Development of the West, late 1800's Flashcards
Define Boomtowns.
A boomtown is a community that experiences exponential growth in population and wealth in a short period.
Boomtowns accompanied the discovery of mineral wealth in the West, such as the discovery of gold in California in 1849, silver in Nevada in the 1860s and 1870s, and the Black Hills of South Dakota in the 1870s and 1880s.
How did the first Indian reservation system develop?
In the 1830s, Indians had been relegated to the areas west of the Mississippi River, but were allowed freedom of movement.
In the 1850s the Indians were assigned (“reserved”) to tracts of land with definite boundaries, a process which increased during the post-Civil War period.
[Think about that. Indians had free roaming to all the west of the Mississippi!]
The influx of gold miners to South Dakota during the Black Hills Gold Rush in 1876 led to the outbreak of what conflict?
The Great Sioux War
[So, us white folks kick them out of the good land then let them roam for 20 years from West of the Mississippi to California.
Then 20 years after this, they are assigned reservations with defined boundaries and promised this is their land with no interference from the white man.
Then Gold is discovered in the Black Hills. [seems there were some white trespassers on the defined Indian reservation].
Naturally the white man mined the gold and the Indians got pissed and started attacking the trespassers stealing gold off their reservation.
The Sioux resented the incursion of white miners onto their reservations.
So what did they do?
Led by Chief Crazy Horse, the Sioux had several early successes, including wiping out General Custer and the Seventh U.S. Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
By 1877, an overwhelming number of forces and a loss at the Battle of Wolf Mountain induced the Sioux to surrender and return to their reservations.
What was the Ghost dance movement?
The Ghost dance was a religious belief that if the Indians performed this dance and followed its dogma, everything would revert back to how the land was before the White man came.
- They would have ALL the land.
- All the Buffalo the White man killed would return.
- They would not have to live on reservations.
- All the good times would be like before the White man.
Ghost Shirts.
They made special holy Ghost Shirts to wear into battle. They believed that wearing the Ghost Shirts would make them invincible. The guns of the White Man would not have any effect on them at all.
So what was the result?
They got mowed down in droves, like tall grass mowed by a lawn mower!
What was the Battle of Wounded Knee?
The Battle of Wounded Knee took place in 1890, and was more of a massacre than a battle. On the banks of Wounded Knee Creek, U.S. soldiers killed 135 Sioux Ghost Dance practitioners.
Following the Wounded Knee massacre, the Ghost Dance movement ended.
Who led the Apaches in their efforts to resist Army attempts to force them onto a barren reservation in the American Southwest?
Geronimo led Apache raids on both Mexican and American settlements for over 30 years.
[Wow. 30 years was a lot of raids!]
In 1886, Geronimo surrendered to U.S. troops after a long campaign.
At the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, Geronimo would sit at a table and sign autographs for a small fee. He also sold his hat for $8 to a tourist. $8 was a lot of money back then.
After the tourist paid for his Genuine Geronimo hat and walked out of sight, Geronimo reached under the table and placed another Genuine Geronimo hat on his head.
The West_Ken Burns
In the 1849 gold rush, people traveled west by wagon train. From Independance, Mo. 30,000 people traveled by wagon train to the California gold rush. 1,500 of them died from Cholera.
People couldnt get to California over land until late Spring. The impatient men rode a ship clear around South America.
In 1849, California population was 5,000. One year later in 1850, population was 40,000! Overcrowded.
In 1849, avg. house sold for $16.50. (100 years before me.)
Three years later the avg. house sold for $45,000!
1849 Pop. of San Francisco was 2,000.
1850 Pop. of San Francisco was 35,000.
Indians were hunted and killed. $5 per Indian head! Women and children killed and chopped up with hatchets, circa 1850’s.
