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51 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Mountain men & fur trappers |
First white men to cross the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, trapping beaver, hunting antelope & other animals for fur. Some worked for companies, sold fur to fashion houses (eastern states, Europe), fur hats = popular |
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Continued.. |
Many - independent, calling themselves mountain men. Roaming the Rockies & Sierra Nevada selling skins & fur to traders. Found routes previously known only to Indians |
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Jim Bridger |
1824, he became the first white man to see the Great Salt Lake. 1830, bought "Rocky Mountain Fur Company" but fur trade collapsed in early 1840's. Built trading post - Fort Bridger, provided supplies for migrants on Oregon Trail |
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Continued |
He led hundreds of wagon trains safely through the Rockies. 1850, discovered a pass (later named the Bridger Pass) which shortened Oregon Trail by 61 miles. |
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Continued |
1864, Bridger Trail created - alternative route that avoided the dangerous Bozeman trail. He worked as guide & army scout during Red Cloud's War, discharged from army in 1865 |
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Preparing for the journey west |
Dangerous to travel alone, important to travel with people with a variety of useful skills. |
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The Donner Party: death and disaster in 1846 |
60 wagons, 300 migrants, led by the wealthy brothers Jacob and George Donner, left Independence in May 1846. Despite having more women, elderly people and children (skills not needed) they were very well equipped. |
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The Donner Party: death and disaster in 1846 What went wrong |
Claimed to found a short cut to California - new trail left the Fort Bridger one. He hadn't tried out the short cut. The argued about the two trails and the group split, more chose the traditional trail, less (about 80) chose the short cut. |
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Continued |
The group that took the short cut suffered badly in the desert, losing 4 wagons & 300 cattle, one man had killed another. When they reached Sierra Nevada, were late & badly demolished, had little food. |
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Continued |
Snow came early - trapped in deep snow. Decided to dig in for the winter, conditions worsened - icy blizzards, animals died, food lessened, first migrant died of starvation. No one hunted as conditions were so bad. |
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Continued |
Small group decided to battle through blizzards on foot to California to try and get help - ran out of food. 4 of them frozen to death which were then roasted and eaten. Packing leftover food for future meals, labelled so no one would eat their husband or wife. |
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Continued |
Indians refused to eat human flesh - after 2 days, shot, butchered & eaten. Took the remaining (9 adults) 32 days to find help. Rescue operation began to reach trapper Donner party. Eventually found them, half dead, other half survived by eating dead friends/ relatives. |
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Importance of spiritual world to Plain Indians |
believed all living things had spirits circles: power of earth always moved/worked in circles - circles of sun & moon, seasons. birds built round nests - tipis were round & circle of tipis made a village. Life of man was a circle |
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Continued |
sacred land: Black Hills of Dakota - to the Sioux, took their dead for burial, medicine men went for guidance when making a tribal important decision. believed we came from the earth, when we die, bodies return to the earth - all living things part of land, land not owned bought/ sold |
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Continued |
visions: boys/girls waited for vision, what seen in vision = adult name. boys - sweat lodge, to fast (starve) and pray. girls - vision came with monthly period |
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Continued |
dances: Sun Dance, Buffalo Dance. Sun Dance - led by medicine men, torturing themselves brought visions - working with spirits to make themselves better hunters = glory to tribe. Get guidance |
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Importance of medicine men |
could interpret visions of young men & contact spirits. vital to life of tribe. when problems occurred like Buffalo herds not found, they'd contact spirit world - get guidance. also cured Indians of illness that they believed to be from evil |
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Importance of horses |
used to: hunt buffalo, transport belongings when tribe on move and in war. enabled tribes to live on Great Plains. so essential to Indian life that they measured their wealth in horses. |
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Chiefs and councils |
chiefs led band, advised by bands council. no system for choosing chiefs, emerged because of their wisdom, leadership, spiritual powers or skills as warrior/ hunting. during council meetings: pipe of peace took place - smoke from pipe would carry their words up to spiritual world - help them make decisions, guidance |
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Gold rush |
1848, California. 40,000 men crossing plains, 60 ships carrying gold miners. by end of 1848, 10,000 men digging for gold, by end of 1849 90,000 gold miners. Most of it mined, people gave up. |
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Miners & mining towns: law & order |
claim jumping - most common - stealing one mans claim to mine after gold had been discovered there. law & order developed when miners moved in with families, town meetings chose chairman & officers, claims to mines were recorded, sheriffs - arrest criminals, court of miners decided guilty, innocent & punishments |
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Continued |
trials - quick, justice rarely fair, punishments = flogging, banishment or hanging. citizens set up vigilance committees - took law & order into own hands. held instant trials |
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Continued |
Bannack, Montana - people terrorised by well-organised gang 100 road agents. Henry Plummer - sheriff, well-respected, was leader of gang. vigilance committee set up, one of gang confessed. Plummer caught, hanged 1864 |
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Continued |
vigilance = feared, too easy to execute someone who was on wrong side of a citizen |
