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SS Ch. 3 West. Exp.
Westward Expansion vocabulary: 5th Grade
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| transcontinental railroad | A railroad that crosses a continent. The first in the US was completed in 1869. Many Native American groups viewed this railroad, and others like it, as a threat. |
| telegraph | Device that sends electronic messages through a wire. Many Native American tribes disliked having these wires and poles crossing their lands. |
| pioneer | An early settler in an area; the first settler in an area. |
| Homestead Act | A law signed by President Lincoln in 1862 which offered free land (for a minimal registration fee) on the Great Plains to people willing to live on and work on the land for five years. |
| homesteader | A settler who claimed free land on the Great Plains. |
| sodbuster | Nickname for Great Plains farmers who had to cut ("bust") through sod (thick grass with tangled roots) in order to farm. |
| exoduster | African-American pioneers who moved to the Great Plains in the years after the Civil War. |
| technology | The use of any tool that helps improve people's lives. |
| cattle drive | Thw way cowboys moved large herds of cattle from Texas to railroads in the late 1800s. Cattle were worth much more in markets of the East. |
| gold rush | The sudden movement ("rush") to an area where gold was discovered. These rushes brought many settlers to the West. |
| entrepreneur | A person who starts a new business with hopes of making a profit. Many miners and cowboys found ways of making when mining and the need for cowboys decreased. |
| reservation | Land set aside by the US government on which Native Americans were forced to settle. |
| Battle of Little Bighorn | Lakota (Sioux) victory over the US Army in 1876. General Custer and his troops were killed at this battle. |
| Pony Express | Mail delivery service using a relay of horses and riders to deliver mail across the Great Plains to the Western states. While very famous, this business lasted only 18 months. |
| buffalo | A large mammal of the Great Plains region. The decline of this animal's population greatly hurt Native American tribes. |
| steel plows | A technology that helped Great Plains farmers cut through thick sod (grass). |
| barbed wire | Used for fences, this technology helped keep cattle off of farmers' fields. |
| windmills | This older technology was used water crops by pumping water from under the Great Plains. |
| Battle of Wounded Knee | This 1890 battle was the last major battle between Native American groups and the US government. |
| Central Pacific | A railroad company that constructed the western portion of the transcontinental railroad. Many of its workers were Chinese immigrants. |
| Union Pacific | This railroad company built from Missouri heading west. It often conflicted with the Plains Indians. Some of its workers were immigrants, especially from Ireland and Germany. |
Created by:
briansegool
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