American West

1834

• Us Government passed Indian Trade and Intercourse Act
• Eastern tribes forced west of Mississippi, now Indian territory
• All whites banned from settling on any land west of Mississippi other than Louisianna and Mississippi itself
• Frontier was guarded by US gurads, army forts and military roads

1851

• 1850s, whites wanted to use Indian land
• Act provided money for government to move Indiansonto reservations managed by federal government
• Some tribes allocated hunting grounds
• Government hoped whites could teach Indians new ways to live
• Hoped small areas of land would force them to farm 

1837

• Corn prices collapsed, farmers faced ruin, made worse by overcrowding in fertile farming region
• Financial crisis, banks ran out of money, people lost savings + jobs, unemployment reached 25% in some areas

1836

• Created by fur trappers for better access to beavers
• Ran from Missouri to Independence, Oregon
• Migrants could travel across land inistead of water, massively decreased journey time, dangers and expense

1841

• Government-funded map produced

• Belief it was God's will for white Americans to settle over all of America
• Encouraged by Government, needed it settled as protection from foreign powers
• Included the 'civilisation' of Indians

1848

• Gold first discovered in California

1849

• Hundreds of thousands travelled to California in search of Gold

1850s

• Professional miners with equipment + expertise to mine underground took over

• Began at Independence, Missouri
• Train of wagons, 20+
• 8-9 months
• Oregon Trail, 3200km
• California Trail, 3800km
• Early migrants used explorers and Indians to find the way
• Later used pamphlets
• Began in April, enough grass for animals

• Trails crossed the Rockies and Blue Mountains on the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, steep, little to hunt, bad weather, wagons were hauled across using chaines and pulleys, injuries were common
• Need to complete journey before winter or get stuck in mountains
• Sandstorms
• Quicksand
• Extreme heat
• Storms
• Disease
• Stampeding buffalo
• Hostile Indians
• Lack of supplies
• Required enough food for whole journey

1846-47

• led by Jacob + George Donner
• Left Missouri for California, May 1846 (late)
• 60 wagons + 300 people
• Well-equipped
• More women, elderly + children than normal

Fort Bridger

• 80 tried to take a shortcut, using a leaflet
• 4 wagons broke
• 300 cattle died
• 1 man killed another
• Group arrived late in Sierra Nevada
• Trapped by heavy snow
• Group sent for help, took 32 days to reach Johnson's Ranch
• Both groups at their dead to survive
• Jan 1847, found by rescue parties

Joesph Smith

• Founded Church of Latter-Day Saints
• Followed by Mormons
• Numbers grew to several hundred by 1830
• Taught Mormons to obey him as his decisions were from God
• 1844 murdered in Illinois

Reasons

• Persecuted,
• were successful,
• desired to free slaves and befriend Indians,
• practised polygamy,
• so-called blasphemy

Preparation

• Brigham Young became leader after Smith's murder
• Persecuted in Illinois, forced to find land no-one else wanted
• 1500 people
• 2250km journey
• Split into groups, one leader, each given a specific role
• Had enough food for a year
• Advance group specially chosen to pick best route, improve trail, mark water + food for animals

1847

• Young led an advance party on a carefully researched rout
• Advance group, chose best rout, improved trails, marked food + water for animals

1847-49

• 70,000 Mormons followed on the Mormon Trail

Success in Utah

• Settlers organised, each town had a mix of skills to prosper
• Perpetual Emigration Fund, provided resources for thousands of Mormons to travel to Utah
• Dug irrigation ditches to provide farmland with water
• Faith encouraged hardwork and determination
• Mormon church owned all of the land, water and timber, allocated plots to families

Problems

• Climate, hot + dry summers, cold winters
• Lack of water, very little surface water, low rainfall
• Prarie fires, dry grass burned easily
• Thick sod, soil was a tangled mass of grass roots
• Lack of trees, no timber for fencing and building
• Weather, thunderstorms, violent winds
• Grasshopper plagues + other insect pests

Differences from East

• Sod, broke ploughs, had to be dug up by hand, back-breaking work
• Crops, died from lack of water, easten by insect infestations

Lack of timber solutions

• Settlers paid large amounts to import timber for fencing
• Sod houses, thick walls + roof, good insulation, earth walls were fireproof (prarie fires)
• Impossible to clean, full of insects

