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d) Beaver
f) More on Bison...
- Beaver fur hats fashionable on East Coast and Europe (“Wild West fashion”)
- Bison were naturally fit to thrive in the Great Plains environment; giant heads 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.
- National Bison Legacy Act, 2016: Law making the American bison the first national mammal of the United States.
- Skins (rest left behind to decay)
- Robe Market
- But do we know the history of the bison?
- 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
c) Labrador Ducks, 1840s-1860s
- Estimated 30-60 million on plains (Current pop." 500,000 --mostly commercial livestock)
- 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
- 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)
"Entertain" by Sleater Kinney
I Like Birds by The Eels
d) "Indian Removal"
- Early-to-mid-1800s
a) Leading up to Industrial Revolution
- Opened land
- Increased value of land
- Colonial & post-colonial period
- Trail of Tears, 1838-1839
- “Grid system”
- 160 acre plots
- Promote homesteading
- Jefferson Agrarian philosophy
a) Consumption in U.S.
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
- 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
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)
- Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
- Conflicts w/ farmers & people who caught fish
a) Market hunters
- Income (market hunters)
- Working/lower class
- Excursion trains
- Large-scale hunting
- Bison, deer, ducks and other water fowl, birds, seals, walruses, fish, etc.
As stated by Steinberg in Down to Earth:
"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).
c) Chicago Boom, mid-to-late 1800s
- Connection between East Coast and Midwest
- Early urbanization