Ch 26: The Great West & the Agricultural Revolution (1865-1896)
Conquest and transformation of the West
A) Conflicts with the Plains Indians-->Reservation System
1. Culture clash--> Indian Wars
B) Of Miners, Cattlemen, and Farmers (all of which would have been impossible without the railroad)
1. Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker
Homestead Act 1862: settler acquires ≤160acres by living on & improving it for 5yrs & pay $30
Godsend to farmers who couldn’t afford to buy large holdings under previous policy
Hwvr, cruel reality: droughts + terrible soil= little harvest --> must return land to gov
Adaptations to almost-sterile soil & frequent droughts:
-Sodbusters broke the sod w. heavy iron plows pulled by 4 yokes of oxen.
-6yr drought--> dry farming: frequent shallow cultivatn which depleted soil over time.
-tough strains of wheat, abandonmt of corn in favor of drought-resistant grains
-Eventually fed-financed irrigatn projects caused Great Am Desert to bloom
A) Conflicts with the Plains Indians-->Reservation System
1. Culture clash--> Indian Wars
- Materialistic, industrializing civ’n vs highly evolved lifeway, adapted to tough environ
- Gov tried to pacify NAs by signing treaties w. ‘chiefs of tribes’ to est borders for each tribe’s land. Treaties = beginning of reservation system in West
- Hwvr NAs recog’ed no auth outside family &nomadic=agst living in confinemt of defined territory
- NAs surrendered land in ex for food, clothing, supplies, but cheated by corrupt fed agents
- Sand Creek Massacre (CO 1864): Col Chivington’s militia killed 400 innocent NAs in cold blood
- Bozeman War (WY 1866): Sioux, attempting to block constructn of Bozeman Trail to MT gold fields, left no survivors when they ambushed Cpt Fetterman’s command of 81 solds/civs
- Treaty of Ft. Laramie 1868: gov abandoned B. Trail & Sioux won Great Sioux Reservation
- Battle of Little Bighorn (MT 1874): Sioux, aiming to oust gold-seekers off their land, slaughtered Col Custer’s VII Cavalry--> Ams relentlessly hunted down NAs who humiliated him
- Whites forced Nez Perce & Apache NAs to surrender & live on reservatns
- Taming of NAs by RR, disease, alcohol, bison extinctàend of nomad lifestyle
- Helen H Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor (1881) & Ramona (1884) inspired sympathy for NAs
- Policymakers wanted to reform NA policy, but showed no respect for NA culture-->
- Dawes Severalty Act 1887: dissolved tribes as legal entities, wiped out tribal land ownership, set up indiv’l NA family heads w. 160 free acres. ‘Good behavior’=full title to land & citizenship
- Reserv’n land not allotted to NAs sold to RRs & white settlers, w. proceeds used to civilize NAs à Carlisle Ind School (PA): NA children, sep from tribes, taught Eng & inculcated w. white values
- Dawes Act’s forced-assimilation doctrine remained cornerstone of gov policy until Ind Reorg Act 1934 reversed it. Hwvr, even under defective policies, Ind pop’n started to grow again.
B) Of Miners, Cattlemen, and Farmers (all of which would have been impossible without the railroad)
1. Mining: From Dishpan to Ore Breaker
- Au/Ag in W-->boomtowns: unlawful immoral cities that vanished when Ag petered out
- Loose surface Au gone-->ore-breaking machinery imported to smash Au-bearing quartz
- Mining frontier played vital role in subduing continent: attracted pop’n & wealth
- Women first won ballot in WY (1869), UT (1870), CO (1893), ID (1896)
- Precious metals helped finance CivWar & building of RRs, intensified white-NA conflict
- Transcont RR & refrigerator cars solved problem of bringing cattle meat from TX to East
- Long Drive: TX cowboys drove herds over unfenced/ppled plains until RR terminal
- Hwvr, homesteaders & sheepherders soon fenced land, making Long Drive less profitable
- Thus cattle-raising=necessity & WY Stock-Growers’ Associatn made it profitable business.
Homestead Act 1862: settler acquires ≤160acres by living on & improving it for 5yrs & pay $30
Godsend to farmers who couldn’t afford to buy large holdings under previous policy
Hwvr, cruel reality: droughts + terrible soil= little harvest --> must return land to gov
Adaptations to almost-sterile soil & frequent droughts:
-Sodbusters broke the sod w. heavy iron plows pulled by 4 yokes of oxen.
-6yr drought--> dry farming: frequent shallow cultivatn which depleted soil over time.
-tough strains of wheat, abandonmt of corn in favor of drought-resistant grains
-Eventually fed-financed irrigatn projects caused Great Am Desert to bloom
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