Red
Why was the transcontinental railroad built?
A) to transport people, crops, and cattle
B) Because people wanted to ride on trains
C) To destroy the land and ruin habitats
D) To keep all Americans in the East
A) To transport people, crops, and cattle
How did the Transcontinental Railroad change the cattle industry?
A) The cattle was able to roam free
B) Ranchers decided to move back to the East
C) Cattle from the West was shipped by train to meat-packing plants in the East
D) There was competition between ranchers in the East and the West which caused problems
C) Cattle from the West was shipped by train to meat-packing plants in the East
What is a pioneer?
A person who built a home on the edge of the wilderness
What is a cattle drive?
The movement by cowboys of large herds of cattle from grazing areas to towns where they could be shipped to market.
What is irrigation?
The use of technology to bring water to crops.
Describe the Homestead Act.
It passed in 1862 under Abraham Lincoln. Homesteaders received 160 acres of land for $18.00. They had to build a house within 6 months and live there for 5 years.
How did the settlers adapt to the dry environment for farming?
Irrigation stystems
What is Manifest Destiny?
The idea that the U.S. had the right to add territory until it reached the Pacific Ocean
What is a homesteader?
A person who migrated to the west to take advantage of the Homestead Act
What is dry farming?
A method of crop production in which moisture is conserved in the soil during dry weather.
Which state's population exponentially grew after the Gold Rush?
California
True or False
The climate and landscape of the West made it easier for people to farm crops.
False, harder. Droughts killed crops and the soil was hard to plow.
What does "transcontinental" mean in the term transcontinental railroad
It means a railroad that spans an entire continent
What is a drought?
A period of low or no rain
True or False
The Homestead Act was passed in 1872
False, 1862
How did the climate in the West make it difficult to farm the land?
Hot summers led to droughts
Blizzards in the winter
How did building the railroad cause a change to the physical landscape (the Earth and its features?
Blowing up hills/mountains
Cutting down trees
What was the Gold Rush?
The quick movement of people to a place where gold has been discovered. It occurred in California.
What is a sodbuster?
Nickname given to a person who settled on the Great Plains and had to break up the thicky rooted grass to build a home and plant crops
Explain why people wanted to move West.
More land for farming
More space
More resources
Gold and other minerals
Lumber from trees