Ellis Island
Between 1905 and 1914, an average of one million immigrants per year arrived in the United States. Immigration officials reviewed about 5,000 immigrants per day during peak times at Ellis Island. Two-thirds of those individuals emigrated from eastern, southern and central Europe. The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed. The all-time daily high occurred on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 immigrants arrived. After the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which greatly restricted immigration and allowed processing at overseas embassies, the only immigrants to pass through the station were those who had problems with their immigration paperwork, displaced persons, and war refugees. Today, over 100 million Americans—about one-third to 40% of the population of the United States—can trace their ancestry to immigrants who arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country.
Fort Ellis
Fort Ellis was an important post during the prominent Indian Wars of the 19th century as well as a base of operations for exploring the region now known as Yellowstone National Park. In January 1870 Major Eugene M. Baker led elements of the Second Cavalry against elements of the Piegan tribe, culminating in the Marias Massacre on the Marias River in Montana. In April 1876 Colonel John Gibbon departed Fort Ellis with 400 infantry and cavalry as the "Montana Column" during the summer campaign of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77. Troops from Fort Ellis also participated in the Nez Perce War in 1877.