• Indians spied on whites, made them nervous
• Increased conflict between tribes, Whites retaliated with violence
• Increase in migration, whites built forts along trails, disrupted Indians' travelling, increase in people using resources
• Whites feared the Indians, scalping viewed as barbaric
• White migrants killed Buffalo for food, caused stampedes, disrupted Indian organistaion of herds
• White settlers racist towards Indians, believed they were superior
• Resources were scarce, white settlers mistook Indian raids for attacks

Terms

• Plains Indians had to:
• end fighting between tribes
• allow migrants through their land safely
• permit railroad surveyors onto their landd
• allow government to build roads and army forts on land
• pay compensation if any individuals from their tribe break the treaty

• Territories set out for Indian tribes

US government would

• protect ndians from whites including those trying to settle on Indian land
• pay tribes an annuity of $50,000 as long as treaty terms are kept to

Causes

• New crimes, claim-jumping in mining camps, miner took over a promising claim made by someone else, salting a claim, salt flakes scattered to look like gold
• Isolated comunities, harder to reach by law enforcement, e.g. mining camps in mountains
• Racial tensions from immigration, Chinese 1949 Gold Rush, Chinese famine 1852, discriminated against in court, not allowed to work new claims, claims stolen from
• Mining camps became targets for criminals
• Law enforcement not big enough to cope with rapid population growth
• Social factors, gambling, alcohol, prostitution, all-male camps, fighting over women

1849 Gold Rush

• Population grew rapidly, 100 to 25,000
• Very few found gold
• Mostly unemployed, angry miners
• Increased number of chinese immingrants, racial tensions grew

1852

• gangs had formed, were out of control
• local policemen unable to cope, often bribed
• theft, murded and violence common
• vigilance communities set up to control violence

People

• US marshals, appointed by president, responsible for state or territory, needed deputies due to size of land
• Deputy marshals, assigned to specific towns + counties in federal territories
• Town marshals, appointed by townspeople yearly, dealt with local lawlessness (e.g. saloon brawls), could appoint deputies, fewer than sheriffs but a similar job
• Sherrifs, appointed in counties, 2 year office, could force locals into posse to catch lawbreakers, could appoint deputies

Federal control

• Federal government in charge of territories, decided on laws, appointed a governor + 3 judges to listen to court cases + a US marshal
• Once territory had population of 5,000, a sheriff could be appointed
• Once territory reached 60,000, could become a state with its own legal system

• Settlers, disliked government, ignored rules
• Sheriffs, chosen for ability to keep the peace, no legal training, unfair decisions, led to resentment
• Money, federal government didn't spend much on law enforcement, law officers poorly paid, corruption was likely
• Geography, territories were huge, scattered settlements, took days before news of trouble reached US marshal, more days before response was made

1861-1865

• North: small family farms, Union, South: large plantations, Confederat
• North wanted to abolish slavery but it was vital to the South's economy
• Abraham Lincoln elected as president, against slavery, South attacked Northern fort

Consequences

• Reconstruction of towns + cities + factories, increased migration West
• Plains settlers fighting, sharing stories, increased migration West
• South defeated, previously resisted Homestead Act, passed 1862
• Regular troops in West removed to fight for Union, conflict on Plains increased
• Slavery abolished, increased migration: freed slaves

1862

Terms

• 160 acres of land for:
• Head of family or single over 21
• Not Indians or Confederate soldiers
• Women
• Former slaves
• Single under 21 + fought for Union
• $10 to claim land
• $30 to own land after working it for 5 years
• 1 claim per person

Aims

• Encourage settlement by families, not large landowners
• Make land cheap
• Most American citizens could file a claim
• Homesteaders had to prove they lived on and improved the land

Limitations

• Rich landowners found ways to buy land
• 300 million acres of land given to railroad companies, more successful than Homestead Act
• High dropout, 60% never 'proved up' (bought the land), plots too small, environment too dry

Successes

• Settlement of the West, half of Nebraska land homesteaded
• Increased migration
• 80 million acres of land Homesteaded by end of Act (1930s)
• 6 million + acres of federal land homesteaded by 1876

Pacific Railroad Act

• South had blocked proposed rote, had benefitted North not South
• Passed in 1862, South had temporarily left Union (Civil War)
• Granted job to Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad companies

Government support

• Gave $61 million in loans to railroad companies
• 45 million acres of free land given to companies to sell to settlers
• Agreed treaties with Indians along route to move them to new reservations

