Transcript life on the western plains

Chapter 7: Unit I
LIFE ON THE WESTERN
PLAINS
THE LAND
THE LAND
• LAND WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI
CONSIDERED TO BE DESOLATE
BY THE EARLIEST EUROPEAN
SETTLERS
• THE PLAINS WAS HOME TO
MILLIONS OF JACKRABBITS,
PRARIE DOGS, AND 12-15 MIL.
AMERICAN BISON (BUFFALO)
NATIVE
AMERICANS
NATIVE AMERICANS
• THE WEST WAS HOME TO NATIVE
AMERICAN TRIBES SUCH AS THE
SOUIX, COMANCHE, AND
BLACKFEET
• THEY WERE NOMADIC TRIBES;
THEY ROAMED VAST DISTANCES
IN SEARCH OF THEIR MAIN FOOD
SOURCE (BUFFFALO)
NATIVE AMERICANS
• NATIVE AMERICANS USED ALL OF
THE PARTS OF THE BUFFALO
• THEY WERE DEPENDENT ON THE
BUFFALO TO PRIVIDE FOOD, AS
WELL AS SHELTER, CLOTHING,
AND OTHER THINGS
NATIVE AMERICANS
• THEY ORIGINIALLY USED DOGS
TO HAUL THEIR POSSESSIONS AS
THEY HUNTED FOR FOOD
• IN THE 1600’S NATIVE
AMERICANS OBTAINED HORSES
FROM SPANISH SETTLERS
NATIVE AMERICANS
• NATIVE AMERICANS OBTAINED
HORSES BY TRADING FOR THEM
OR STEALING THEM FROM THE
SPANISH SETTLERS
• BY THE MID 1750’S ALMOST ALL
OF THE PLAINS PEOPLE RODE ON
HORSEBACK
NATIVE AMERICANS
• HORSES DRASTICALLY IMPROVED
THE WAY OF LIFE FOR THE
NATIVE AMERICANS
• IT ENABLED THEM TO BE BETTER
HUNTERS
• IT MADE THEM TO BE BETTER
FIGHTERS; THEY WERE ABLE TO
RESIST SETTLERS AND
RAILROADS
NATIVE AMERICANS
• IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO,
APACHE AND NAVAJO NATIVE
AMERICANS CAPTURED HORSES
TO SELL TO THET NORTHERNERS
THE
RAILROADS
THE RAILROADS
• “WITHOUT THE RAILROADS IT
WOULD HAVE REQUIRED A
CENTURY TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT
HAS BEEN DONE IN FIVE YEARS”
-DAKOTA NEWSPAPER EDITOR
THE RAILROADS
• THE TRANSCONTINENTAL
RAILROAD ULTIMATELY
RESULTED IN:
– THE KILLING OF THE BUFFALO AND
ALL OTHER PRARIE LIFE
– OBSTRUCTION OF THE NATIVE
AMERICANS WAY OF LIFE
– REMOVAL OF THE NATIVE
AMERICANS TO RESERVATIONS
THE RAILROADS
• RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION
BEGAN AT A FRANTIC PACE
DURING THE CIVIL WAR
• THE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL
LINE WAS COMPLETED IN 1869
• MAY 10, 1869, “WEDDING OF THE
RAILS” TOOK PLACE A
PROMENTARY POINT, UTAH
THE RAILROADS
• THE UNION PACIFIC COMPANY
WAS EMPLOYED TO BUILD THE
RAILROAD WEST FROM OMAHA
• THE UNION PACIFIC COMPANY
EMPLOYED MOSTLY IRISH
IMMIGRANTS
THE RAILROADS
• THE CENTRAL PACIFIC COMPANY
WAS EMPLOYED TO BUILD THE
RAILROAD EAST FROM
SACREMENTO
• THE CENTRAL PACIFIC COMPANY
EMPLOYED MOSTLY CHINESE
IMMIGRANTS
THE RAILROADS
• EACH COMPANY WAS GRANTED
16,000$, 32,000$, OR 48,000$ PER
MILE DEPENDING ON THE
TERRAIN
• EACH COMPANY RECEIVED LAND
GRANTS ALONG THE ‘RIGHT OF
WAY’ AVERAGING 640 ACRES PER
MILE
THE RAILROADS
• RAILROADS LED TO THE DEMISE
OF THE BUFFALO POPULATION
BY CUTTING THEIR NORTH TO
SOUTH MIGRATION ROUTES IN
HALF
• BECAME SPORT FOR
VACATIONERS TO SHOOT
BUFFALO FROM TRAIN WINDOWS
THE RAILROADS
• IN 1871 IT WAS DISCOVERED
THAT BUFFALO LEATHER COULD
YIELD A PROPHET
• PROFFESSIONAL HUNTERS WENT
OUT WEST AND KILLED MILLIONS
OF BUFFALO FOR THEIR HIDES
THE RAILROADS
• TRAINLOADS OF BONES WERE
SHIPPED EAST TO MAKE
FERTILIZER OR CHARCOAL
• BY 1886 ONLY A FEW HUNDRED
BUFFALO WERE LEFT
• AND THESE WERE DEEP IN THE
CANADIAN WOODS
THE END