The American West: Timeline
1) Take some sugar paper or A3 (it will take more than 1 sheet!) and draw a timeline like the one
below:
1825
1840
The Plains Indians
1850
Early Settlers 3Ms
1890
Homesteaders
Law & Order
Railroads &
Cowboys
Conflict &
Destruction
2) Add the following key terms around your timeline: The Plains Indians - Buffalo, Tipi, Horses, Land,
Warfare, Religion, Polygamy, Exposure, Nation, Tribe, band, Chief, Council, Warrior Society. Early settlers (3Ms) –
Migrants, Wagon Trains & problems, Push factors, Pull Factors, Economic depression, overcrowding, religious
persecution, Mountain men’s stories. Miners, 49ers, Californian Gold Rush, Mining towns, lawlessness, racial
violence. Mormons, Push factors for Mormon move west, Pull factors for Mormon move west, Pioneer Bands,
Wagon Trains, Lieutenants, Winter Quarters, the Great Salt Lake, irrigation ditches, shared land & water, Perpetual
Emigration Fund. The Homesteaders – Manifest Destiny, Railroads, The Homestead Act 1862, The Timber Culture
Act 1873, The Desert Land Act 1875, Dry Farming, Windmills/pumps, Sod Houses, Barbed Wire, Buffalo chips, Turkey
Red Wheat, Sodbuster Plough, Weather, Grasshoppers, Women, Communities. Law and Order – Federal Law
Enforcement, US Marshals, Deputy Marshals, Judges, Local Law Enforcement, Town Marshals, Sheriffs, Private Law
Enforcement, Pinkerton Detective Agency, Texas Rangers, Vigilantes, Claim Jumping, Bank Robbery, Cattle Rustling,
Horse theft, Fence cutting, Murder, Racial attacks. Railroads – Manifest Destiny, Law and Order, Jobs, Trade,
Transcontinental, Terrain, Immigrant Workers, Working Conditions. Cowboys & Cattlemen – Texas Long horn, Civil
War, Cattle Drive, Long Drive, Cow Towns, Open Range Ranches, Cowboys. Conflict on the Plains – Permanent Indian
Frontier, Exterminators, Negotiators, Fort Laramie Treaty (1851), Little Crow’s War (1862), Sand Creek Massacre
(1864), Red Cloud’s War (1865), Second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), Discovery of gold in the Black Hills (1874), The
Great Sioux War (1874-1877), Battle of Little Big Horn & its results (1876). Destruction of Native American way of
life – Role of the US Army, Role of the US Government, The Railroads, Battle of Wounded Knee (1890), Ghost Dance,
Reservations, Indian Agents, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Buffalo hunting
3) Add the following key names around your timeline: 3Ms -Donner Party, Sagar Family, Jim Bridger,
Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, Deseret, Utah. Law and Order – Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp,
The Johnson County Wars, Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Jim Averill, Ella Watson, Nate Champion. Railroads
– Union Pacific, Central Pacific. Cowboys and Cattlemen – Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving, Jospeh McCoy, Abilene,
John Iliff. Conflict on the Plains – Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, General Custer. Destruction of Native
American way of life – Dawes Act (1887), Oklahoma Land Race (1889)
4) Add notes around your key terms and names. Try to add 3 or more facts around each term/name