WESTWARD EXPANSION AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

Question 1

Was California the only place that had a gold rush? if not what other States found gold and silver?

Answer 1

Nevada, Utah, and Colorado

Question 2

What was the best way to get rich back in those days?was it from relocating to places where gold and silver was been discovered or from selling things to the miners?

Answer 2

Selling things to the miners

Question 3

True or False:

Were things dangerous and disorganized back in those days of the Mining gold rush?

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The gold rush didn’t last long and people would move on to the next one. Some of these towns stayed alive and became cities that we know today, others slowly died out and became?

Answer 4

Ghost towns.

Question 5

When ordinary citizens pursue and punish people for their crimes instead of waiting for the police or courts to do it for them is called?

Answer 5

Vigilante justice

Question 6

In what STATE did the first railroad system that connected the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the U.S. Railroads that went halfway across the country ended.

Answer 6

Nebraska

Question 7

What is the name of the first railroad system to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the U.S. Railroads?

Answer 7

Transcontinental Railroad

Question 8

To finish the Transcontinental Railroad system the government paid two companies to finish the job. Name the two companies?

Answer 8

Tthe Union Pacific and the Central Pacific.

Question 9

Who did the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific employed to finish the job?

Answer 9

Immigrants especially Chinese and Irish.

Question 10

Did the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific use any machines to finish the job? and if not what did they use?

Answer 10

No machines, work was done by hand.

Question 11

What shifts (hours and days) did the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific worked?

Answer 11

6 days a week, 12 hours a day.

Question 12

What contributed to the difficulty of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad work?

Answer 12

1. Using dynamite
2. Mountains - cold winters and hot summers
   3 Attacks from Native Americans

Question 13

The job was finally completed when the two companies met at Promontory Point in what state?

Answer 13

in the State of Utah.

Question 14

How did the railroad help the people back then?

Answer 14

1. it made travel easier
2. getting supplies faster
   3, as results towns and cities in the west grew quickly!

Question 15

Even the Transcontinental Railroad didn’t reach many places. So cattle ranchers figured out that if they couldn’t get a train to their cattle… what did they do?

Answer 15

They would move their cattle to the train.

Question 16

Established cattle trails developed, like the Chisholm Trail which ran from which state to which state?

Answer 16

Texas to (Abilene, Kansas).

Question 17

What was the name of an established cattle trail back those days?

Answer 17

Chisholm Trail

Question 18

Why was it that back in those days the NEED for cowboys disappeared?

Answer 18

1. More fences were being built,
2. farms claimed land,
3. Ranchers themselves moved closer to railroads.

Question 19

Before the Civil war why did people skipped over the Great Plains in the middle to settle in California and Oregon?

Answer 19

California and Oregon were more appealing places to settle.

Question 20

After the Civil war why did people started changing their minds about settling in the Great Plains?

Answer 20

1. Good weather
2. Cheap or free land
   and thats what encourage them to come.

Question 21

What were FIVE challenges of settling on the Great Plains?

Answer 21

1. No trees to build
2. Had to travel long distances for water
3. No neighbors
4. NATURAL DISASTERS like big storms
5. Grasshopper swarms

Question 22

Three inventions helped the settlers of the Great plains?

Answer 22

1. Steel plow
2. barbed wire
3. Method called dry farming

Question 23

The government wanted to encourage people to move to the Great Plains area. They offered 160 acres of free land to immigrant and citizens who would stay and farm on it for at least 5 years.

Answer 23

Homestead Act

Question 24

Why did people did not take advantage of the Homestead Act?

Answer 24

Poor people could not afford farm equipment, animals, or building supplies.

Question 25

Outlaws seem daring and smart like Robin Hood when in reality they were NOT?

Answer 25

Billy the Kid and Jesse James

Question 26

True or False

The idea of the Wild West was created mostly to entertain people in eastern cities?

Answer 26

TRUE

Question 27

What country did Alaska belong to before it became part of the US?

Answer 27

Russia

Question 28

How much did Russia ask for Alaska?

Answer 28

The Russian Czar asked 5 million dollars

Question 29

Name of the person in the US in charge of the transaction of buying Alaska from Russia?

Answer 29

William Seward.

Question 30

Most people thought he was crazy to agree to buy Alaska. They started calling the decision what?

Answer 30

Alaska“Seward’s Folly” or “mistake.”

Question 31

With more people moving west and building cities and farms across the Great Plains, all that grass made raising cattle very easy, until it was time to ship them to the city to be sold what is this called?

Answer 31

Cattle Drives