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Cattle Drive/Meat Packing Industry
When the plains of Texas supported millions of cattle, the mat packing industry sprang into existence. It was the main pillar of the economy and allowed meat to be shipped along the East Coast. The Long Drive allowed cattle to be moved to railroad terminals that proved to be profitable for cattlemen. This event made cattle raising a big business in the US and started the trading of meat on the Trans-Continental Railroad. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was passed on May 20, 1862 stating that a settler could acquire land up to 160 acres. This settler would have to live on it for up to five years while he improves it and pays a nominal fee averaging $30. This law was enacted because before public land was sold for revenue and now it was able to be given away for settlers to use. The Homestead Act successfully populated the Great Plains, helped rule out slavery and keeps many farms and businesses still standing today. -
Sand Creek Massacre
The battle occured on November 29, 1864 in Colorado Territory. The two sides were the United States and the Native Americans with the leader of the U.S. being John Chivington and Black Kettle for the Native Americans. In an effort to make peace with the Americans, Black Kettle set up camp on Fort Lyon and the Americans attacked. As a result, 52 were killed on the U.S. side and 70-163 on the other. The massacre gave the US a victory and disrupted the Indian's power system in the Colorado War. -
Decline of Buffalo
The Great American Desert was growing steadily in population from the railroad and Homestead Act. By the 1880s, there wasn't much land left. When White Americans used extermination of the buffalo as a way to kill the Native Americans, it reduced the Native's ability to fight. Later the government passed laws that ordered the environments of the buffalo to be destroyed, and millions of buffalo were killed between 1872 and 1874. It was a 20 year process that left many Native Americans dead. -
Crazy Horse/William J. Fetterman
Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader attempting to to act as a decoy leader to lure William Fetterman, an officer, into a trap. In 1866, an Indian tribe attempted to block construction of the Bozeman Trail to the Montana goldfields. They ambushed William J. Fetterman along with his command of 81 soldiers and civilians. The Indians left no survivors in the battle and eventually the government abandoned the Bozeman Trail, which led to one of the few Indian triumphs in the plains wars. -
Trans-Continental Railroad
The railroad, built between 1863 and 1869, was officially completed on November 6, 1869. It was built to connect the East and the West of the United States. The railroad was very significant to this region for it made it way cheaper and shorter to travel from the East to the West Coast. For the United States, they were finally able to transport both people and goods and it put their political and economic power out there for the people. -
Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Canary, known as Calamity Jane, was a frontierswoman and professional scout and an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. She gained fame fighting the Native Americans. WIld Bill Hickok was a folk hero of the Old West for he fought in the Civil War and was an excellent gunfighter, scout, and lawman. Together, they helped aid their forces in finding out information about the Native Americans so that later they could defeat them. -
Montgomery Ward Mail Order Catalog
The Montgomery Ward Mail Order Catalog was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872. His business created catalogs to convince people in rural areas to purchase varieties of goods. His idea was immensely successful and his company dominated the area of delivering catalogs by mail. For the U.S. and the Chicago region, people benefitted from the mass production and and mail-order was made more accessible.
