Native Americans Prelude to Massacre at Wounded Knee Military decided to arrest

Native Americans Prelude to Massacre at Wounded Knee  Military decided to arrest some of the chiefs to make them stop the Ghost Dance  Sitting Bull killed the officer trying to arrest him and a fight ensued  Sitting Bull, 8 of his supporters, and 6 policemen were killed 15 December 1890

Native Americans Wounded Knee 29 December 1890  At Pine Ridge Reservation the army demanded Sioux relinquish all weapons  Big Foot and his followers camped on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek  A shot rang out (possibly by a deaf Indian who did not understand the instructions) and massacre began  200ish Native Americans + 25 Soldiers  Nearly half of Natives killed were women and children Current day monument of Wounded Knee

Massacre at Wounded Knee

Mining  Mexicans discovered it first in 1830s  James Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River – Jan 1848  Peaked in 1852  Few little guys made $  Population of non- natives grew to 100,000 California Gold Rush 1849

Mining  Ethan Allen and Hosea Ballou Grosh discovered huge ore deposit in 1857  Both died tragically – pick ax through foot & exposure  Henry Comstock (“Old Pancake)befriended the brothers and took over their cabin cabin silver ore deposit  Named after him, but he died penniless from self-inflicted gunshot wound  $300 million in Nevada  1873 - “Big Bonanza” – gold and silver  Who are the others involved in this vein? Probable picture Of Henry Comstock Comstock Lode 1859

Mining – Pocket Map of Comstock Lode

Mining  30% of population from outside the US  Irish – largest %  90% Male  Irish women – servants, boardinghouse owners, and washerwomen  Chinese – mostly male Cosmopolitan Virginia City

Mining Laboratory for Mining  Corporate oligopoly  Control by small # of firms  1,200 stamping mills- 1 ton of ore per day  400 men in milling/300 in manufacturing  3,000 worked in the mines  Virginia City = 25,000 population Virginia City present day

Women in Mining Towns Polly Bemis Aka Lalu Nathoy

Polly Bemis  Sold to bandits by her parents for 2 bags of seeds during a drought in Northern China  Auctioned as a slave in San Francisco 1872  Charlie Beemis helped her gain freedom & they married 1894  Loved by everyone  A Thousand Pieces of Gold

Women in Mining Towns Calamity Jane –

Calamity Jane  Martha Cannary, Princeton, Missouri – 1852.  Exaggerator & Alcoholic  She grew up to act like a man, shoot like a cowboy and drink like a fish. Worked as a nurse, dance hall girl, dishwasher, and maybe even a prostitute.  1870 - joined Custer as a scoutw  1876 - worked as a Pony Express rider and met Wild Bill Hickok  Married and had a child -her drinking took her on the prowl and she finally died of alcoholism in Deadwood in 1903 – requesting to be buried next to Wild Bill.