The American West Flashcards
What conditions lured people to migrate to the west
Weather, crop failure crowding attraction to gold and adventure
How can the mining attraction of the west be compared to a “get rich quick” scheme
They would find pieces of gold
Explain why the mining industry was taken over by large corporations
Companies who could afford the mining equipment took over because the remaining minerals were still deep in the ground
Describe why the cattle bonanza ended in the mid 1800s
Extreme weather and the invention of barbed wire
Explain why the buffalo was so important to the native Americans of the Great Plains
Had everything they needed
Where did the up and cp begin and end
Cp Sacramento to Utah
Up Omaha to Utah
Why did the Union Pacific cover more mikes than the central p
Much of the land they had to cover was grassland etc making it easier
What impact did the transcontinental railroad have on the United States
On bringing in goods from farther away places made it easier
Pacific railway acts
Railways with the union and central
Morrill land grant act
Act of congress granting each state 30,000 acres of land for each member it had in congress. Giving 90% to colleges
Land speculator
Buys are large amount of land for a small amount of money and has no intention of using the land
Homestead act
A law passed in the 1860s that offered up to 160 acres of public land to any head of a family who paid a registration fee on the land for five years
Great Plains
Grassland prairie region of North America
Reservation
An area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the us bureau of Indian affairs
Little big horn
Occurred in 1876 and took place between the us cavalry and northern tribe Indians
Ghost dance
Religious ceremony that started in the 1870s
Massacre at wounded knee
1890 resulted in 300 deaths. It was the last major battle of the Indian wars of the late 19th century
Assimilation
A person or persons acquire the social and physchological characteristics of a group
Dawes act
1887 authorized the president of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians
Long drive
High meat prices in eastern cities attracted a variety of entrepreneurs and prompted cattlemen to search for a way to bring them to market
Homesteader
A track of land acquired under the homestead act
Soddie
A house built of sod
Dry farming
Planting drought resistant crops
Bonanza farm
Large farms established in the western us
