1. Changes on the Western Frontier
The culture of the Plains Indians declines as
white settlers transform the Great Plains.
Meanwhile, farmers form the Populist
movement to address their economic
concerns.
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2. List-Group-Label
• Brainstorm all the key words you can think of
when you think of Western settlement
• Look for at least 1-2 new/unknown words on
pp. 408- 420 in your textbook
3. • Please read pp. 408- 410 in your textbook.
• List the possible causes and effects of the
settlement of the West
4. The Lure of Silver and Gold
• 1858 discovery of gold in Colorado
draws tens of thousands
• Mining camps, tiny frontier towns
have filthy, ramshackle dwellings
• Fortune seekers of different cultures,
races; mostly men
Causes
5. Effects/Disappearance of Frontier
• By 1900 frontier disappeared
• Settlers moved west
• Pushed Indians off lands
• Railroads helped settle West, brought ppl. and
goods
6. Landscape Changes
• As settlers moved
west- built homes,
fenced off land
• Made ranches and
farms
• Railroad changed
landscape
7. Settlers Push Westward
Clash of Cultures
• Native Americans: land cannot be owned;
settlers: want to own land
• Settlers think natives forfeited land because
did not improve it
• Since consider land unsettled, migrants go
west to claim it
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12. The Culture of the Plains Indians
Life on the Plains
• Great Plains—grasslands in west-central
portion of the U.S.
• East: hunting, farming villages; west:
nomadic hunting, gathering
Wars for the West2
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Continued . . .
13. The Great Plains
The land between the Rocky
Mountains and the Mississippi
River and from Canada to Texas.
13
14. 14
Section 1: Indian Peoples of the Great Plain
Many Native Americans lived on the Great Plains for
hundreds of years. A number of them, such as the Sioux
and Cheyenne, had lived on the Plains for hundreds of
years.
The Plains Indians
15. 15
Many different Native American nations
lived on the Great Plains. Plains Indians had
rich and varied cultures. They had well
organized religions, made fine and crafts,
and created much poetry. The Plains
Indians lived in villages.
16. 16
After the Pueblo Indians revolted against the
Spaniards in 1680, they were left with
thousands of horses. They traded the horses
with neighboring tribes and learned to ride
them
Agriculture was their main source of
food. The Indians captured and
tamed wild horses. By the 1700’s,
hunting replaced farming as the
basis of life for many plains people.
Horses changed the Indians’ way of
life. The Spanish brought horses in
the late 1400’s. At first Indians could not
own horses.
17. 17
The Indians moved very often, following the Buffalo that roamed
the plains. The buffalo served as a living grocery store for the
Plains Indians.
What do we mean when we say the buffalo was a living
grocery store for the Native Americans?
After acquiring horses, they followed huge herds of buffalo and
hunted them by driving them into large corrals, or enclosures.
They sent out hunting parties that pursued Buffalo and other
animals.
18. 18
Buffalo meat, rich in
protein was the main
item in the Indians
diet. They usually
dried the meat on
racks. They dried meat
called jerky.
Many Americans
eat beef jerky
today.
The Indians lived in
tepees made from
wooden sticks and
Buffalo skins. The Plains
Indians were dependent
on the Buffalo for food,
clothing,fuel and shelter.
19. • The Horse and the Buffalo
• Horses, guns lead most Plains tribes to nomadic life by
mid-1700s
• Trespassing others’ hunting lands causes war; count
coup for status
• Buffalo provides many basic needs:
• - hides used for teepees, clothes, blankets
• - meat used for jerky, pemmican
• 1. Why /how was buffalo important to the Plains Indians?
20. The Many Uses of Buffalo
2. How are buffalo being used in these pictures?
21. The Buffalo and Native Americans
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It
is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the
little shadow which runs across the grass and loses
itself in the sunset.” -Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior
22.
23.
24. 24
In the summer many
groups played together,
hunted together and staged
horse and foot races.
The most important
event for the Plains
Indians was a religious
ceremony known as the
Sundance. In the
Sundance, dancers
circled around a tree
and asked the Great
Spirit to give them good
fortune during the
coming year.
27. 27
Plains Indian women tanned Buffalo
hides to make leather. Women were
skilled in many crafts. They made
baskets and blankets. They made
clothing, tepees and tools. They made
everything but weapons.
The Roles of Women and Men
The woman’s artistic ability
established their rank in society.
They took care of the children.
Women tanned Buffalo hides to
make leather. Women were skilled
in many crafts.
28. 28
They provided military leadership and waged war to
fight or extend a territory. The most successful
warriors gained great respect from the members of
their nation.
