...How did the Indians survive on the Great Plains? There were many factors that contributed to the way in which the Native Indians were able to survive on the Great Plains. In the 1840’s to late 19th century the Great Plains were known as one of the hardest place for people to be able to survive on. One of the main problems on the Plains was the extreme weather conditions. In the summer it would be extremely hot and then in the winter it was extremely cold. However the Indian fought against this adapting their lifestyles to be able to build stronger and survive. Firstly the Indians homes were made to be well adapted to suit the extreme conditions of the Great Plains. For example all year round there were hazardous winds. In the winter there was blizzards and freezing temperatures and in the summer it was extremely hot causing both the land and rivers to dry up. Buy creating the tipi it helped the Indians to survive on the tipis because it was designed to be able to withstand the different temperatures and weather of the West. The tipis conical shape meant that it was strong enough to be able to resist the strong winds. Also due to the dramatic temperature the tipi was created with ears that could be moved to direct the wind in the summer the tipis bottom could be rolled up to let the air in to cool the tipi down and in the winter it could be banked with earth to keep the heat in. Secondly family life was very important to the Indians because every person had a role that they...
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...Catherine Jones HST-143-D040/Professor Quirk The West January 21, 2016 Moving and settling on the Great Plains during the nineteenth century was no easy task. There were many hardships involved in the laborious task of the moving process and even more involved in building and maintaining a home. The fact that the settlers were moving to the Great Plains added even more difficulties to the task because of its climate and geography. One of the hardships that settlers faces was that there were few building materials on the Great Plains. They usually constructed their houses out of sod which was less than ideal. Sod houses allowed bugs and animals to easily dig through the walls and it also leaked water into the homes very easily. These sod homes also allowed very little light or even air to pass into them. Other hardships included their isolation from one another, the unfortunate use of manure as fuel for fire because of the lack of wood, the dry climate of the Great Plains, and as a result of the climate, the lack of water. Settlers could not plant crops because the ground was too dry and the climate was too humid, that and the fact that there was the lack of water. This forced the settlers to build windmills just so they could pump water. There was also the obstacle of having a lack of money. Since the settlers were so isolated from one another that meant there were no nearby businesses or places of work for settlers to earn money. This lack of money meant living in sparse...
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...the American Civil War many cowboys went off to fight for the | |Cattle in Texas reproduced and when the cowboys returned there were 5 million| |south against the north. | |cattle. | | | | | |Demand for beef in the East meant that cattle could be sold for $50 | |Homesteaders stopped cattlemen who tried to drive their cattle across the | |per head as opposed to $5 in Texas. | |Plains. They did not want their animals catching Texas fever or their crops | | | |damaged. | | | | | |Charles Goodnight and his business partner, Oliver Loving drove a | |The construction of the Transcontinental Railway (completed 1869) solved this| |cattle herd up to a US army fort to sell beef. This journey led to | |problem as cattle could be transported more easily to the East. | |the Goodnight-Loving...
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...Everywhere * Heavy reliant * Pacific coast * Great lakes * Great plains How did hgf peoples obtain food? Some consequences * Mobility * Seasonality of food * Annual migration cycles * Wild plants and animals * Lack of domestication=reduced disease resistance * Acquired immunity * Genetic immunity How did this subsistence strategy structure society? * Clan size=small * Flat social structure=not hierarchical * Kinship unites bands * Loose affiliations * Gendered division of labor * Usufruct property rights=right to use, not to own How did Pawnee Indians rely on hgf lifeways? Where did Plains people come from? * Clovis peoples arrive on Plains 9,000 BC * Plains people/culture emerge from these early arrivals * Simultaneously other culture groups emerge across the Americas * Each defined by culture, language, geographic boundaries, etc How did the Plains peoples mode of production develop? * 9000 BC = Climate Warms * Bison hunting flourishes on Plains > plainsmen culture * 5000-2500 BC=Drought * plainsmen abandon plains. Move west to rocky mountains * 500 BC-AD 1000 * emergence of eastern plains what peoples and cultures over time emerged on the plains? How did the Pawnee arrive in the Loup Valley? * AD 1200-Pawnee ancestors migrate east during dry period from high plains to Loup Valley * Maintain...