Use of railroad

• Troops could be moved around to control Indian uprisings
• Allowed all Americans to keep in touch, united country
• Easier to fulfil Manifest Destiny, easier to migrate, easier to secure more areas of country
• Federal law officers could reach settlements quicker
• Goods could be transported to California + Oregon, good position to trade with Far East

Settlement

• 1880, Railroad companies had settled 200 million acres of land
• Companies sold land along routes + built towns at railheads
• Railroad 'Bureas of Immigration' sent agents abroad to persuade immigrants to buy land
• RAilroad companies used effective marketing e.g. leaflets

Impact (Completed in 1869)

• Travelling west easier + cheaper, farmers + cattlemen could transport produce East for better prices
• Declining buffalo numbers, reduced grassland, hunters
• Settlers could buy from industrial cities, clothing, farming machinery

Lack of timber

• Few trees on Plains
• No materials to build houses: sod houses built from blocks of earth
• No materials to build fences to contain cattle and protect crops from animals: 1874: Glidden invented barbed wire, quick and easy to erect
• No fuel for cooking and heating, Women collected dried buffalo or cattle dung for use as fuel

Lack of water

• Low rainfall, few rivers + lakes
• Needed to drink, water crops, for cattle, to wash
• Drills developed to find water underground
• Wind pumps built to bring water to surface

Disease and lack of medical care

• Sod houses hard to clean, had no sanitation
• Women cared for sick using home remedies, as communities grew doctors arrived

Hard, arid land

• Crops wouldn't grow
• Plough broke going through deep-rooted grass: mass-produced, stronger machinery from eastern factories helped to cultivate land more easily
• Low rainfall prevented growth of crops like maize + wheat, common in East: New techniques developed e.g. dry framing conserved rainwater, Turkey Red Wheat brought by Russian migrants

Land holdings were too small

• 160 acres from Homestead Act not enough for average family
• 1873: Timber Culture Act: another 160 acres of land if 1/2 planted with trees
• 1877: Desert Land Act: 640 acres of cheap land

Lack of education

• Homestead too far from towns with schools: women taught the young
• As communities developed single, female teachers arrived + schools developed

Civil War

• Young men from defeated Southern states resentful towards victorious US government and laws
• Young men traumatised by war, found it hard to fit into society
• Devastated South's economy, many unemployed

Railroads

• New towns created along railroads, grew very quickly, no law enforcement
• Cow Towns: cowboys just paid after weeks of driving cattle, enjoyed drinking, dancing and fighting
• "Hell on Wheels" towns known for gambling, heavy drinking + prostitution
• Trains replaced stagecoaches for transporting valuables: targeted by looters

Pinkertons

• Private detective company
• Employed by banks, railroad + stagecoach companies to track down robbers and thieves + to provide advice + protection

Sheriffs & Marshals

• Enforced laws using intimidation + violence
• New settlements left to deal with lawlessness themselves by electing town marshals + sheriffs

Cow towns

• Passed laws banning firearms

Railroad + electric telegraph

• Improved communication between law officers, increase in federal government influence

Quarantine

• Texas cattle had contagious disease Texas Fever
• Farmers' cattle in settled areas have no immunity
• 1855, laws block Texan cattle from Missouri
• 1859, laws block Texan cattle from Kansas
• These laws blocked the long drives to Sedalia and St Louis

Civil War: 1861-65

• Texans fight for the Confederancy, cattle herds run wild: 5 million cows by 1865
• Beef in high deman in Northern citiess, drives to Sedaia blocked (Texas Fever)
• Creation of railroad: cattle worth $5 a head in Texas but $40 in Northern industrial cities

Abilene

• 1867, railroad reaches Abilene, Kansas, outside of quarantine zones 
• Joseph McCoy sets up first cow town, built stockyards, built a railroad spur for loading cattle onto railroad carts, extended Chisolm Trail to Abilene through Indian territory, spent $5,000 on marketing, 35,000 cattle driven to Abilene over time

The Goodnight-Loving Trail

• Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving recognised settlements in west to be market for Texan cattle
• 1866: Creatd trail to Fort Summer, government had failed to provide enough supplies for Navajo Indian reservation, sold 800 cattle for $12,000, 4x price in Texas
• 1868: Goodnight extended trail to Colorado (boomingmining towns) and Wyoming (Union pacific Railroad being built)
• Other cattlemen drove cattle to Wyoming
• Wyoming's cattle ranches began to grow

