Themainfeaturesofthesettlementoffrontiercountryyouress

the main features of the settlement of “frontier country.”  Your essay should,
then, explain the relationship between these “two nations.”  Your answer should draw upon assigned reading and lectures.
FRONTIER COUNTRY –
• The frontier country was a vast dry area with hardly any trees and very little vegetation, water was sparse and
only existed in distant rivers created from the mountain tops of the rocky regions in the far west. The great plains
contained many Native American tribes such as the Sioux, Kiowa, and Comanche. These natives hunted buffalo
and were nomadic. Some permanent agrarian cultures existed like the Pawnees, Arikaras, and Mandans.

• Americans at first believed the Great Plains to be “unfit for cultivation and civilization. It was because of this
that it was Named the Great America Desert . This desert became a gateway to the Pacific coast as people began
to move to Oregon, Washington, and California. After the wagon trains came the railroads like the Union Pacific,
Central Pacific, and the Northern Pacific railroads.
• Cattle raising was a particularly viable source of income and occupation for many people, but first the buffalo
of the great plains had to be removed. Skins and hides were sold and markets were created for leather industries.
The buffalo were hunted almost to extinction.
• Cattle ranching included long cattle drives to northern states from Texas. By the early 1880’s news of the
success of the cattle ranchers produced over 7.5 millian head of cattle ravaging the grass and trampling the water
holes. After the winters and droughts, many cattle died and ranchers began fencing in their tracts of land .
• Homesteaders – Lands granted to the railroads were eager to be sold off to people who wanted it. The
government created the Homestead Act of 1862 , which offered 160 acres of public land to all newcomers. Many
foreign immigrants from Northern Europe came west.
• The land was harsh, crops could be eaten by the dust or by the Locusts. Only the properly equipped could farm
the harsh lands of the west. The equipped attempted dry farming, which was the only way to grow since rain was
scarce and irrigation had no input from lakes or rivers. This westward movement of agriculture flourished and a
huge part of the nations wheat, cereal crop, and cattle came from the Great Plains. Chicago was the marketplace
of the west because it was the Railroad hub, stockyard place, and it was truly “Nature’s Metropolis.”
• The Indians of the plains had to be moved and relocated to reservations. Many of the tribes attempted to fight the
release of their lands to the whites but failed. The government decided to make a peace commission and decided
to negotiate an end to all of the fighting by setting up two areas in South Dakota and Oklahoma. The Apache
chief Geronimo fought hard but in 1886 was finally captured. •
• The far west is comprised of Oregon and Washington, Utah, and Nevada and California.