Plains Indian men
protected the women,
children and elders. They
passed their valuable skills
to the boys. They
supervised the spiritual life
of the community by
leading religious
ceremonies.
29. Family Life
• Form family groups with ties to other bands that speak same
language
• Men are hunters, warriors; women butcher meat, prepare hides
• Believe in powerful spirits that control natural world
- men or women can become shamans
• Children learn through myths, stories, games, example
• Communal life; leaders rule by counsel
3. What was the central part of life for Native Americans?
4. What were the roles of men in families?
5. What were the roles of women in families?
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continued The Culture of the Plains Indians
30. 30
In 1858, gold was struck at Pikes
Peak in Colorado. The gold strike
brought miners onto the land the
government promised to the
Indians. In 1860, the Indians were
forced to give up the land around
Pikes Peak.
Native Americans refused to give up their land. They attacked
trains, burned, and killed many soldiers and common people.
Colonel John Chivington, of the United States Army, attacked
the Indians. When the Indians surrendered he ordered his men
to destroy the village and take no prisoners. He slaughtered
about 150 Indian men, women, and children. This was called
the Chivington Massacre.
31. 31
The Indians in the Northern Plains
also signed a treaty. They agreed to
live on reservations that included
all of South Dakota west of the
Missouri River. A reservation is a
limited area that has set-aside for
Native Americans.
In 1867, the Southern Plains Indians
signed a new agreement with the United
States Government. The Indians were
promised the land in the territory called
present-day Oklahoma. The Indians
were unhappy with the new treaty. They
had no choice but to move.
32. 32
The Plains Indians suffered from for lost battles and
broken treaties. The Buffalo were being destroyed.
The two reasons Buffalo were being destroyed were:
2. Buffalo hunting became a
fashionable sport and
commercial hunters shot
Buffalo to make hide
blankets.
End of the Buffalo
1. Hired Hunters killed
thousands of buffalo to
provide food for the railroad
crews laying tracks across the
prairie.
33. 33
With 2 to 3 million Buffalo hides its being taken
every year, the number of Buffalo on the plain
dropped from 13 million in 1862 to a few
hundred the in 1900‘s.
Please do
not hunt
me!
34. continued The Government Supports Assimilation
The Destruction of the Buffalo
• Destruction of buffalo most significant
blow to tribal life
• Tourists, fur traders shoot for sport,
destroy buffalo population
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35. "Historically the buffalo had
more influence on man than all
other Plains animals combined.
It was life, food, raiment, and
shelter to the Indians. The
buffalo and the Plains Indians
lived together, and together
passed away. The year 1876
marks practically the end of
both. . . ."
Walter Prescott Webb
36.
37. 11. How did the buffalo die out?
12. How do you think this influenced
the Native American way of life?
39. Bloody Battles Continue
Red River War
• 1868, Kiowa, Comanche engage in 6
years of raiding
• 1874–1875, U. S. Army crushes
resistance on Plains in Red River War
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Gold Rush
• 1874 George A. Custer reports much
gold in Black Hills, rush begins
40. Battle of the Little Bighorn
also known as Custer's Last Stand
Fought between the Lakota–Northern
Cheyenne force and the 7th Cavalry
Regiment of the United States Army.
June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the
Little Bighorn River in eastern
Montana Territory
41. The battle was the most famous
action of the Great Sioux War of
1876-77 (also known as the Black
Hills War)
Huge victory for the Lakota and
Northern Cheyenne, led by Sitting
Bull
42.
43. “There are not enough
Indians in the world to
defeat the Seventh
Cavalry.”
George Armstrong Custer
45. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including
a group of 700 men led by George
Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe
defeat.
Five of the Seventh's companies
were destroyed
Custer was killed, as were two of
his brothers, a nephew, and a
brother-in-law. Total US deaths
were 268, including scouts, and 55
were wounded.
46. Sitting Bull, leader of Hunkpapa/ Lakota Sioux,
does not sign treaty
- Protested US demands for Sioux land
- Crazy Horse- Sioux chief
- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated George
Custer and his troops
47. Outraged over the death of Custer,
the nation demanded and received
harsh payback.
Within a year, the Sioux nation was
defeated and broken.
48. Custer’s Last Stand
• Custer’s Last Stand
• 1876, Sitting Bull has vision of
war at sun dance
• Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall
crush Custer’s troops
• By late 1876, Sioux are defeated;
some take refuge in Canada
- people starving; Sitting Bull
surrenders 1881
50. Massacre At Wounded Knee,
1890
December 29, 1890, the Sioux
chief Big Foot and some 350 of his
followers camped on the banks of
Wounded Knee creek
US troops were sent to arrest the
chief and disarm the warriors
The scene was tense, and the Sioux
wore “ghost shirts” and did the
“ghost dance”
51. The Sioux wore the “ghost shirts” to
protect them from the soldiers’
bullets
Big Foot’s tribe learned that Sitting
Bull was murdered by the army so
they went to seek protection from a
neighboring Sioux reservation
The tense scene turned violent and
the soldiers starting shooting.
