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Lecture 6 is essentially about how the cattle industry effected and shaped the plains. The beginning of the lecture gives us a picture of the mythic cowboy in an attempt to get some sort of grasp of who the people were that helped shape the plains. The lecture then goes on to discuss the origins of the cattle trade coming primarily from a large cattle surplus in Texas after the civil war. Joseph McCoy became a catalyst in the development of the cattle trade when he realized the principal of supply and demand with regards to cattle. This created the movement of cattle across the plains and as a result helped develop the plains with regards to the creation of new towns and businesses that revolved around cattle and would help to get a stronger foothold on the plains until the railroad would later solidify our spot on the plains. The lecture also covers the cattle towns themselves, specifically Abilene as a model of cattle town evolution. In this section we see how towns would spring up beginning as rough places to be and as time went on through new businesses, farmers, and growing populations would turn cattle towns into more respectable places. The lecture discusses Canadian ranching as well pointing out that it was similar to the American system but different in the sense that the land was not owned but leased by the cattle owners and said cattle owners were generally people that were more well off in life then their counterparts to the south. The lecture then examines the end of the cattle era and the reasons for its ending which included the overstocking of cattle, hard winters, fencing, etc. Last Isern gives us his ideas on the current state of cattle ranching in the country examining the effects and developments of fenced ranching, up-breeding, transient grazing, feed lot development, meat packing, and all of the things that were created as a result. Although he does not come out and say it I believe Isern shows that the cattle industry is evolving and will continue to evolve with advances in technology and ranching techniques that people have not even thought of yet. With how far the cattle industry has come in such little time I wonder what will be the next possible change to it and what kind of developments and results will yield?

Labels: tom kramer

The Whoop-up country was about the history of the northern plains. Sharp discusses events on the plains that would in turn shape the plains themselves basically saying that it was not the environment but the people that shaped life on the plains. Sharp begins with the importance of the trail to the development of the northern plains even saying right away that the trail symbolized the economic, social, and cultural ties that for many years defied a politically inspired division of the northern plains. Thus stressing the importance of the man made trails in the further development of the plains and less importance on the environment curving the development. The book talks about the importance of the Cypress Hills massacre, the way the whiskey trade shaped the northern plains, the rise of the mounties, American attempts at law and order, the Indian policy of Canada and the U.S., the growth of forts into major hubs and the reasons for their decline, U.S. and Canadian politics, important businessmen, and also the railroad and how it inspired nationalism. The Cypress Hills massacre was an extremely important event. This event set off a chain reaction that would eventually result in law and order on the northern plains. As a result of the massacre Canadians became more aware of the need for law and order in the west and created the mounted police to do just that. The Americans follow suit but as Sharp points out it was not as good as the Canadian model. Police on the plains restores order and results in the further development of the plains all the way to manifest destiny and the need to build a railroad across the plains.
This book was a much easier read then the Webb book in the sense that it was not all boring details. However the book is so Canadian biased that it almost gets sickening at times to hear how Canadian policies were so much better then American ones. The book was effective in the sense that it gives a better understanding of the Canadian history on the plains and points out how drastically different things were from the American side of things. It would seem that the Canadian national identity is to show that they are different from America and this book did just that. The main point I believe Sharp wanted to get across however was that the plains were not shaped by the environment but by the people who came to it. However I feel that it is a combination of both the environment and its people. The environment dictated how the first settlers would have to adapt to survive and in the process those people and others on the plains after would shape the plains so that they could be developed for their benefit and essentially overcoming the environment.

