The Last American Frontier

 Frontier: the line separation areas of settlement from “unsettled” wilderness territory.

- These were the lines where the native Americans live and areas settled by more technologically advanced people

- By 1875, the frontier was as far west as New Mexico north to Montana

- Stopped at the California border north to Washington state

- A small pocket Nevada

The Settlement of the Frontier

- The Great Plains were home to millions of buffalo and native Americans who lived of their food and hides

The Lure of Precious Metals

- Before the Civil War, from 1848-1849 the California gold rush had drawn settlers to this area

- 1896 a gold nugget was found near the Klondike River in Canada

- 100,000 gold seekers set out for the Yukon but only 30,000 made it

- Other discoveries were made in the Rockies and the Black Hills of North Dakota

- Mining towns sprang up but quickly collapsed as the large mining companies took over the operations

The Indian Wars

 Indian Wars: wars between Union Army and native Americans on the frontier

- The discovery of gold in the Black Hills forced the Army to protect the mining companies in those areas

- In 1876 the Sioux Indians were asked to move to reservations

- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated George Custer at Little Big Horn

- 264 soldiers were killed

- In 1890, 300 unarmed Sioux men, women, and children were slaughtered at Wounded Knee by Army machine gun fire

The Impact of the Railroads - Sharp-shooters traveling on the trains killed the buffalo on the plains

- Affected the ability of the American Indian to stay on the plains

The Availability of Cheap Land

 Homestead Act 1862: any citizen occupied 160 acres of government land if the settler improved by making it their home and planting crops.

- After 5 years, the homesteader would own the land

- 1,400,000 homesteads were granted

The Cattle Industry

- From Texas, longhorn cattle were driven for 3 months to Kansas

- The cattle were shipped to Chicago for slaughter

- Cowboys learned this method from Mexican vaqueros

- The romantic image of the cowboy became a symbol of the American spirit

 Western Music: roots in British folk ballads, celebrating the cowboy life.

- By 1887 the cattle drives stopped due to overgrazing and the invention of barbed wire fencing

- The cattle were now sent by train to the east to be fattened up and slaughtered

Farming on the Great Plains

- Railroad advertisements led people to believe the plains were the place to be

- There was little rain and plagues of grasshoppers

- Living was tough and they battled the Indians and cattle companies

- They had to learn to survive hard winters and often developed new ways to plow and farm the land