Native Americans | Spike 150
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Native Americans

Native Americans
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The building of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads harmed and displaced many Native American tribes–including the Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Shoshone, and Paiute, to name a few–through altering natural resources or by the taking of native lands. Predominantly, in an effort to defend their independence and their way of life, Native Americans resisted the railroad’s construction. There were, however, tribes that worked on or offered support for its construction. During the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad (1869-2019), Spike150 acknowledges the suffering of those Native Americans displaced in the building of this railroad.

Continue Your Student's Discovery

  • Indigenous Encounters with the Transcontinental Railroad

    This lesson focuses on the Indigenous peoples who lived along the transcontinental railroad route from Nebraska to Utah, and the different ways these groups interacted with railroad builders, the U.S. Army, and settlers.

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  • Native Rumors

    Students will read primary documents by Gen. James F. Rusling, a man who traveled the West in 1866.

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Additional Questions and Discussions for Your Students

  • Why did some Native American tribes see the railroad as a positive development while others resisted it?
  • What were some of the impacts on wildlife
  • If you had to live off the land in the late 1860s what would you grow or hunt?

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