Labels: tom kramer

Lecture 4 began with how the Indians were viewed by whites and how there have been three phases of white historys of the plains that first saw the Indians as savages, then victims, and then people with agency. Given that there have been three phases of history so far with reguards to how we view this time period would it be possible to see another phase? The lecture then goes on to talk about how the first historians used documentation to learn about the Indians and not archeology which may have explained some of their harsh views of the plains Indians. The lecture also talks about the different stages of Indian life from the paleo-Indians to the hunter-gatherer stage and the village farmer stage. The lecture also covers the Metis, discussing their orgins and how they lived early on and later covers the Metis rebellion during the discussion on the Indian wars. Another big part of the lecture was the discussion on the many different treaties between the U.S. government and the plains Indians. What I found most interesting is how our government was so quick to change a treaty when there was something they wanted involved. I think that shows either a blatant disrespect for the Indians or maybe the government felt so strongly that the Indians would eventually be assimilated and dissappear that it would not really matter if they broke the treaties or not. The lecture also covers Indians during WWII, recent Indian movements, Indian policy in both the U.S. and Canada, Indian boarding schools, assimilation of the Indians, and the railroads dooming the Indians. I find the railroad sealing the fate of the Indians interesting mostly because close to our cabin all withing twenty miles of each other there are historical markers two of which are marked so. One of the markers is for a railroad site, the next not more then 15 miles south west would be a U.S. Indian war site maker, and not more then 15 miles north west of that site, if you know the right people you can find some Indian burrial mounds.

Labels: tom kramer

The Great Plains was a history of the Plains and its effects on its inhabitants and the nation as a whole. Webb basically shows the cause and effect of things that happened on the plains leading up to the state of the plains in Webb's time. Webb talks about how the introduction of the horse to the plains led to a change in lifestyle on the plains which in turn would create things like the cattle kingdom which would lead to towns being set up on the plains and many small farmers coming in. As a result of towns and more people coming to the plains water laws would be created which would lend its way to more of an institutionalized law on the plains and so on until you get the plains we see today. So basically I believe that what Webb is really trying to get at is that without the rapid development and adaptation to life on the plains many things in the rest of the country may have developed much slower if at all in some cases. Webb begins his history with the first people on the plains, the Indians. He goes into great detail about how the Indians were shaped by the plains and how, with the help of the horse shaped life on the plains and was in a sense the catalyst for the development of the plains. Webb puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of the horse in the beginning of the book and rightfully so. In my opinion without the horse the country as a whole may be much farther behind in many areas of life today. Webb also goes into great detail about the different approaches different groups took to try and settle the plains. What I found most interesting in this section was Webb's take on the Spanish. He believed that one of the main reasons the Spanish failed on the plains was because of their three part system when developing new colonies. I personally disagree with this because had the Spanish found lakes of gold or some other riches they most definitely would have stayed especially with the weather on the plains being much like that of their home country. Regardless of the wars Spain was facing at the time or other circumstances had the Spanish found riches they would have found a way to stay. Webb also talks about the importance of inventions on the plains and how inventions that were needed to live on the plains would effect the whole country if not the world. The most important invention of all of course was the six-shooter. The six-shooter was important for a couple of reasons, first it was the first mechanical adaptation to the plains and second it enabled the frontiersman to defeat the mounted Indian. Without the six-shooter the Indian wars could have very well lasted into the early 1900's costing many more lives and slowing down the progress of the nation or even worse we may have been forced off the plains altogether. Altogether I believe the book is really about how developments in the plains region with regards to surviving on the plains, environment etc. led to the development of our country as a whole. A good example of this would be where Webb talks about the plains as a buffer for slavery. Had that buffer where cotton wouldn't grow not existed this country would look drastically different today. So in that sense and of course many others the plains environment directly effected the direction and development of the whole country.
On a side note Webb paints a much different picture in his book of the Indian or Native American that we know today. Webb more then likely lived during the end of the Indian wars if not shortly there after so most of his information would have come from people that had fought the Indians and dealt with them pre-reservation and from what we know of history many of these encounters were not always the most enjoyable of experiences so it is really no wonder why Webb shows the Indians in the light he does. It would be extremely hard to imagine going down the road and being attacked by Indians but to the first settlers this was a reality and a risk they took by moving onto Indian lands. I have a feeling that even with all that we know if Indians and their culture today had we been with the first settlers of the plains we would have looked at the Indians in the same light as Webb if not an even less favorable one.

Labels: tom kramer