unit 4 notes 2
TRANSCRIPT
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