks of railways made it possible to transport cattle to the East. Railways did not extend down to Texas, so it was necessary for cowboys to transport cattle from Texas to the railroads in Kansas

Section 1: The Cattle Kingdom Large herds of wild cattle roamed Texas called Texas Longhorns - breed of cattle that could survive brutal climate in the open range. Long drives brought herds north to rail lines - Chisholm Trail: trail from Texas to Abilene - Trail bosses and cowboys - Cow towns spring up where trails and rails meet, (Abilene and Dodge City).

Section 1: The Cowboys In these cow towns, the cowboys acted rowdily, drank in saloons The stories of the lives of the cowboys were sensationalized in dime novels that aided in spreading the stories of the cowboys in the Wild West.

Section 1: The Cowboys Many cowboys were Hispanic or African American including Nat Love perhaps the most famous cowboy in the Old West. With cattle prices rising, cowboys had to protect the cattle from cattle thieves so they had to carry guns to do so. Cowboys also had to avoid stampedes so they rode horses, wore spurs to increase speed, and used lassos or lariats to better control the herds.

Section 1: Range Wars Ranchers let cattle roam free on the open range - stock identified by brands. - mavericks: were cattle that did not have any distinguishing brand. Invention of barbed wire people can mark large territory. - 70% cheaper than conventional fencing Conflicts occurred between cattle and sheep ranchers sheep chew grass lower than cows, so grass takes longer to grow back Conflict between ranchers and farmers. Why?

Section 2: Great Plains The Great Plains is the area that spans from the 100 meridian to the Rocky Mountains and from western Texas up to the central Dakotas. Great Plains also called The Great American Desert, because of the lack of rainfall. Settlers filed for a homestead: a tract of public land that was available for settlement. A sodbuster was the name of the settlers who plowed the Plains

Section 2: Homesteading Homestead Act (1862) - Receive 160 acres of land FREE if: Self-Sufficiency Required to survive Head of a family would register: male or female $10 filing fee Live on land and cultivate it for at least 5 years - People known as homesteaders

Section 2: Wheat Belt For the first time in history, the United States can feed itself with the crops grown in the Great Plains The Wheat Belt is the area in the United States that stretches from the eastern edge of the Great Plains and continues to the western parts of Nebraska and Kansas and up to the Dakotas. Farmers were so successful that their was a surplus of crops The surplus caused prices to drop - farmers had to mortgage their farms and many lost their land.

Section 2: A Hard Life for Farmers Sod houses there were no trees in the Great Plains so houses had to be made of dirt from the Plains - rain caused leaks Inventions steel plows, windmills, seed drills Dry climate - Summers: Hot temperatures, fires, drought, grasshoppers - Winter: Cold temperatures, strong winds, deep snowdrifts - Settlers needed to dry farm: planting seeds deep in the ground where it was still moist

Section 2: Closing of the Frontier In 1889, the government opened the last of the land available for settlement Oklahoma. This caused a scramble for land also known as the Oklahoma Land Rush. Settlers in the west made the most of their environment. - dug wells for water - planted trees and gardens - railroads brought: - wood and lumber - brick and windows - transported crops to East Closing the frontier was viewed as the ending of an era. - There was now no other new land for settlers to move to in order to make a fresh start.

Section 3: Native Americans Culture Great Plain Indians believed in extended family ties and a close connection with nature. Because at times there were thousands of Indians, they were divided into bands of around 500 people. Most of the Plains Indians depended on the Buffalo and followed the buffalo throughout there territory. - These Indians were called nomads. There were many different tribes in the Great Plains - These tribes included: - Sioux Lakota and Dakota - Cheyenne - Apache - Nez Perce

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure As ranchers, farmers and miners moved westward on to the Great Plains, they took land from the Native Americans. Many treaties were agreed to and Native Americans were promised land with each treaty. Each of these treaties were broken and they were asked to move again and again. Native Americans resisted by attacking stagecoaches and wagon trains.

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure As compensation to the Native Americans for moving, the U. S. government issued annuities, or payments at least once per year. Congress was one month late in payments so the Lakota Sioux Indians led by Chief Little Crow revolted. The angry Lakota Sioux killed many civilian settlers before they were stopped.

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure Congress sent troops to the northern Plains to prevent any more Native American uprisings. The Lakota Sioux did not want settlers to take yet more land from them and wanted to make sure of this. Led by Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, the Lakota successfully defended their territory for the time.

