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After the Civil War, many settlers from the East moved west, the new frontier during the 1860-1890 period. Among those settlers were farmers, miners, railroad builders, and cattlemen who all wanted the rich, vast lands of the West. The movement west occurred because of the following reasons: the railroad companies wanted land to establish railways from the East to the West, farmers felt that the Western land would make them rich, miners wanted the land …

…government decided to establish the Dawes Act of 1887. This act reflected the forced-civilizations views of reformers. It dissolved the tribe's land entities and wiped out the tribal holdings of their land. But it did give Indians 160 acres per family. If they acted like "good white settlers," they could get full title of their land holding and citizenship in 25 years. This act was terrible for the Indians because it tried to destroy their important cultural ways.