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Joseph Smith & Mormons |
1823-1831. claimed dug up golden plates, said guided to plates by an angel, Moroni - helped him translate writing on them. It said whoever found the plates would restore the Church of Jesus Christ in America, build up Gods Kingdom on earth. |
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Continued |
only 5 followers, several hundred joined after public speaking in 1830. unpopular in New York State, newspapers accused him of being fraud, mobs attacked his house, mormons shot at in street prayed for guidance, went to Ohio. |
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Continued, Ohio |
bought land, built farms, opened store, temple, mill, outnumbered non-mormons, set up a bank but failed. non-mormons became jealous, were afraid of being outnumbered, drove them out |
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Continued, Missouri |
bought land, built farms, friendly with Plain Indians, wanted to free slaves, set up secret police force - the Danites. they were mistrusted, people frighted of Danites, so attacked mormons, burnt down houses - Joseph Smith put into prison, mormons drove out. |
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Continued, Illinois |
re-built decaying town - commerce, re-named it "Nauvoo", practised polygamy, criticised Joseph Smith, chose Brigham Young as leader. non-mormons afraid being outnumbered, mobs assaulted & killed mormons, Smith imprisoned - killed by mob, Governor told them to leave |
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Brigham Young |
organised move of 1,500 men/women/children to dangerous, unknown territory. travelling 2,250km to Great Salt Lake, he: divided mormons into manageable groups, with leaders strict discipline everyone had role to play
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Continued |
taught them how to form wagons in circle at night for safety insisted - regular resting places arrived 1847 |
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How did the US government help people settle on the plains? Public domain land |
land opened for settlement in the west = 'public domain'. meant no one owned it, could be settled by anyone or left empty. changed by government, make sure all land had owner. land divided into 9.6km² = townships. each township divided into 640 acres each - $1 per acre |
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Continued |
too expensive for ordinary settlers, spectaculars moved in - buying selling land high price to those who could afford. government didn't intend on this |
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Homestead act 1862 |
enabled settlers to claim a quarter section of land to live on & farm. claim had to be entered in official land register. after 5 years, settler could pay $30 & get certificate of ownership |
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Timer and culture act 1873 |
government realised 160 acres not enough to support homesteader family. act allowed homesteader to claim another 160 acres if he promised to plant trees on half of it |
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Desert land act 1877 |
gave settlers right to buy 640 acres cheaply in areas where lack of rainfall was a bigger problem |
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Railroads |
government gave land on either side of railroad tracks to the railroad companies. encouraged them to expand tracks across the plains. first one finished in 1869 |
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How homesteaders built homes for themselves |
had to build with raw materials that they had on their own land. cut out blocks of earth (sods) = building bricks. nicknamed - sod-busters. sod houses = solid & strong, had to withstand gales, storms, droughts, blistering heat. |
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Continued |
about acre to provide enough sods to build sod house, walls metre thick, roofed with glass. then plastered with clay-like mud, which set hard, made house more/less watertight |
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What women did on Great Plains Food & fuel |
wife collected dried cow & buffalo dung, burnt well but quickly |
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Dirt, disease, babies |
spiders, fleas, insects lived in walls & floors. women had uncertain water supply, little soap, rags & brushes made from twigs. had well tired remedies for illness, like pour urine into aching ear, wrap cobweb around a cut. |
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Teachers & teaching |
pay was low, most lived with families of the children they taught |
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Creating a community |
looked after their husbands & children, isolated life as homesteaders kilometres apart. women worked together developed sense of community |
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Farming: problems & solutions Lack of timber (not many trees on plains) |
nothing to build houses with - built sod houses made from blocks of earth nothing to make fences for cattle and protect crops from buffalo - 1874 - Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire - quick & cheap nothing to use for cooking or heating - women collected buffalo & cattle dung, used for fuel |
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Lack of water |
low rainfall, few rivers & lakes - drills were developed to find underground water, wind pumps built to bring it back to surface |
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Hard, arid land (crops wouldn't grow) |
ploughs often broke, going through deep-rooted grass - stronger machinery from eastern factories helped plough land more easily low rainfall prevented growth of crops (wheat) - new techniques (dry farming, conserved rainfall) used. Migrants from Russia bough wheat from plains |
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Natural disasters (fires, pests destroying crops & land) |
pests (grasshoppers) could destroy whole seasons crop, fire spread quickly & burnt everything - no solution, homesteaders bankrupted by these disasters |
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Land allocated - too small to support families |
Timber & Culture Act 1873 Desert Land Act 1877 |
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Disease, lack of medical care |
sod houses hard to keep clean, no sanitation - women cared for the sick, using own remedies |
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Lack of education |
homesteaders too far away from towns with schools - women taught children, communities grew: teachers arrived & schools developed |
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Isolation |
Homesteaders far away from each other - railroads improved travel, communities worked together (build schools & churches) |