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure The Bureau of Indian Affairs was an agency set up by the government to deal with Native Americans. Because the U.S. Government had a negative attitude towards the Native Americans, the agency was a failure. They were known for lying, cheating, and stealing from the Indians. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was mismanaged and they took advantage of Native Americans. The Indian Peace Commission was formed creating two reservations for the Sioux and Southern Indians.

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure Herding buffalo had always been a significant part of Native American culture. The U.S. army encouraged the slaughter of buffalo to take away from Indian culture and undermine any resistance. Because the government sponsored buffalo hunters, buffalo were almost extinct. Numbers went from 30,000,000 buffalo to 85 buffalo.

Section 3: Culture Under Pressure Tensions between Cheyenne Indians and miners who came to Colorado became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. Chivington lead a regiment of troops to deal with the hostile Cheyenne Indians. This event was just one of the many outbreaks from the Native American Wars.. The Native Americans were outnumbered and were eventually moved to reservations where they were forced to become farmers.

Section 3: Battle of Little Big Horn Gold was found in the Black Hills so that miners and settlers raced to that location but the Native Americans resided there. The U.S. attempted to relocate the Native Americans but they did not feel that they should abide by another American treaty. Colonel George Custer was commander of the Seventh Cavalry and part of the expedition. - He wanted to drive the Indians out of the Black Hills, but his actual order was to extract concessions from the Sioux.

Section 3: Battle of Little Big Horn Custer underestimated the fighting strengths of the Native Americans when he attacked Little Bighorn River in the Montana area. Custer mistakenly attached when outnumbered greatly. This event is known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or Custer s Last Stand.

Section 3: Nez Perce The Nez Perce were the remaining Indian tribe in the northern Rockies and led by their leader Chief Joseph. The U.S. army came to relocate them, Chief Joseph decided to take his band of Indians to Canada to escape the bombardment of white settlers. After a surprise attack on the Nez Perce Indians by Colonel Nelson Miles, Chief Joseph and his tribe surrendered on October 4, 1877. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. -Chief Joseph

Section 3: Battle at Wounded Knee As a way of coping with the U.S. treatment of the Native Americans, they adopt the ghost dance, a ritual that: 1) Reunite living Indians with their dead ancestors 2) Make settlers disappear 3) Bring back the buffalo When troops went in to put an end to their custom, an unknown shot was fired; causing more shooting to break out.

Section 3: Tragedy at Wounded Knee Sitting Bull was a leader of the Lakota Sioux and was killed shortly before the Battle. Once the battle started, the Indians were no match for the Army s early version of the machine gun called the Gatling Gun. This event was called The Tragedy at Wounded Knee and was one of the bloodiest episodes of the Native American Wars. It marked the end of Indian Wars and all organized Indian resistance to the government.

Section 3: Assimilation Many believed the only way to deal with Native Americans was by Americanizing, or teaching the Native Americans to live as white American settlers. This meant that Indian culture would be absorbed into American culture. This idea is referred to as assimilation, meaning that a smaller culture is absorbed by a larger culture, such as Native Americans being absorbed into American culture. The Reservation System: a) Areas of land that Indians were forced to live on b) Could not leave the reservations c) Could make their own laws there d) Were forced into changing from nomadic, buffalo hunters into farmers

Section 3: Assimilation The Dawes Act of 1887 created the Reservation System which forced Indians to live within a restricted area. It destroyed the lifestyle that many nomadic tribes were used to and instead tried to turn them into farmers The U.S. Government decided that many reservations would be broken into smaller pieces called allotments. The Dawes Act gave each Indian family an allotment of 160 acres for farming and 80 acres for single Indians. Americanizing Native Americans.. Before and After assimilation photos.

Section 3: Assimilation Helen Hunt Jackson was a writer that wanted to convey how horribly the Native Americans were treated by the U.S. She published a booked called A Century of Dishonor in 1881 to rally public opinion against the broken The writing of Helen Hunt Jackson was a reality check to most of the United States as to what was truly being done to Native Americans. promises and treaties.

Additional Info: Outlaws Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney reportedly born Nov. 23, 1859, was an outlaw and gunman. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but he is generally accepted to have killed between four and nine. Jesse James was born Sept 5, 1847 from Missouri, was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer. He also fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Additional Info: Outlaws Wyatt Earp born March 19, 1848 was an American peace officer in various Western frontier towns, farmer, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp. He is also noted for the Earp Vendetta. Wyatt Earp has become an iconic figure in American folk history.

Additional Notes / Old West Review