1837 Great Financial Crisis
In 1837 the Eastern USA suffered an economic collapse. Many people lost their jobs, and as Banks went bust they also lost their savings. People were bankrupted and factories and businesses closed.
The Mormons, whose Bank also collapsed ruining many non-believers, became one of the more popular scapegoats for the ruin. This resulted in many Mormons choosing to move West in the face of increasing violence. The increasing population had made land hard to come by.
This combined with the desperation and increasing crime in the East forced people to consider moving West. The Crisis became a big PUSH factor in encouraging people to migrate westward.
1844 Joseph Smith Died
As the Prophet and founder of the Mormon Church he was the leader of many thousands of believers. He led them in a desperate search for a safe haven for the community to settle.
Smith would not lead his Mormons West as he thought it unfit to build the Zion for the coming of Jesus. Smith was shot dead in 1844 as he tried to escape from jail.
Brigham Young was the new leader of the Mormons and chose to lead them West, to Great Salt Lake where they settled successfully. This was an important turning point for the Mormons.
1848 Gold Rush 1848!!
Before Gold was discovered in 1848 by James Marshall, around 5,000 people per year were drifting west across the Great Plains. However with the discovery this increased tenfold by the following year.
The 50,000 miners were hunting for their fortunes in California –many found one. The first miners – the ‘49ers – proved that large numbers of settlers could travel and live in the west. The paths and routes they used were easily found by later families who travelled west. By 1850 California was a US state. The 1848 Goldrush speeded up the settling of the west by Americans.
1851 First Fort Laramie Treaty
Under new treaty the Plains Indians agreed to keep away from the wagon trails speeding West as part of the Goldrush, in return for annual payments. This made travel easier and safer, it also began the idea of limiting the Indians to certain geographically defined areas.
1862 The Homestead Act.
Even by the 1860s the Great Plains were not settled. Regarded as the Desert, White Americans had settled around it in the East and West.
This Homestead Act gave 160 acres of the Great Plains in return for a nominal fee in order to encourage the settlement of the last piece of the USA. The Government was keen to control the whole of the USA, and part of the Manifest Destiny the Plains could not be left to the Indians, it must be settled and organised.
1864 The Massacre of Sand Creek
The Massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women and children who were at Sand Creek, Colorado by Colonel Chivington and local volunteers was a horrific act which became an obstacle to peace between Plains Indians and American settlers.
The Massacre was officially sanctioned as the settlers on Cheyenne lands in Colorado were miners, ranchers and importantly Homesteaders who felt threatened by the closeness of the Indians on whose land they were settling.
It was the first of a number of Indian massacres, which revealed the determination of the USA in gaining control over the Plains.
1866 First Cattle Drives Established
After the American Civil War ended in 1865 and ranchers and cattlemen went home they discovered their untended herds of cows had multiplied on an enormous scale.
Goodnight and Loving drove their herds north to markets in Colorado to sell to hungry railroad workers and the US Army.
The cattle industry boomed and cows were transported by rail, and towns grew up along the paths of the cattle drives such as Abilene the first cowtown which was created by John lliff, and Dodge City which grew in wealth.
1868 Second Fort Laramie Treaty
By 1868 the Great Plains were being settled at speed, by Homesteaders, miners and ranchers. This rendered the previous treaty worthless as individuals and Government ignored Indian rights to land awarded them by treaties and laws.
This treaty gave the Black Hills of Dakota to the Sioux Indians ‘forever’. These lands held special religious meaning for the Indians and they were contained in this land. This extended the US Government’s programme of restricting Indians to small pockets of land (reservations) where they were reliant on Government handouts of food and money in order to live.
1869 The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
The transcontinental railroad linked the West and East coasts of America, it was completed in 1869. Leland Stanford was important in securing its completion.
It cut the westward travel time from six months to one week. The railway linked isolated settlements on the Plains to civilisation eastwards and westwards. It opened up trade and communications all across America. This improved law and order and increased trading and travel.
1876 The Battle of the Little Bighorn.
In 1874 the US Government broke the Second Fort Laramie Treaty by building a railroad through the Black Hills (an area promised to the Sioux forever).
Custer and the 7th Cavalry were posted by General Sheridan to protect the railroad’s construction from Indian sabotage. Simultaneously the engineers building the railroad discovered Gold and started a goldrush. Sitting Bull led the Sioux from the reservation in the Black Hills.
The 7th Cavalry attempted to round the Indians back into the reservations which sparked the Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer and his men were destroyed. The US was defeated and struck back leaving most Indians dead. The remaining Sioux had the Black Hills confiscated and the US annulled all previous treaties.
1887 The end of the Open Range.
In the 1880s millions of cows were living unfenced on the Great Plains. The profits made were huge, therefore more cows were led onto this ‘Open Range.’ (More cows led to more breeding increasing the numbers quicker.)
By 1887 the Open Range was stopped.
- Little water and grass meant that the Plains could not support that many cows.
- Barbed wires was used by ranchers to protect their grasslands and secure water supply.
- Too much meat flooded the markets driving down prices
- Two cold winters followed by a drought the summer killed off thousands of cows.
- Demand for meat was falling.
1890 The Battle of Wounded Knee.
The Battle of Wounded Knee marks the end of Indian resistance to White American settlers. From the mid-1880s the Buffaloes were all but extinct, most of the Indians were in Reservations and the Plains were fully settled by ranchers and homesteaders.
A last gasp the Indians, led by Wovoka, danced the Ghost Dance believing the Great Spirit would come and defeat the Whiteman, return the murdered buffalo and Indians.
The hopes ended in December 1890 as Sitting Bull was assassinated by another Indian, and also Big Foot’s Sioux was massacred at Wounded Knee Creek. There was to be no more opposition to the US Government.