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...Roosevelt wanted to create an organization for homeless or in need people. In 1937 he started a project called FDR’s Shelterbelt Project. The project helped the environment it helped by planting trees throughout the Great Plains. “ I see one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished… the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is we provide enough for those who have too little. “ - Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words about the project. was also known as The Dirty Thirties. The Dust Bowl started in 1931 and did not end until 1939. It got it’s name by a name news reporter after Black Sunday. Black sunday was by far the worst dust storm that had occurred during the entire Dust Bowl. Many people believe families did flee during the Dust Bowl. As a matter of fact, many families did not flee their homes...
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...cultivate hardware, and shaky universal markets for wheat and corn decided their salary. Overproduction, in the interim, drove costs down. Agriculturists were baffled by listing costs, climbing obligation, high-investment rates, and such railroad polishes, as settled costs or separation among clients. Agriculturists probably won't felt responsible for their destinies[1]. Body Some Western tribes separated eastern tribes in "Indian Territory," from other western tribes, for example, Pueblos had lasting settlements and homesteads. They communicated with Spanish and Mexicans. Plains Indians were migrants and, some were ranchers. Warriors were not able to thrashing white pilgrims because they separated, had inward clashes, and sicknesses. The Plains people groups protected their territory and their lifestyle from the approaching pilgrims. Savage fights occurred in the 1860s and 1870s between the Plains people groups and government troops. Eventually, infection and clashes decreased the populace and force of the tribes. Dislodging by pioneers and fixation on Indian reservations, chiefly in Oklahoma, Wyoming, and the Dakotas tested the customary Native American lifestyle. Settlement from...
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...Adam Weaver Bio280 Ecosystems and Economics 08/04/13 The Human impact on any ecosystem is usually a negative impact. When I think about the situations that surround our influence on ecosystems the most poignant example that comes to mind is that of the strip mining industry. In this industry we see the largest amount of economic gain go head to head with the worst ecologic destruction. I grew up in West Virginia where mining was a way of life and the local economies still bend to whims of the coal mining industry. Today I live in South Dakota, home of the Homestake Mine, the longest running gold mine in the country which is almost 8,000 feet deep. (Homestake,2013) Coal mining is billion dollar industry here in the United States and the economic upside of it is hard to deny. Whole towns are still in existence due to the support that coal brings to their economies. Mining traditionally however brings many problems with it. Mining in general is associated with the following ecological problems: Saltiness, aridity and scarcity of water caused by the waste of enormous amounts of fresh water during the extraction process, heavy metals which are liberated and migrate into the ecosystem, the dislocation of thousands of tons of ore causes for sedimentation in rivers and susceptibility to both geologic and water erosion, migration of highly toxic cyanide into the subsoil and surface waters as well as the whole ecosystem, and acid drainage. (Shipirt, 2006) Finally, and most...
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...currency, but in lives, land, and social instability. Years before, the world has just gotten out of a huge economically depression, and right around the corner, another World War would insure. Beginning of the Events The Great Depression did wonders and caused a lot of problems for the American republic, and the rest of the world. This caused farmers to rush west for the land that became available. This, in turn, caused a great increase in wheat. The price of wheat increased and that meant more profit was made. The land practices became crude, and the same plant planted in the same place ruined...
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...The Okies/Migrants The Dust Bowl was a time of hard work, sacrifice, and most of all: sadness. The Dust Bowl occurred in the 1930's and was a time of great depression when droughts had struck the Great Plains in America. These droughts dramatically effected farmers in Oklahoma and Texas, and other neighboring areas, and eventually lead to farmers being forced off of their land in search of work in the West (“History”). These farmers who migrated to the West were formally known as “Okies”, a nickname given to them by Californians. Therefore, the Okies played a significant role during the dust bowl due to the incredible amounts of people who migrated to places, such as California, the hardships they experienced during the Dust Bowl era, and the long journey it took to find work in the West. Certainly, Okies experienced the most heartache and difficulties during the period of the severe droughts that struck America. Something that really catches the eye...
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...Prof. Rains NAMS 2/8/11 Black Feet Siksika is translated in English to ‘black feet’. Black feet is thought to be their name because of the discoloring of their moccasins by the ashes of the prairie fires, or possibly because they painted their moccasins black. The Black Feet are a people of great spirit and confidence in their way of life. This is what allowed them to keep the black foot tribe alive to this day. The spirit of the ‘black feet’ is due to their rich heritage, customs, beliefs, art, and stories. They have been able to fend off non-stop attacks like in the late 1800’s with the official government policy of assimilation. Assimilation was the white people believing that their way of life was the best way of life and all Indians should become more like them. The Indians made it through the easterners’ restriction on their young people like speaking their first language and forcing them to dress like whites, cut their hair and go to English schools. The white peoples life style did not appeal to the Indians due to all of the genocide, disease, war, and religion. The Indians way of life is prosperous and has been successful for thousands of years in not making for themselves the problems the white people have. The Indians like being Indians, they want to be Indians, and they will always fight to remain Indians. The black feet religiously believed in medicine bundles. There were more then 50 of them and the most popular were the beaver bundles, medicine pipe bundles...
