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d) Beaver

f) More on Bison...

- Near-extinction, late 1800s

- National Bison Legacy Act, 2016: Law making the American bison the first national mammal of the United States.

- Bison were naturally fit to thrive in the Great Plains environment; giant heads are naturally fit to drive through snow and make them far more likely to survive harsh winters; bison grazing helped cultivate the prairie, making it ripe for hosting a diverse range of plants.

- Skins (rest left behind to decay)

- Robe Market

- Beaver fur hats fashionable on East Coast and Europe (“Wild West fashion”)

  • Leather belting

- But do we know the history of the bison?

  • Fashion

Pile of bison skulls, Late mid-1870s

1886 cabinet card photograph of men in beaver hats

- U.S. military

As stated by Benjamin Franklin:

"I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on."

b) Depleted populations of birds, 1800s

e) Bison

c) Labrador Ducks, 1840s-1860s

- Estimated 30-60 million on plains (Current pop." 500,000 --mostly commercial livestock)

Man Wearing Buffalo Robe in photograph postcard, 1910

- First bird species to become extinct after Euro arrival

- Hunted to near-extinction, late 1800s

g) Bald Eagle

- Excursion trains (hunted from window & roofs)

- Feather trade & food

- Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, 1940

Original vintage wood engraving, 1883

Diorama at N.Y. Natural History Museum

- Illegal hunting (Not market hunting)

- DDT: Used in pesticides until 1972 (oil, lead, & mercury pollution)

Harper’s Weekly account about hunting from train:

- Endangered species until 1995 – Placed on Threatened species list & removed in 2007

"Nearly every railroad train which leaves or arrives at Fort Hays on the Kansas Pacific Railroad has its race with these herds of buffalo; and a most interesting and exciting scene is the result. The train is “slowed” to a rate of speed about equal to that of the herd; the passengers get out fire-arms which are provided for the defense of the train against the Indians, and open from the windows and platforms of the cars a fire that ensembles a brisk skirmish. Frequently a young bull will turn at bay for a moment. His exhibition of courage is generally his death-warrant, for the whole fire of the train is turned upon him, either killing him or some member of the herd in his immediate vicinity."

(Source: Gilbert King, “Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed,” Smithsonian, July, 17, 2013)

Jumpers by Sleater Kinney

I Like Birds by The Eels

The commodification of nature

d) Indian Removal

1. Water, Land, Lumber, and the Rise of Market Hunting

- Early-to-mid-1800s

a) Leading up to Industrial Revolution

3. Land

- San Francisco

- Opened land

- Increased value of land

- Colonial & post-colonial period

a) 1785 Northwest Ordinance

- Trail of Tears, 1838-1839

  • Pre-1906: 90% was built w/ redwoods from North Coast (Gold Rush era)

- “Grid system”

- 160 acre plots

- Promote homesteading

  • Roads (some), sidewalks, highways, water pipes (all made of wood)

- Jefferson Agrarian philosophy

  • 1906 Earthquake & fire leveled the city (3,000 fatalities & 80% of city destroyed)

4. Lumber

a) Consumption in U.S.

2. Water

a) New England-based textile companies

- Board Feet of Lumber Consumed, 1839-1860: 1.6 billion to 12.8 billion

- Late 1700s

b) Altered River Flow

Bird Eye View of Coronado Beach, Late 1800s

- Board Feet of Lumber Passing Through Chicago, 1847-1869: 32 million to over 1 billion

- Harness power & water & run equipment

c) Blocked passage of fish upstream

- Population Growth in U.S., 1850-1900: 23,191,876 to 76,212,168

San Francisco Earthquake & Fire, 1906

Boston Manufacturing Company, Early 1800s

d) Change in laws

- English Common Law: Use water but not interrupt flow (Riparian rights)

- Early 1800s: Corps. purchase water rights

"...the country was made without lines of demarcation, and it’s no man’s business to divide it…I see whites all over the country gaining wealth, and see their desire to give us lands that are worthless…The earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of our land and the measure of our bodies are the same."

- Boston Associates (Lowell, Mass.): Rights to Pawtucket Falls & built elaborate system of dams and canals to provide energy to make cotton cloth

- Sell water outright (w/o buying/selling land)

Pawtucket Falls and the Blackstone River , Late 1800s

- Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

- Conflicts w/ farmers & people who caught fish

Virgin Forests in U.S.

b) New Technology

- John Deere Steel Plow, 1837

b) Setting for fires

5. Market Hunting

- Peshtigo Fire, 1871 (Wisconsin)

- Commercialization of agriculture/land as commodity

a) Market hunters

  • 1,500-2000 fatalities

- Income (market hunters)

- Working/lower class

  • Slash left from logging, wood buildings, etc.

John Deere Advertisement, 1913

- Excursion trains

- Large-scale hunting

- Bison, deer, ducks and other water fowl, birds, seals, walruses, fish, etc.

  • Some viewed the fire as proof that judgement day had come – “Indeed this apprehension, that the last day was at hand, pervaded even the strongest and most mature minds” (Steinberg, 67).

Mills and factories next to Niagara Falls, Late 1800s

Bird's Eye View of Sacramento, Texas, Late 1800s

- The Great Chicago Fire, 1871

As stated by Steinberg in Down to Earth:

  • Wood buildings w/ flammable tar & shingle roofs
  • Destroyed more than 73 miles of roads, 120 miles of sidewalk, 2,000 lampposts, 17,500 buildings, and $222 million in property (Over 3 square miles

"The industrial revolution meant more than simply the rise of factories, railroads, and new forms of work and social life. It brought about class conflict under the factory roof, to be sure – strikes and walkouts over wages and hours – but it also involved a struggle over nature, over who would control it and for what ends" (59).

  • 300 deaths and 100k homeless

American Progress by John Gast, 1872

CLASS DISCUSSION

Introduction and Missed Connections: The Passenger Pigeon Extinction

c) Chicago Boom, mid-to-late 1800s

RY JENNIFER PRICE

- Connection between East Coast and Midwest

Edward C.C. Ord Map of Los Angeles, 1849

- Early urbanization

Destruction caused by 1871 Chicago Fire

Chicago Restaurant Game Menu, 1800s

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