c. 1850-1900 Prior to the discovery of gold, much of the West was considered a wasteland & much was part of North MexicoDuring the last decades of the 1800s, the U.S. was segmented into 1) an industrialized society and 2) a frontierThe 1890 census was the first to record that the frontier had been settledAdditionally, by 1890 the US surpassed Great Britain in iron and steel productionSettlement in the West was powered by industry Mexico was under Spanish domination until 1821. * By the 1860s, agricultural settlement reached the western margins of the tall grass prairies Ecology-60 million years ago, the Rocky Mountains rose out of the sea and covered western North AmericaWith no outlet, the shallow inland sea dried upA hard pan was leftSediment washed down from the mountains over time to form a loose, featureless surface Ecology-The climate suffered from cycles of drought because moist winds from the Pacific ocean delivered rain on the western slope of the Sierras Only drought-resistant grasses and plants could survive in this climateThe ecosystem could support certain plants and animals, but had not nurtured very much human settlement About 100,000 Native American groups lived on the plains in 1850They were very diverseThey have been categorized across six linguistic families and 30 “tribal” groupsMandan, Arikara, Pawnee ~lived in permanent villages ~planted corn & beans ~however, smallpox & measles ravaged settled groups Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne, “Blackfeet,” “Crow,” & SiouxWere dispersed in hunting groupsFirst arrived on the plains in the 1600sHunted buffaloMoved from lake country in northern Minnesota when fish and game dwindled Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne, “Blackfeet,” “Crow,” & SiouxBecame nomadicLived in portable skin teepeesAcquired horses from southwestern groupsCame to claim the entire Great Plains North of the Arkansas RiverDrove out or subjugated longer-settled groups One notable group of Plains Native American Indians were the Lakota SiouxThey had strict gender rolesWomen were more subordinate than in other groupsSaw God as a series of powers pervading the universeThe Sun Dance was one form of religious worship for them Image of Sun Dance from http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/2/lectures/lakota/sundance.detail.jpg. * The Lakota Sioux were not a self-contained group of peopleThey traded with others, including whitesPelts and buffalo robes were traded for kettles, knives, blankets, & guns, which the Lakota came to rely upon Again, prior to the 1840s gold rush, land in the west was seen as only worthy of Native American Indian settlement and useIn 1834, congress formally designated the Great Plains as permanent Indian countryThe army constructed border forts from Lake Superior to Fort Worth TexasThey were made of stone because they would be in place “forever”“Mainstream” Americans would theoretically trade with the Native Americans, but not settle the west What changed these per ...