What were the physical features
and climate like in the Great Plains
during West Migration?
Flat lands
Low rainfall
Erosion
Dust storms
What are the five reasons for
Westward Expansion?
Land
Adventure
Railroad
Gold
Escape discrimination
Windmill
Used to pump water out of the
ground
Barbed Wire
Types of fence used to protect crops
from cattle.
Sod House
Shelters made of dirt and grass
bricks
Reaper
Used to harvest wheat
Steel Plow
Used to dig deeply into the hard
soil
Dry Farming
Planting seeds deep in the soil
where it was still moist
Wheat Farming
Grown on the Great Plains because
it can survive with limited amounts
of water
Transcontinental Railroad
California
• Central Pacific
• Chinese workers
Nebraska
• Union Pacific
• Irish workers
Where did the Transcontinental
Railroad meet?
Promontory Point, Utah
General Custer
• Fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn
• Known as Custer’s Last Stand
• Battle between Lakota Sioux and U.S. Army
Geronimo
• Apache Chief
• Led raids against US Army
• Was the last American Indian to formally
surrender
Chief Joseph
“I am tired of fighting…from where the
sun now stands, I will fight no more
forever.”
• Fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn
Battle of Wounded Knee
Ghost Dance
• Sioux tribe started the Ghost Dance
• Fighting broke out
– Sitting Bull killed
Reservation
Native American tribes forced off their
own land
Assimilation
The US government’s attempt to
change American Indians to fit into US
culture
What are the negative effects on
American Indians during Westward
Expansion
• Reduced buffalo population
• Forced lifestyle changes
• War & disease