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...If you've studied Canadian history, you must know about an animal called bison. The bison are North America's largest mammal. Just two centuries ago, 30-60 million bison roamed North America, from Mexico to northern Canada. But unfortunately by 1900, this animal was almost wiped out. The most significant reasons for the disappearance of the bison were overhunting by the human and the expansion of the railways. Before the migration of the European settlers, the First Nations only hunted a few bison for food in order to live. Since the arrival of the newcomers, the fate of the bison was changed forever. The establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company made the bison become a vital part of the First Nations and...
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...backs The Reality of Unrest * Farmers found themselves in a new world of economic competition * Antebellum agriculture was controlled by large landowners * Post civil war small farmers did not benefit from large-scale production * In Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota farmers more adverse growing conditions * Meteorologic anomaly ended returning the high plains to normal dry conditions * Leads to the “dust bowl” Organizing Revolt: The Farmers’ Alliance The Grange * Designed to advance the lives of farmers * Taught new farming techniques * Social Events * Attempted to create a system of cooperatives * Fought for regulation of rail rates Southern Alliance * Dr. Charles W. Macune * Pooled resources in cooperatively owned enterprises for buying and selling, milling, and storing, banking and manufacturing Cooled Farmer’s Alliance * Segregated auxiliary * Faced violent reprisals from southern racists The National Farmers’ Alliance, ultimately, reached across, the south, Midwest, and great...
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...always going to prevail. With Americas rapid expansion into the plains states, confrontations with Native Americans was inevitable, due to their nomadic nature. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened the way for Americans looking for a fresh start after the Civil War, giving 160 acres to families that took part. With these homesteads came farms, livestock, modernization and fences. The idea of cordoning off a section of land was an unheard of concept for Native Americans. According to "Native American Indian Facts" (2014), “Many of the tribes of the Great Plains were nomadic and followed the buffalo migrations which provided their food. These tribes spent a good part of the year living in camps that could easily be dismantled and moved to follow the buffalo migrations”. The Native Americans had been traveling the plains in search of food for generations before settlers even ventured west. When these nomadic Indians came across these fences in their nomadic pursuit of food, they were ignored which led to confrontations with farmers. The transcontinental railroad had a significant impact with Native Americans and the decline of the nomadic way of life. According to "American Experience" (2014),” it was an irrevocable marker of encroaching white society, that unstoppable force which would force Indians onto reservations within decades". Modern technology of the era far surpassed Native Americans, and it was used to a great advantage of conquering the west. There were probably direct skirmishes...
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...The Dustbowl, was a period of critical dust storms that damaged the agriculture of the United States. Also known as the dirty thirties, the Dustbowl took place in the 1930’s. Not only did the dustbowl bring economical, ecological and human misery to the United states but, this was all during a time when the US was already suffering under the Great Depression. “A failure to apply dry land farming methods and severe drought to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon.” The drought came in different years, 1934, 1936, and 1939 to 1940. Some regions of the high plains went through droughts for up to eight years. But since back then there was insufficient knowledge on “ecology of the plains, farmers conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds....
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...by planting more crops the more profit they would earn, but they ended up over producing and losing money. II. How widespread was it? 1. Great Plains A. The devastated areas were the Great Plains. The span of 300,000sq. Miles were affected. The storm was centered on the panhandle of North Texas, the panhandle of Western Oklahoma, South Eastern Colorado, and South Western Kansas. The affects would be felt even further though, as far south as Central Texas, and Eastern New Mexico. Almost all of Oklahoma, the entire state of Kansas, and Nebraska. The Eastern part of Colorado, and Wyoming, ¾ of South Dakota, the South Western part of North Dakota, and the South Eastern part of Montana. 2. East Coast A. The topsoil that made life impossible in the Midwest started to blow towards the East as far as New York City, as well as the entire East Coast before it vanished into the Atlantic...
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