<p> The Last American Frontier</p><p> Frontier: the line separation areas of settlement from “unsettled” wilderness territory.</p><p>- These were the lines where the native Americans live and areas settled by more technologically advanced people</p><p>- By 1875, the frontier was as far west as New Mexico north to Montana</p><p>- Stopped at the California border north to Washington state</p><p>- A small pocket Nevada</p><p>The Settlement of the Frontier</p><p>- The Great Plains were home to millions of buffalo and native Americans who lived of their food and hides</p><p>The Lure of Precious Metals</p><p>- Before the Civil War, from 1848-1849 the California gold rush had drawn settlers to this area</p><p>- 1896 a gold nugget was found near the Klondike River in Canada</p><p>- 100,000 gold seekers set out for the Yukon but only 30,000 made it</p><p>- Other discoveries were made in the Rockies and the Black Hills of North Dakota</p><p>- Mining towns sprang up but quickly collapsed as the large mining companies took over the operations</p><p>The Indian Wars</p><p> Indian Wars: wars between Union Army and native Americans on the frontier</p><p>- The discovery of gold in the Black Hills forced the Army to protect the mining companies in those areas</p><p>- In 1876 the Sioux Indians were asked to move to reservations </p><p>- Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated George Custer at Little Big Horn</p><p>- 264 soldiers were killed</p><p>- In 1890, 300 unarmed Sioux men, women, and children were slaughtered at Wounded Knee by Army machine gun fire</p><p>The Impact of the Railroads - Sharp-shooters traveling on the trains killed the buffalo on the plains</p><p>- Affected the ability of the American Indian to stay on the plains</p><p>The Availability of Cheap Land</p><p> Homestead Act 1862: any citizen occupied 160 acres of government land if the settler improved by making it their home and planting crops. </p><p>- After 5 years, the homesteader would own the land</p><p>- 1,400,000 homesteads were granted</p><p>The Cattle Industry</p><p>- From Texas, longhorn cattle were driven for 3 months to Kansas</p><p>- The cattle were shipped to Chicago for slaughter</p><p>- Cowboys learned this method from Mexican vaqueros</p><p>- The romantic image of the cowboy became a symbol of the American spirit</p><p> Western Music: roots in British folk ballads, celebrating the cowboy life.</p><p>- By 1887 the cattle drives stopped due to overgrazing and the invention of barbed wire fencing</p><p>- The cattle were now sent by train to the east to be fattened up and slaughtered</p><p>Farming on the Great Plains</p><p>- Railroad advertisements led people to believe the plains were the place to be</p><p>- There was little rain and plagues of grasshoppers</p><p>- Living was tough and they battled the Indians and cattle companies</p><p>- They had to learn to survive hard winters and often developed new ways to plow and farm the land</p>