railroad

• The Pacific Railroad Act (1862) 'extinguished' any Plains Indians rights to land along the railroad routes and gave that land to the railroad companies to sell to settlers
• The railroad reduced the amount of land left for the buffalo to graze on because settlers put up barbed wire fences around their land. The railroads also built fences along the sides of the railroad which prevented migration
• tribes such as the Omaha, Santee Sioux and Winnebago tribes signed treaties to live on reservations and leave the plains
• The Northern Pacific Railroad ran through land where tens of thousands IP lived (Dakota, Montana, Washington). Construction began in 1870. The railroad was given 40 million acres of land grants to sell to settlers. This triggered conflict that grew into the Great Sioux War
• Bad for the IP