Essential Question: How did the Indian peoples of the trans-Mississippi West respond to white settlement and U.S. government policies?
I. The Plains Indians
A. Westward expansion of the ranching and farming frontiers doomed the free
range of the Plains Indian
1. Destruction of the buffalo
a. Tourists and fur traders shot the buffalo for sport
B. Assimilation
1. Grant announced �Peace Policy� toward Indians in his 1869 inaugural
address
a. Urged Indians to accept the English language, Christianity, and
the individual ownership of property
2. Dawes Act (1887) offered Indians opportunity to become citizens, and allotted
each head of family 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land
a. This was a disaster for the Indians, as it destroyed their very
culture and traditional way of life
b. Called for allegiance to the United States rather than a tribe
C. Conflict with the Sioux
1. Violence erupted after gold seekers poured into the Black Hills of
western Dakota in 1874 and 1875
2. Sioux warriors wiped out Seventh Cavalry at Battle of Little Big Horn
in June 1876
a. In retaliation, Philip Sheridan crushed the Sioux and the
Cheyenne
3. Poverty, disease, apathy, and alcoholism reduced the Sioux population
a. Morale and hope for the future generated by the Ghost Dance in
1890
b. Led to confrontation at Wounded Knee, which signaled
the end of the nineteenth-century Plains Indian culture
II. The cattle frontier
A. Postwar boom in range cattle industry began in Texas
1. Railroad provided efficient and cost-effective form of cattle
transportation
a. Development of refrigerated cars allowed for the shipment of
dressed beef all over the country
2. Ranchers adopted open-range grazing to feed cattle for free on open,
unfenced government land
a. Led to clashes between ranchers and farmers
3. Classic cowboy image became staple of American popular culture
4. Unfortunately, the westward expansion of the ranching, mining, and farming
frontiers doomed the free range of the Plains Indians and the buffalo
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Chapter 13 Settling the Plains
Essential questions: How did the railroads help open the West? In what ways did government policies encourage settlement in the West?
I. Settlers move westward to farm
A. The farming frontier
1. The Homestead Act, and increased railroad access and
mobility spurred settlement and economic development on
the plains and in the mountain valleys
a. By 1890, 72,473 miles of railroad track crisscross the
country
b. From the Mississippi to the Rockies, farms dotted the
landscape
2. Settlers meet the challenges
a. Dugouts and soddies
-Many settlers dug their homes into the sides of
small hills
-This was the age of the �sodbuster,� who
adapted to the almost treeless prairies and plains
by fencing and building his first house of sod.
b. Women�s work
-Women had to work alongside men in the fields,
plowing the land and planting and harvesting the
crops
-They sheared the sheep and made clothing for the
family
At harvest time, they canned fruits and vegetables