Sonoran Desert's Casa Grande National Monument was the country's first prevesered prehistoric structure. Protected by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892, it is estimated to have been built in 1350.
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Coolidge, Arizona
Fifteen hundred miles north and five hundred years later, the Northwest Fur Company built Fort Union trading post on the Great Plains near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. Assiniboine and other Plains Indians traded furs at the post.
Tee pees, Ft. Union National Historic Park, North Dakota
Two hundred years later and two hundred miles east, one of the continent's largest powwows is held at United Tribes Technical College near Bismarck, North Dakota.
Dancers and Drummers, United Tribes Powwow, Bismarck, ND
A week before the U.S. centennial, Gen. George Armstrong Custer, an egomaniac, racist who wanted to become U.S. President was killed at Little Big Horn battle. Today, at many National Park Service sites with Native history employ Native rangers to recount their history.
Ranger, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Historic Park, Montana