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Financial Crisis Financial Crisis in the Eastern in the Eastern

USA.USA.In 1837 the economy of the Eastern USA collapsed. Factories closed and people lost their jobs. Banks collapsed and people lost their savings. Crime rose and the East no longer seemed like an attractive place to

live. Land in the East was hard to come by at this time as the region was filling up

with Americans.

This all acted as a major PUSH factor for people moving out of the East to go to the West. The West appeared as the promised

land with lots of cheap land for settlers able to make the journey there.Click here to go to the next dateClick here to go to the next date

The death of The death of Joseph SmithJoseph Smith

Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church and became its first leader. He attracted

thousands of followers and led them in a desperate search for a place where they could build Zion in the East. Smith would not take the Mormons to the West as he believed it

was unsafe and that they could find a place to live in the East. Smith was shot in 1845 whilst

escaping from jail.

He was replaced as leader by Brigham Young. Young made the decision to take the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake. This date is a turning

point in the history of the Mormons.

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The discovery The discovery of gold in of gold in California.California.Before 1848 the flow of migrants to the West

(California and Oregon) was slow with less than 5,000 a year crossing the Plains. In

January 1848 gold was discovered in California and the settlement of the West speeded up. 50,000 miners flooded across

the Plains into California in search of gold in 1849. They established definite trails for families of settlers to use after them. The

’49ers proved it was possible for huge numbers to go to the West. By 1850

California was a state in the USA. The Goldrush of 1848 acted as a massive boost to the settlement of the West by the USA.


The 1The 1stst Fort Fort Laramie Laramie Treaty.Treaty.In 1831 the USA had set up the Permanent

Indian Frontier. This gave the Native American Indians control of the Great Plains ‘forever’.

However with the discovery of gold in California and the flood of migrants on the Wagon Trails

across the Great Plains in the 1840s, the Frontier was soon broken.

In 1851 a new treaty was signed, the 1st Fort Laramie Treaty. Under this treaty the Plains Indians agreed to keep away from the wagon

trails in return for annual payments. This made travel to the West easier for white Americans, as

well as establishing the idea of limiting the Plains Indians to certain parts of the Great

Plains.


The The Homestead Homestead

Act.Act.By the early 1860s the only area of the USA not settled by white Americans was the Great Plains. These had been ignored by settlers going west. The fertile lands in California and Oregon were

more attractive than the so called ‘Great American Desert’.

However to truly control the whole of the USA and fulfil Manifest Destiny the government

needed settlers to move on to the Plains. The act gave each American 160 acres of land for a small registration fee. This encouraged Homesteaders to move to the Plains and started the settlement

of the last bit of the USA.


The Sand The Sand Creek Creek

Massacre.Massacre.By the early 1860s the Cheyenne lands in Colorado were being occupied by miners,

ranchers and Homesteaders. The presence of the Cheyenne was viewed as a threat by the

settlers and miners of the region. Led by Colonel Chivington, a local regiment of

volunteer soldiers massacred hundreds of men, women and children camped at Sand Creek near Denver, Colorado. This was the first of the Indian massacres. It shows the

lengths that the USA was prepared to go to assert its control over the Great Plains, and

how the Plains Indians would find it impossible to live in peace with the American

settlers.Click here to go to the next dateClick here to go to the next date

Goodnight and Loving Goodnight and Loving establish the first establish the first

Cattle trail.Cattle trail.At the end of the Civil War in 1865, cattle ranchers returned to their Texan herds to

discover that their numbers had increased to over 5 million cows. Cut off from markets in the East and North by the war, the cattle had bred.

Goodnight and Loving took 5,000 cows from Texas on a drive up to Colorado where they

sold them to railroad workers and the US Army to feed the Indians on reservations. This was the start of the cattle industry boom. Soon

trails were established to the new cowtowns of Abilene and Dodge City. The cows were

transported on the railroads to the cities of the East such as New York and Chicago.


The 2The 2ndnd Fort Fort Laramie Laramie Treaty.Treaty.

By 1868 white settlers were pouring on to the Great Plains. The treaties signed with the

Plains Indians in the 1850s and early 1860s were increasingly worthless as miners,

Homesteaders and cattle ranchers ignored the rights of the Plains Indians to their lands.

Following the defeat of the USA in Red Cloud’s War, the 2nd Fort Laramie Treaty was signed.

This treaty gave the Sioux control of the sacred Black Hills area ‘forever’. It also gave them rights to hunt buffalo in the Powder River

country. The treaty also marked the formal start of the government’s Indian Reservation policy, putting Plains Indians into small areas

where they would be dependent on government money and food to survive.Click here to go to the next dateClick here to go to the next date

The completion of the The completion of the Transcontinental Transcontinental

Railroad.Railroad.

Before the railroad was built it took six months for a family to travel from the East to California

or Oregon. Settlement of the Plains was also limited as Homesteaders were cut off from civilisation and access to markets for their

crops or supplies of machinery and seeds. In 1869 the first railroad connecting the East and

West was completed with the Golden Spike Ceremony. The railroad cut journey times to

just one week from East to West. It also encouraged trade across the USA, brought

government and law and order to the Plains, carried cattle to market, and led to the first

towns on the Great Plains giving Homesteaders access to civilisation and markets.Click here to go to the next dateClick here to go to the next date

The Battle of The Battle of the Little the Little Bighorn.Bighorn.By 1874 the USA was building a railroad through

the Black Hills. This broke the 2nd Fort Laramie Treaty. Custer and the 7th Cavalry were sent to

protect the railroad from Indian attacks. They also discovered gold, and set off a goldrush in the area. Led by Sitting Bull, Sioux Indians left the Black Hills

Reservation to hunt buffalo in the Powder River country. This led to a US Army campaign to force

the Sioux back on to the reservation. The Battle of the Little Bighorn resulted, and Custer’s 7th Cavalry

were destroyed by the Indian forces. After this however the US Army poured in reinforcements and within 12 months the Indians were either dead or

back on reservations. The Sioux lost the Black Hills and all treaties were cancelled by the US

Government.


The end of The end of the Open the Open

range.range.By the 1880s there were millions of cows on the Great Plains. They were left unfenced to roam

around. The profits to be made were enormous and this encouraged ever more cows to be placed on

the Open Range. By 1887 however the Open Range was over due to a combination of factors. The

overgrazing of limited grass supplies and scarce water was one reason. To protect their grass and water supplies cattle ranchers put up barbed wire

fences. To pay for these they sold cattle which flooded the market and led to low prices by 1885. This was followed by cold winters in 1885-86 and 1886-87. The summer of 1886 was marked by a

severe drought. With falling demand and the need to protect new weaker breeds of meatier cows, the

Open Range had come to an end by 1887.


The Battle of The Battle of Wounded Wounded

Knee.Knee.By the late 1880s the Plains Indians were almost all on reservations. The buffalo were exterminated,

and the Plains were controlled by the USA as Homesteaders and cattle ranches covered the land.

In desperation the Plains Indians adopted the Ghost Dance. They sang, prayed and danced in the belief that the Great Spirit would come to their aid. They believed that the whites and their civilisation

would be swallowed by the Earth and that the buffalo would return with the Indians killed by the

whites. However this was all shattered when in December 1890, Sitting Bull was killed by another Indian, and Big Foot’s Sioux were massacred in the snow at Wounded Knee Creek. This marked the end of the resistance of the Plains Indians to US control

of the Great Plains.

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