Settling on the Great Plains

Unit 4- The West

I. Assimilation- Native Americans would give up their way of life and embrace white cultureDawes Act- passes in 1887 to

“Americanize” NABroke up reservations and gave pieces

of land to familiesBuffalo almost become extinct due to fur

traders

II. Battle of Wounded Knee- ended Indian warsUS troops rounded up 350 starving

Sioux (Sitting Bull) and brought them to Wounded Knee CreekSoldiers opened fire, killing 300-

corpses left to freeze

III. Settlers move west to farmA. Transcontinental Railroad- built

across the US B. Homestead Act- 160 acres of land

to any family that wanted to move to the Great Plains

1. Exodusters- Blacks that moved from the South to Kansas

2. Sooners- People that moved to Oklahoma (many moved sooner than gov’t intended)

IV. Closing of the FrontierA. Yellowstone National Park (1872)

First national park, 3,500 acres (MT, WY, ID)

B. Land no longer given away by 1890

V. Settlers face hardships on the Great PlainsA. Droughts, floods, fires, blizzards,

locusts, raids by outlaws or Indians

B. Few trees to build houses1. Dugout- Made by digging out the

side of a hill2. Soddy- Made by stacking sod or

prairie turf