Who was the Sioux leader who fought at Little Bighorn and resisted U.S. control?
Sitting Bull
What 1862 law gave railroad companies land and loans to help build the first transcontinental railroad?
Pacific Railway Act
Why did settlers and miners rush west during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush and Comstock Lode?
To find gold and silver
What hardy breed of cattle, developed in Texas, survived on little water and grass?
Texas Longhorns
What term describes towns that grew quickly near mines during gold and silver rushes?
Boomtowns
What 1864 attack in Colorado killed about 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho, many of them women and children?
Sand Creek Massacre
What 1862 law gave settlers 160 acres of free land if they farmed it for five years?
Homestead Act
What nickname was given to African Americans who moved west after the Civil War to escape racism?
Exodusters
Who were the workers that managed cattle herds on the open range?
Cowboys
What 1858–59 gold rush in present-day Colorado drew thousands of settlers west?
Pikes Peak Gold Rush
What 1890 massacre marked the end of Native armed resistance in the Plains?
Wounded Knee
What 1862 law gave land to states to build colleges teaching agriculture and mechanical skills?
Morill Act
Who encouraged African Americans to move west to Kansas and became known as the “Father of the Exodus”?
Benjamin Singleton
What was Large areas of unfenced land where cattle grazed freely before fencing and private property rules.
Open Range
What 1859 silver discovery in Nevada caused a mining boom and created Virginia City?
Comstock Lode
What religious movement, started by Wovoka, promised the return of buffalo and ancestors
Ghost Dance
What 1887 law broke up tribal lands into family farms to force Native Americans to adopt European-American farming culture?
Dawes Act
Which author wrote about life on the Great Plains in novels
Willa Cather
What invention by Joseph Glidden ended the open range and led to range wars?
Barbed Wire
What mining method used high-pressure water jets to blast hillsides but caused flooding and destroyed farmland?
Hydraulic Mining
Who was the Cheyenne chief that raised a U.S. flag at Sand Creek to signal peace, but was still attacked?
Chief Black Kettle
What federal department was created in 1862 to support farmers with research, education, and services?
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Why was the U.S. purchase of Alaska in 1867 called “Seward’s Folly”?
Many Americans thought the land was useless frozen wilderness, though it later proved valuable for resources.
Why was the work of cowboys often dangerous and difficult?
They faced stampedes, river crossings, extreme weather, long hours, and low pay.
Why did small miners often lose out to big mining companies by the 1880s?
Big companies had the equipment and capital to mine efficiently, while small miners couldn’t compete.