Ch 5 Changes on the Western Frontier

Buffalo skulls, 1870

"[The buffalo slaughter] was another potent agency in producing the result we enjoy today, in having in so short a time replaced the wild buffaloes by more numerous herds of tame cattle, and by substituting for the useless Indians the intelligent owners of productive farms and cattle ranches." ~General William Tecumseh Sherman, from his memoirs,1875

Rath & Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878.

The costs of westward expansion for Native Americans 360,00 Indian people lived West of Mississippi in 1865 by 1900, fewer than 250,000

Change of Policy Great Plains no longer for Natives but rather open to settlers, miners. Natives not “using” the land anyway Leads to CONFLICT Treaty of Fort Laramie: Sioux agree to live along Missouri River…FAILS!! 1864-Sand Creek Massacre Red River War Battle of Little Big Horn Battle of Wounded Knee

Conflicts Sand Creek Massacre-Natives on protected land, encamped for the winter; attacked at dawn led by Curtis Chivington; 150 warriors killed, 500 women/children Battle of Little Big Horn-Gold discovered in Black Hills S.D.- Sioux & Cheyenne fight General Custer’s 7 th Calvary. Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, & 2000 Indians die; Custer dies.

It comes to an end… Wounded Knee- Soldiers order the removal of weapons from Native Americans, shot is fired, 300 unarmed Natives killed;— Indian Wars come to an end

Pupils at Carlisle Indian school, Pennsylvania. Established in 1879 by Richard Pratt, the school attempted to assimilate Indian children (Dawes Plan) into the "white man's world" through education and financial support. Among its students were four of Comanche chief Quanah Parker's children and those of others involved in the Texas Indian Wars. Source:

Cowboys: symbols of independence or seasonal wage workers? 35,000-55,000 cowboys $30/month pay 1/5-1/3 Indian, Mexican, or African American

Texas Cattle Trails Before the Civil War, the Shawnee Trail (far right) led Texas cattlemen to markets in Kansas City and St. Louis. Following the war, increased settlement closed that route, and in 1866 Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving blazed a trail west to the New Mexico and Colorado markets, called the Goodnight-Loving Trail (far left). Soon, however, railheads in Kansas led cowboys up the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, and up the Western Trail to Dodge City and points north.

Roundup on Texas Ranch

Bucking Broncos

"Second Guard." A cowboy camp at night in the 1880's, with some cowboys bedding down while others prepare to head out for night duty watching over the herd. Photograph by F. M. Steele.

Cowboys branding "mavericks" in the 1880's. This cowboy name for cattle without a brand can be traced to Texas rancher Samuel Maverick, whose habit of neglecting to brand his herd led his neighbors to call an unbranded steer "one of Maverick's." Photograph by F. M. Steele.

Cowboys eating dinner on the range. A typical chuckwagon, like the one shown here, carried potatoes, beans, bacon, dried fruit, cornmeal, coffee and canned goods. (Library of Congress)

"Where we shine." Cowboys at the end of an 1897 roundup in Ward County, Texas, pose with their herd of almost 2,000 cattle. By this time, barbed wire had closed down the long cattle trails for nearly two decades. Photographed by F. M. Steele.

FREE LAND!!! The Homestead Act (1862) 160 acres of public domain free to any settler who lived on the land and improved it for at least 5 years settler could purchase the land for $1.25 per acre after 6 months’ residence 605 million acres available land given to male heads of households and single or widowed women—600,000 families only 10% actually settled by families railroad companies and speculators profited

The starting line for the first Oklahoma Land Rush, April 22, 1889.

Cost of “free” land… Only 10% of western settlers (400,000 families) receive their land under Homestead Act State gov’ts and land companies got most of valuable land

Homesteaders photographed in the 1880's by Solomon Butcher in Custer County, Nebraska.

Exodusters waiting for a steamboat to carry them westward in the late 1870's. (Library of Congress.) this pic is in your book

Homesteader Omer Yern and family photographed by Solomon Butcher in Custer Country, Nebraska, (Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society.)

David Hilton and family pose for homestead photographer Solomon Butcher, showing off their prize possession, a pump organ. Butcher noted that Mrs. Hilton insisted on having the organ hauled into the yard, so her family portrait would not reveal that the Hilton's still lived in a sod house.

While preserving some traditions of their homeland, settlers on the Texas frontier were transformed by their experiences, becoming "westerners."

Farming the “Great American Desert”

Fenced in Ranch

Legislation Morrill Land Grant Act & Hatch Act= Agricultural colleges (Kansas State University) and develop grains for “western” weather (heat resistant)

Farmers in Trouble Machines are costly Crop prices fluctuate Transportation costs Borrow $$--increase debt Single-crop bonanza farms become bankrupt Farmers unite…