The document summarizes key events of the American West in the late 19th century. It discusses the assimilation of Native Americans through the Dawes Act, the near extinction of buffalo by fur traders, and the Wounded Knee massacre that ended the Indian wars. It also outlines how the transcontinental railroad and Homestead Act encouraged settlers to move west to farm the Great Plains, and mentions the hardships settlers faced including droughts, blizzards, and attacks while the frontier closed in the 1890s.

1. Unit 4- The West

2.  I. Assimilation- Native Americans would give up
their way of life and embrace white culture
 Dawes Act- passes in 1887 to “Americanize” NA
 Broke up reservations and gave pieces of land
to families
 Buffalo almost become extinct due to fur traders

3.  II. Battle of Wounded Knee- ended Indian wars
 US troops rounded up 350 starving Sioux
(Sitting Bull) and brought them to Wounded
Knee Creek
 Soldiers opened fire, killing 300- corpses left
to freeze

4.  III. Settlers move west to farm
 A. Transcontinental Railroad- built across the
US
 B. Homestead Act- 160 acres of land to any
family that wanted to move to the Great Plains

5.  1. Exodusters- Blacks that moved from the
South to Kansas
 2. Sooners- People that moved to Oklahoma
(many moved sooner than gov’t intended)

6.  IV. Closing of the Frontier
 A. Yellowstone National Park (1872)
 First national park, 3,500 acres (MT, WY, ID)
 B. Land no longer given away by 1890

7.  V. Settlers face hardships on the Great Plains
 A. Droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locusts,
raids by outlaws or Indians

8.  B. Few trees to build houses
 1. Dugout- Made by digging out the side of a
hill
 2. Soddy- Made by stacking sod or prairie turf