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Discovery of gold in California
The discovery of gold in California caused the first flood of newcomers to come to the west. -
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged farming on the Great Plains by offering 160 acres of public land free any family that settled on it for 5 years. -
The First Transcontinental Railroad is Completed
The first transcontinental railroad is completed. The railroad rapidly affects the ease of western settlement, shortening the journey from coast to coast, which took six to eight months by wagon, to a mere one week's trip. -
The Battle of Little Bighorn
Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his men are wiped out by Sioux forces while attempting to control the Great Plains and confine all Indians to reservations. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
Political pressure from western states pushed congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited futher immigration to the United States by Chinese laborers. -
Arizona is admitted into the Union
Arizona, the last of the 48 contiguous United States, is admitted to the Union, completing the century-long process of conquering and organizing the American West. -
The Dawes Severalty Act is Passed
The Dawes Act calls for the breakup of the reservations and the treatment of Indians as individuals rather than tribes. It provides for the distribution of 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land to any Indian who accepted the act's terms, who would then become a US citizen in 25 years. The act is intended to help the Indians to integrate into white society, but in reality helps to create a class of federally dependent Indians -
The Massacre at Wounded Knee
US Army troops massacre 300 Indians, including seven children. -
The Oklahoma territory is settled
The Oklahoma territory, once set aside for Native Americans, becomes open for settlement in 1889. -
Buffalo herds have been wiped out
By the 1900s, the buffalo had been almost wiped out, and the western frontier has been modernized.