52.
53. The Outcome
When the smoke cleared and the
shooting stopped, approximately 300
Sioux were dead, Big Foot among
them. Twenty-five soldiers lost their
lives.
The great
Sioux/Lakota
nation was gone
54.
55. The Battle of Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee
• Ghost Dance—ritual to regain lost lands
- spreads among Sioux on Dakota reservation
• Dec. 1890, Sitting Bull is killed when police try to
arrest him
• Seventh Cavalry takes about 350 Sioux to Wounded
Knee Creek
• Battle of Wounded Knee—cavalry kill 300 unarmed
Native Americans
• Last major battle on Great Plains
- Battle ends Indian wars, Sioux dream of regaining
old life
13. What happened at the Battle of Wounded Knee?
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57. Conflict Continues
• By 1870s, many Native Americans lived on
reservations
• Land there not useful for farming or buffalo
hunting
• Ghost Dance- Pauite Indians begin a religious
movement that predicted settlers would
disappear and buffalo would return
14. Why did Native Americans do the Ghost Dance?
58. The Government Restricts Native Americans
Railroads Influence Government Policy
• 1834, government designates Great Plains as one
huge reservation
• Reservations- area of federal land set aside for
Native Americans
• 1850s, treaties define specific boundaries for each
tribe
• 6. How did the building of the railroad affect the lives
of Plains Indians? (List 2 ways)
•
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Continued . . .
62. "One does not sell the land people walk on."
... Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875
63. Tecumseh Shawnee
""Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a
struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us
by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything
that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me,
'Never! Never!'"
64. The Government Supports Assimilation
The Dawes Act
• 1881, Helen Hunt Jackson exposes problems in A Century
of Dishonor
• Assimilation—natives to give up way of life, join white
culture
• 1887, Dawes Act to “Americanize” natives, break up
reservations
- gives land to individual Native Americans
- Tried to make land ownership private not shared
- sell remainder of land to settlers
- money for farm implements for natives
• In the end, Natives Americans receive only 1/3 of land, no
money
10. What did the Dawes Act do?
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Continued . . .
65. Massacre at Sand Creek
• Troops kill over 150 Cheyenne, Arapaho at
Sand Creek winter camp
Death on the Bozeman Trail
• Bozeman Trail crosses Sioux hunting grounds
- Red Cloud asks for end of settlements; Crazy
Horse ambushes troops
- US agreed to abandon forts and give Sioux
reservations
66. continued The Government Restricts Native Americans
• Treaty of Fort Laramie—U.S. closes trail;
Sioux to reservation
- Treaty recognized Indian claims to land on
Great Plains
- Allowed US to build forts and roads
through Indian territory
•
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75. Sitting Bull
• A Lakota chief and holy man under whom
the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for
survival on the northern plains
• Sitting Bull remained rebellious toward
American military power and disapproving
of American promises to the end.
• As a young man, Sitting Bull became a
leader of the Strong Heart warrior society
and, later, a distinguished member of the
Silent Eaters, a group concerned with
tribal welfare.
76. When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world.
The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten
thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors
today? Who slew them? Where are our lands?
Who owns them?
~Sitting Bull~
77. Native American isn’t blood. It is what is in the
heart. The love for the land, the respect for it,
those who inhabit it, and the respect and
acknowledgement of the spirits and elders.
That is what it is to be Indian.
~White Feather, Navajo Medicine Man
To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.
~Derrick “Suwaima” Davis, Hopi/Chocktaw
We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
~Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota Sioux
78. Reservation Life then and Now
• Dawes Allotment Act- tried to make land
ownership private, not shared, went against
Indian way of life
• Failed to give US citizenship to Native
Americans
• Took 2/3 of Indian lands
• Reservations today- poverty, poor conditions,
US gov’t does little to help
81. Economic
($/Jobs)
Social Political
• Household income
$21,000
• -$14,000 less than
average family in
South Dakota
• 1/3 of Sioux
families living on
the reservation
lack electricity
• High School drop
out rate 50%
• Alcoholism & drug
abuse common
• Poor diet
• High rates of
obesity
• Low life
expectancy
• 20 years less than
average American
• Life of Reservation
leads to isolation
• Welfare—limits
spending on
reservation
• Representation in
government
82. Sioux Life Today: Pine Ridge
Reservation
• Read article and complete 3-2-1 sheet
• http://172.16.7.130/SAFARI/montage/play.php?fr
ompage=play&keyindex=47802&location=local&
chapterskeyindex=90501&sceneclipskeyindex=-
1
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJapHc7B8X
s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GACcBe9Be
58
83. Level Thinking Question #15
• Why do you think many reservations are so
poor today?
