Settlers Push Westward

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Settlers Push Westward
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New AgriculturalTechnology
Steel Plow Sod Buster
Prairie FanWater Pump
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Reasons for Westward Movement

• Prospectors, settlers, Ranchers believed Native
  Americans forfeited the rights to the Great
  Plains (grassland extending through the
  west-central portion of the U.S.) because they
  hadnt settled down to improve it.

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The Lure of Silver Gold

• Gold Fever in California in 1849
• Gold in Colorado drew thousands of miners to the
  region
• Big mining camps in Nevada Montana

Prospecting
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California Gold Rush, 1849
49ers
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Mining Centers 1900
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Farming the Great Plains

• 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act, offering
  160 acres of land free to anyone who would live
  on cultivate it for five years.
• 1862-1900, between 400,000-600,000 families took
  advantage of the govts offer.
• People came from the South, New England, Europe
  eager to farm new land.

Homesteads From Public Lands
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Land Use 1880s
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Exodusters

• Exodusters African Americans who moved from
  Reconstruction South for free land in Great
  plains started a Great Exodus.
• Railroad companies had huge PR campaigns to come
  out West.
• 1862, Congress passed Pacific Railroad Act, which
  granted huge Govt loans land to Union Pacific
  Central Pacific Railroads.
• Congress hired mostly immigrant workers to build
  bridges, dig tunnels, lay tracks.
• Transcontinental Railroad was complete in 1869
  (coast to coast trip in 10 days)

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BlackExodusterHomesteaders
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Railroad Construction
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The Government restricts Native Americans

• While allowing more settlers to move westward,
  the railroads also influenced the Govts policy
  toward Native Americans who lived on the Plains.
• 1834, Govt passed an Act that designated the
  entire Great Plains as one huge reservation (land
  set aside for NA)
• Due to response from settlers in 1850s, Govt
  changed its policies to open up more land to
  settlers.
• Treaty after treaty was signed that reduced the
  boundaries for each tribe.
• Warfare over land occurred until 1890s

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Indian Reservations Today
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The Government Supports Assimilation

• Congress passed 1887 Dawes Act.
• Designed to Americanize the Native Americans
  to teach them the importance of owning property
  farming. Dawes Act broke up Reservations
  distributed some of the land to each adult head
  of a Native American family.
• The Govt would sell remainder of the Reservation
  to settlers, NA would use profits for farm
  implements.
• Natives never received anything from the selling
  of the remaining lands.
• By 1934, Whites had taken 2/3s of the territory
  speculators (short term investors) grabbed the
  best land left the useless farming land to the
  Natives.

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Dawes Severalty Act (1887)Assimilation Policy
Carlisle Indian School, PA