A guide to the Wild west
The Terrain
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT : the great american desert is the great plains. It is a huge area of grassland. There is a limited amount of water and trees and most of the time, there is a strong wind.
The Rocky Mountains
After crossing the American desert, you climb the Rocky Mountains. You might meet people along the way, like hunters and trappers. Then you should go to the area named the plateaux region, there you will find the great salt lake.
The Sierra Nevada.
Once you cross the mountains, there are more mountains waiting for you, the Sierra Nevada. Most of the snow-capped peeks are 4,500 meters high! Beyond the Sierra Nevada there is good farming land, good soil and the weather was good. California and Oregon are there.
Why YOU should go to the west.
You should go to the west because there are so many places to visit and so much history there. In the 1800's the homesteaders settled in the west; on the Great Plains. They came from eastern states. Most of them were immigrants of Europe, looking for a better life which they found.
How to prepare.
You need to bring :
- LOTS of water and food supplies
- a change of clothing.
- medicine
- guns
- gun powder
- wagon
- spare wagon parts
Religious beliefs
The Lakota tribe believed in the Waken Tanka, "great spirit" which means every living beings should help each other. They believe that they will meet Waken Tanka in the after life. Occasionally, there would be a whole ceremony in the ground inside the tipi. Sometimes religions were private. In this particular religion, when boys became men, they would go out into the wild and not eat or drink and see no one for several days when they were done, they would get a sign from a "spirit animal" who from then on, would guide their lives. This sign is meant to come from their medicine bag, which is a bag worn around the mans neck. This bag contained special religious importance, this bag is buried with the man, unopened.
Who were the Plain Indians?
The Plain Indians aren't all the same. There are 30 different tribes living on the Great Plains. They are separated into different tribes. Each tribe has its own language. None of the tribe's history was written down. Each tribe had original decorations for their leather shoes, AKA moccasins, bags, AKA parfleches, saddles and tipis which is a tent like home. They also had similarities such as they all hunted Buffalo (which is their food supply), and some of them would grow crops.
The importance of the buffalo.
The life of the Lakota people was based around the Buffalo. In the 1800's, there are more or less 60 million buffalo's on the plains. They kill plenty, which is just enough to make clothes and feed themselves. The hunter would catch up with the Buffalo on his horse, then they would launch their arrow. They would next skin the buffalo and cut it up.
Sources
The class booklets!