1. Clashing Cultures on the Great Plains
5.2

2. BIG IDEAS
MAIN IDEA: Settlers on the Great Plains transformed the land despite great hardships.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW: The Great Plain region remains the breadbasket of the United States.

3. Culture on the Plains Great Plains Family Life
Land west of the Mississippi is comprised of grasslands
Horse and Buffalo were key for survival
Small extended family groups
Young men focused on hunting and war
Women helped butcher, prepared camp life
Communal way of life

4. Plains Tribes Women could occasionally choose their own husbands
Elected Councils ran the tribes
Children were educated through stories, myths, games, and positive examples
Land belonged to everyone

5. Settlers Push Westward
Looking to own land
Believed the west was “unsettled”
Discovery of gold in Colorado (1859)
Boomtowns develop; government restricts Native Americans

6. Railroads in the West
million acres of land granted to rail roads
400 million acres of land settles by U.S. citizens
Central Pacific and Union Pacific Rail Companies employ Civil War Veterans
Rail Companies sell their land for $2-$10 an acre

7. Cattle Become Big Business
Longhorns replace the buffalo on the open plains of TX and were raised, roped, and branded by American cowboys
Traditions carried over from the Spanish and learned in Mexico
Post Civil War and the growth of railroads increased the demand for beef in the country
Chisholm Trial is the economic center for cattle trade for the country

8. Life of a Cowboy 10-14 hr days 25% African American; 12%Mexican
Age 15-40
Round up: herding, sorting, and branding
Long Drive: over land transport of cattle

9. Government Support for Settlement
Homestead act: 160 acres of land to any free or indentured citizen who is the head of a household
600,000 families move west
Exodusters: African Americans who move from the post reconstruction South

10. Challenges on the Plains
Western frontier is plagued with droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, and attacks
Soddys, homes made by stacking blocks of prairie turf, were most common
Women worked along side men as well as playing the role of doctor, school, educator, and church
Morrill Act: government funded agricultural education

11. Farmers and Debt Farming equipment was expensive
Rail companies charging high prices to ship from the west
Bonanza farms growing singular crops only exemplify the debt situation