Pacific NW 1855 – 1880’s 1853 – Territory is carved from Oregon Territory -- appointed Territorial Governor First thing to be done?

Treaties of 1855 Goals: • Achieve lasting peace. • Settle land ownership conflicts between settlers/homesteaders & Native Americans. • Native Americans will assimilate into “American” culture. – Indians will give up their ways of life and take on the values and practices of American culture Terms of Treaties of 1855 • Tribes agree to give up significant portions of their traditional lands. • Tribes receive compensation in exchange for those lands. • Tribes are able to keep a small portion of their ancestral lands -- reservations. • Tribes can fish/hunt in their “usual & accustomed places.” • US establishes schools on reservations to teach farming and industrial skills. Treaties of 1855 -Problems

• Many tribes were upset at how small their reservations were. • Settlers often ignored reservation boundaries & trespassed on Native lands. • Homesteaders often prevented Indians from fishing/hunting on “their” lands. • With less opportunity for hunting/fishing, Indians often resorted to stealing from homesteaders.

Impact of Ceding Lands -- tribe

Traditional Lands

Reservation Impact of Ceding Lands Indian Conflicts

Battle of 1856

Battle of Rosalia 1858

Yakama War 1855-1858 Cayuse War 1847-1855 Cayuse War 1847-1855

• Following the Whitman massacre in 1847, there were numerous conflicts involving settlers as well as soldiers against the Cayuse.

• Cayuse were defeated in 1855. Battle of Seattle & Chief - 1856

• Leschi was Chief of the Nisqually Nation & participated in the "Battle of Seattle" on January 26, 1856. • Indians attacked & burned settler homes along the outskirts of the Seattle. – 2 settlers were killed. Battle of Seattle & Chief Leschi - 1856

• Hostilities ended after a couple of days.

• After the battle, Leschi was arrested for murder. He was convicted and hanged.

• Why was the hanging unlawful? Battle of Rosalia 1858

• Troops led by Colonel Steptoe left Ft Walla Walla and headed toward Spokane. – Steptoe’s unit was outfitted with obsolete firearms. – It was not a large force. • Steptoe’s unit was attacked and overrun by the Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Nez Perce Indians near Rosalia. US Response to Battle of Rosalia

• The army responded with greater force. • They attacked tribes and villages, slaughtering horses and executing tribal leaders throughout Eastern Washington. • Upwards of 700 horses were slaughtered and 24 Indian leaders from various tribes were hung during the campaign. Indian hostilities end by 1860’s

• The US military overpowers armed resistance. 1860’s – Emerging Towns WA Territory

Spokane

Seattle

Tacoma

Olympia

Walla Walla 1860’s – Emerging Industry to • Seattle – fishing, logging, major seaport, coal mining in King County

• Tacoma – fishing, logging, major seaport

• Olympia – fishing, logging, territorial capital

• Walla Walla – mining, agriculture • Spokane – mining, agriculture, transportation hub Immigration to Washington Territory

• Americans from eastern US

• From Europe…. – Scandinavian, Irish, Dutch, German

• Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese 1870’s – Railroads build westward 1st RR: NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY

Railroad companies employ large numbers of Japanese and Chinese laborers Railroads and US Government

Why would the government be interested in seeing these lines completed? – What events were occurring at this time in the West that might have pushed the US government to consider these railroads?

– Railroads as a “strategic investment” • Connects the West to the rest of the US – Helps unify the country • Able to move military & goods across country

Railroads and US Government

• What is a subsidy? – $$$ support, you don’t have to pay back.

• Why were subsidies needed by the railroad companies? – Very expensive to build a railroad – Without subsidies, railroads could not build. • They would lose so much money, no one would invest in them Subsidy = Land Grants Land Grants

• US gives public land along the planned railway lines to the railroad companies. What did the railroad companies do with the land?

Prairie lands….. – Sold as farmland (mostly to European immigrants) • Forest lands in the NW….. – Sold timber from their lands. – Sold lands to timber companies (Weyerhaeuser)

Panic of 1873

• Panic = Economic Depression • Many industries and stocks became over-valued by 1873 • Stock prices fall dramatically • Credit was once easy to get, became very difficult to get. – Without loans, people could not buy or invest. • Many people borrowed money to invest in stock market and other things. • Falling stock prices & business downturns mean they can’t pay back the loans. Many default. • Banks fail.

Effects of 1873 Panic

• Average wages fell 25% • Economic production fell 24% • Double-digit unemployment for over 10 years. – Unemployment rate ranged from 10 -20% • Railroads went bankrupt. – Speculators bought failed railroads for cheap and continued construction 1883 – Railroad completed Chinese laborers return from the railroads, looking for work in the NW Resentment over high unemployment Chinese Exclusion Act Chinese Exclusion Act

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWIAv7yTqLE Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

• Federal law signed by President Chester Arthur • One of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese. • The act was intended to last for 10 years, but was made permanent in 1902. • It was finally repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943. Tacoma Expulsion of 600 Chinese, November 1885

Posters invited townsfolk to meetings to "consider the Chinese question.“

Citizens as well as city officials, along with Knights of Labor union members were all intent on ridding their town of Chinese.

On the night of the expulsion…..

Pre-selected "committees" roamed through town, forcing Chinese residents out of their homes and businesses and into the streets. Tacoma Expulsion of Chinese

More than 600 Chinese were rounded up at gunpoint and herded to the rail depot at Seventh and Pacific Avenues in Tacoma.

Two Chinese victims died overnight due to exposure.

By 3 a.m. most had been put on a train headed to Portland or San Francisco. Some eventually returned to China.

Feb 1886 -- More than half of Seattle's Chinese was forced onto ships before the city government can intervene Chinese Population Changes in Seattle

Total Population in Seattle in 1880: 3,500