• I think…
• For example..
• However…
84. Cattle Become Big Business
Vaqueros and Cowboys
• American settlers learn to manage large herds
from Mexican vaqueros
- adopt way of life, clothing, vocabulary
• Texas longhorns—sturdy, short-tempered breeds
brought by Spanish
• Cowboys not in demand until railroads reach
Great Plains
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Growing Demand for Beef
• After Civil War demand for meat increases in
rapidly growing cities
Continued . . .
85. Cattle Becomes Big Business
• Cattlemen establish
shipping yards where
trails and rail lines meet
• Chisolm Trail becomes
major cattle route from
San Antonio to Kansas
• My.hrw.com- p. 590 trails map
86. • Turn to p. 416 in text.
• Find at least 2 facts for each topic,
fill in on your paper or notebook:
–A day’s work
–Roundup
–The Long Drive
88. Cowboy Life
• Took care of ranchers’ cattle
• Cattle needed to be brought to RR’s/
marketplace and sold
• Transported to Eastern cities for beef
• Most important job- cattle drive-to heard to
market
89. A Day in the Life of a Cowboy
• A day’s work:
– 1866- 1885, up to
55,000 cowboys on
plains
– 25% African American,
12% Mexican
– Cowboy works 10-14
hours on ranch; 14 or
more on trail
– Expert rider, roper; alert
for dangers that may
harm, upset cattle
90. A Day’s Work
• Roundup-
– During spring roundup,
longhorns found, herded
into corral
– Separate cattle marked
with own ranch’s brand;
brand calves
91. A Day in the Life of a Cowboy
A Day’s Work
• 1866–1885, up to 55,000 cowboys on plains
- 25% African American, 12% Mexican
• Cowboy works 10–14 hours on ranch; 14 or more
on trail
• Expert rider, roper; alert for dangers that may
harm, upset cattle
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Roundup
• During spring roundup, longhorns found, herded
into corral
• Separate cattle marked with own ranch’s brand;
brand calves
Continued . . .
92. A Day in the Life of a Cowboy
• The Long Drive
– Herding of animals or
long drive lasts about 3
months
– Cowboy in saddle dawn
to dusk; sleeps on
ground; bathes in rivers
Legends of the West
- Celebrities like “Wild
Bill” Hickok, Calamity
Jane never handled cows
93. End of the open range
• Invention of barbed
wire allowed ranchers to
fence off large areas of
land
• Competition between
farmers and ranchers
• Many cattle died
because of over-grazing;
ranchers were ruined
financially
94. The End of the Open Range
• Overgrazing, bad weather from 1883- 1887
destroy whole herds
• Ranchers keep smaller herds that yield more
meat per animal
• Fence land with barbed wire; turn open range
into separate ranches
95. Miners in the west
• Miner found gold in
Colorado
• Many rushed to find gold in
Pikes Peak, Co
• 1849- Start of “Gold Rush”
• Comstock Lode- deposit of
silver and gold
96. Mining Life
• From “Boom town” to
“Ghost town”
• Prospectors, immigrants
and other adventurous
people moved West
• Many women settled,
cooked, or ran hotels
98. 98
In 1859, two young prospectors struck gold in the
Sierra Nevada lands. Henry Comstock discovered a
vein of gold called a lode.
The Comstock Lode attracted thousands of prospectors. Miners
came across the United States, as well as from France,
Germany, Ireland, Mexico, and China. One of every three
miners was Chinese.
99. 99
Thousands of people came West to supply the minors
with materials such as tools, food, and clothing.
People opened restaurants, boarding houses,
laundries, etc.
With the boom in mining tent cities formed, but they
later became towns and cities. The cities of Denver
and Colorado Springs grew very quickly as a result
other miner’s discovery of gold.
100. 100
When the gold was gone the city’s turned
into ghost towns. A ghost town was an
abandoned town.
101.
102.
103. Old boomtowns
Built around mining sites. They
started out as little camps with
tents.
With the increase of population
came the increase of merchants
and mining companies.
A general store and other shops
would be established.
104.
105. The Business of Mining
• Few miners became rich
• Placer mining- washing water, dirt, gravel to find
flakes of gold
• Hydraulic (water) cannons to blast hillsides- exposed
gold below surface
• Harmful to the environment (strip-mining)
