The Wild West is a significant part of American mythology. It is often portrayed as a place of cowboys, gunslingers, and freedom from government interference.
However, the reality was more complex. Massive agribusiness, with roots in the Wild West, benefits everyone, including those who prefer vegan or sustainably-produced food.
The Myth of the Frontier
Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 lecture, \"The Significance of the Frontier in American History,\" shaped the myth of the Frontier.
Turner argued that the West shaped key American characteristics:
Individualism
Political democracy
Economic mobility
The West was seen as an opportunity to start over and become wealthy through individual effort.
In reality:
Settlers often moved as families or immigrant groups, not as individuals.
The land was already inhabited by American Indians.
The West was settled by diverse groups, including Chinese, Mexican laborers, and former slaves.
Mexicans already lived there and became Americans via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The idea of the West as a place of rugged individualism is an oversimplification.
The federal government played a crucial role in:
Passing laws promoting homesteading
Removing American Indians
Sponsoring railroad construction
The Role of Railroads
Railroads enabled western settlement by:
Providing a means to transport crops and goods to market
Bringing essential supplies like tools, shoes, and books
Connecting settlers to modernity
Both federal and state governments financed railroads, sometimes leading to financial problems for the states.
The federal government supported railroads and western settlement by:
Undertaking military expeditions against American Indians
Confining them to smaller reservations
Destroying their culture
Conflict with Native Americans
Economic and racial motivations drove the removal of Native Americans from their land. White settlers wanted land for:
Railroad tracks
Farming
Mining (gold, iron, etc.)
Conflicts between settlers and Native Americans intensified in the 1850s and continued until 1890.
The end of the Civil War led to increased violence against Native Americans.
General Philip H. Sheridan aimed to destroy the Indians’ way of life by:
Burning villages
Killing horses
Destroying buffalo
The buffalo population declined dramatically:
1800: 30 million buffalo
1886: Smithsonian struggled to find 25 specimens
The Ghost Dance movement emerged around 1890 as a spiritual effort to preserve traditional ways of life. Participants believed that:
Dancing and religious rituals would cause the white man to disappear.
The buffalo would return.
Traditional customs would be restored.
Despite some Native American victories (e.g., Little Bighorn), Native Americans were ultimately defeated by 1890 and moved to reservations.
Assimilation Policies and Loss of Land
In 1871, the U.S. government ended the treaty system, treating Native American land as if it were not part of sovereign nations.
The Dawes Act of 1887 allotted land to individual families rather than tribes.
Indians who adopted \"civilized\" habits (individualistic farming) were promised citizenship, but protections were inadequate.
The Dawes Act resulted in significant land loss for Native Americans. After the act, "Indians lost 86 million of the 138 million acres of land in their possession."
Cultural Genocide: Boarding Schools
The Bureau of Indian Affairs established boarding schools like the one in Carlisle, PA.
Indian children were forcibly removed from their families to be \"civilized.\"
The goal was to \"kill the Indian, save the man,\" by:
Teaching English
Removing traditional clothing
Changing names
Eliminating family connections
Cowboys and Cattle Ranching
The image of the cowboy is romanticized as a solitary, rugged individual.
Railroads were essential to the cattle industry:
Cattle drives ended in towns with railheads (Abilene, Wichita, Dodge City, etc.)
Railroads enabled the transport of beef to market.
Without industrial meat processing, there wouldn’t have been a market for all that beef.
Open range ranching declined as ranchers enclosed land and established businesses near railroad stations.
Western Farming
Western farming contradicted the Jeffersonian ideal of the yeoman farmer.
Farming was a family affair, with women bearing significant burdens.
Farms produced wheat and corn for national and international markets.
Farmers in the Great Plains faced competition from farmers in other countries, which drove prices down.
Irrigation was crucial for agriculture in the Great Plains.
The Oglala Aquifer supplied much of the water for irrigation. However, it's going dry.
Large-scale irrigation projects required significant capital investments, leading to:
Consolidated agricultural enterprises
Agribusiness
By 1900, California had giant commercial farms dependent on irrigation and chemical fertilizers.
These farms were often owned by corporations like the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Migrant laborers from China, the Philippines, Japan, and Mexico worked on these farms.
Conclusion
The Wild West was shaped by an increasingly international economic system.
The Civil War separated the Oregon Trail and Wild West eras.
Modern society benefits from the massive agricultural surplus created by industrialized agriculture.
The Wild West resembled industrial capitalism more than romanticized notions of the frontier.