1. Closing the West and the End of Native American Power
EQ: What effect does population growth have on a region?

2. Railroads & Steel Railroads were the biggest customers of steel
Railroads expanded rapidly after 1870, which created a huge increase in demand for steel
Steel companies began to create cheap, efficient methods to mass produce steel rails for railroad tracks, making it more affordable

3. Railroads & Immigrants
Irish laborers constructed rail routes from the East
Chinese laborers constructed rail routes from the West
On May 10, 1869 in Promontory, Utah, the East & West were connected by the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

4. Golden Spike Ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah 1869

5. Comparing Immigrant Workers
Irish Railroad Workers
Chinese Railroad Workers
Paid $50 a month
Midwestern Plains
Attacks from Native Americans
Paid $30 a month
Sierra Mountains
Dangerous conditions
Landslides
TNT blasts
Heavy snowfalls

6. The Homestead Act of 1862
Granted 160 acres of land to heads of households for a $10 filing fee
Encouraged white settlers to move west

7. Expansion Brings Conflict
Competition between white settlers and Native Americans for land increased
Led to a series of brutal wars between the Plains Native Americans and the U.S. government

8. Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
The U.S. government said that the Plains Native Americans would get land in the Black Hills of the Dakotas if they stopped attacking Americans
7 years later, in 1875, Gold was discovered in the Black Hills
American miners and the U.S. gov’t broke the treaty and tried to force Native Americans to move once again.
Warfare was renewed

9. Great Sioux War of
Fighting between Native Americans and U.S. Army
Natives fighting to protect their promised land
U.S. fighting to protect their economic interests

10. The Great Sioux War ended with the Battle of Little Big Horn
Great Sioux War of
The Great Sioux War ended with the Battle of Little Big Horn
The Natives were led by Sitting Bull, the great leader of the Lakota Plains Native Americans
Many of the soldiers in the U.S. 7th cavalry were killed

11. US responded by killing millions of buffalo
Native Americans’ main source of food, clothing, and shelter
Eventually, the Plains Native Americans were forced to live on reservations

12. Attempt to “Americanize” the Native Americans
Dawe’s Act 1887
Attempt to “Americanize” the Native Americans
This law broke up Native American reservations. It gave land to individuals and sold some to settlers.
Whites took 2/3 of the land set aside for Native Americans
Natives suffered poverty and disease

13. Ghost Dance

14. Wounded Knee
U.S. troops were sent to relocate and disarm a large group of Sioux Native Americans
300 Native Americans were killed
Ended the wars between Native Americans and the U.S. gov’t
Native American power in the U.S. was officially destroyed

15. Native American Reservations Today
5.2 million Native Americans
Living conditions on the reservations have been cited as "comparable to Third World“ conditions
Households are overcrowded and earn only social security, disability or veteran's income
4 to 8 out of 10 adults on reservations are unemployed
38% to 63% of Native Americans live below the poverty line (compared to 28% of Americans)
90,000 homeless or underhoused Native American families

16. 30% of Native housing is overcrowded
Less than 50% of housing is connected to a public sewer
About 40% of on-reservation housing is considered inadequate and the wait list for tribal housing is usually three years or more

17. Native American Health
36% of Natives with heart disease will die before age 65 compared to 15% of Caucasians
177% more likely to die from diabetes
500% are more likely to die from tuberculosis
Infant death rates are 60% higher than for Caucasians
82% are more likely to die from suicide
Life expectancy ~50 years compared to ~80 years in U.S.