The Railroads
What is a land grant?
Land given to a railroad company by the government to help finance the building of the railroad.
What is a nomad?
Someone who regularly travels great distances, often following a food source
The larger "bonanza farms" frequently ended up being controlled by...?
corporations
What was the open range?
A large area of government-owned grassland where ranchers could graze their cattle for free.
What were vigilance committees?
Groups of citizens in boomtowns who tried to enforce the law and punish criminals.
Name the two companies created by the Pacific Railway Act.
The Union Pacific and The Central Pacific.
What did the Indian Peace Commission do?
Created two large reservations for the Plains Indians to move to.
Give two reasons why farms started to fail in the 1880s and 90s?
Draught turned the soil to dust, prices fell due to foreign competition and overproduction at home
The range wars were conflicts between ranchers and who else?
Homesteaders, sheepherders
What treaty resulted in the United States containing many Spanish speaking citizens?
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
What is a robber-baron?
A person who becomes rich by using dishonest business tactics
What was the cause of the Dakota Sioux uprising?
The government had promised to pay the Dakota annuities if they moved to reservations, but the money often did not come.
Why was the Great Plains known as "The Great American Desert"?
Extreme weather, very little water, dry grasslands with few trees
Why was the Texas Longhorn important to ranching in the West?
Most cattle could not survive on the tough grasslands of the Great Plains.
What is a barrio?
A neighborhood where Hispanic culture is dominant.
Why did the railroads make standard time zones necessary?
Trains were going between different cities quickly and frequently, so it had to be the same time in each place in order for the schedule to work
What was the cause of the tragedy at Wounded Knee?
The government banned the Ghost Dance movement
What was the main point of the Homestead Act?
Settlers could get very cheap land from the government to start a farm.
How were the railroads related to the long drive?
The cowboys were driving the cattle to railroad stations to be shipped east.
What does it mean for a town to go bust?
The mine near the town is used up so there is no longer any way to make money there. The population decreases quickly.
Describe what happened in the Credit Mobilier scandal.
Stockholders in the Union Pacific railroad set up a separate construction company. They got rich paying railroad money to their other company. Bribed members of Congress for additional land grants. Scandal went public but no one was punished.
What did the Dawes Act do?
Divided Native American Reservations into individual allotments in order to assimilate the Native Americans by making them independent farmers and ranchers. The N-As could become citizens after living independently on the land for 25 years.
Why were people concerned about the closing of the frontier?
The west had been a place to go and make a new start. With all of the land now taken up, that opportunity no longer existed.
Explain the importance of barbed wire
Barbed wire allowed someone to quickly and inexpensively fence in a piece of land. Made it possible to divide the open range into private parcels.
How did the creation of the railroads enable the mining industry in the west?
The railroads allowed the miners to quickly transport what they mined to people who would buy it.