John Iliff

• Saw oppurtunity to sell meat to booming mining towns in Colorado
• Denver, Colorado not reached by railroad until 1870, difficult to get supplies to, over Rocky Mountains or across Plains
• Saw oppurtunity to raise cattle on Plains, 1866: began ranching near Denver
• 1870: herd of 26,000 cattle on Plains, ranch of 16,000+ acres
• Denver's 1st millionaire, selling meat to miners, Indian reservations and railroad workers

Beef Bonanza 1870s

• Investors pile into cattle industry from around the world
• Rise of cattle barons

Appearance

• Stetson, hat gave protection from sun, rain and cold
• High-heeled boots, stopped feet slipping though stirrups
• Chaps, protected legs from vegetation and weather
• Bandand, pulled over nose and mouth toprotect from dust

Who?

• Young, single men
• Different nationalities
• Former soldiers or drifters
• Criminals on the run

Life

• Long trails, could ride for 12-24 hours a day in all weather
• Lonely, cowboys on same drive could be miles apart

Trails

• Seasonal work, spring round-up, long drive in autumn
• Work, rounding up, branding, driving cattle hundreds of miles, looked out for sick cattle, started fast, slowed to 20km a day for grazing
• Dangers, stampeding cattle, wild animals, crossing rivers + quicksand, rustlers, hostile Indians, exterme weather
• Slept in open air, cooked on campfires
• Freetime spent in saloons + brothels in cow towns

Ranches

• Year round, full time work
• Fewer needed
• Work, rounding up, branding, driving to market (smaller distances), checked ranch boundaries, mended fences, looked out for sick/injured cattle
• Dangers, fewer than on trails, rsutlers, wild animals, Indian attacks
• Slept in bunkhouses, cooked in cookhouses
• Drinking, gambilng, guns + knives banned, many struggled to adapt

Public land

• Open-range ranching needed a lot of land to let cattle roam + have enough to eat
• Federal law stated that everyone could pasture cattle on public land for free, ranchers did
• Open range was divided into ranches, only a few bought plots when necessary
• Homesteaders began to file claims for 160 acres of public land

Blocking homesteaders

• Ranchers filed homestead claims to parts of their land homesteaders may be interested in, bought + fenced off just enough land to block access to other plots
• Racnhers took homesteaders to court over rights to land, homesteaders to poor to pay court fees

Fencing

• Farmers wanted racnhers to fence in their cattle to prevent them grazing on crops, ranchers felt cattle had right to roam, was farmer's responsibility to fence in crops
• Aguments over fencing ended up in state court cases, tension between ranchers + homesteaders could lead to conflict

Railroads

• Noise of trains + fencing of railroad tracks disrupted buffalo migrations
• Hunters brought onto plains, extermination of buffalo
• railroads funded by land grants, sold to settlers, reduced availability of resources
• Government persuaded tribes to give up lands on railroad route + move to reservations

Gold

• 1849: California Gold Rush, whites trespass on Indian land using Oregon Trail, Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 + Indian Appropriations Act
• 1859: Rocky Mountains Gold Rush, whites terspass on Cheyenne and Arapaho land, 1861 Fort Wise Treaty, 1864 Sand Creek Massacre
• 1863: Montana Gold Rush, whites trespass on Sioux lands on Bozeman Trail, 1866-68 Red Cloud's War, Fort Laramie Treaty 1868

Cattle Industry

• Trails often crossed Indian Territory, tension bewtween cowboys + Indians
• Cattle + buffalo competed for grass Cattle numbers 1860-1880 = 130,000-4.5 million

Reservations

• Tribe's council agreed it was necessary for survival
• White expansion, less land to hunt on + fewer animals
• US government promised protecton of lands + regular food supplies
• Tribes desperate for food signed for food
• Tribes sided with government for support against enemies
• US Army used force to move tribes + keep them on reservations
• Smaller than Indian hunting grounds, couldn't survive by hunting, depedndent on food supplies from government
• Bureau of Indian Affairs, agents ran reservations, often corrupt, cheated tribes out of annuities

President Grant's Peace Policy- 1868

• President Grant recognised that bad reservation management was leading to conflict
• Appointed new reseravtion agents who had strong religious views, wouldn't cheat Indians, would instruct them in Christianity
• Made an Indian Commissioner of Indian Affaris-Ely Parker
• Obtained a budget of $2million to improve reservations + create new reservations for all Indians
• Indians who resisted moving under new Peace Policy were treated as hostile + force could be used against them