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westward expansion
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| california gold rush | period where thousands of people went west to search for gold |
| cattle drive | when cowboys guided huge herds of cattle north to new railroad lines extending across the great plains |
| pony express | business that delivered mail from missouri to california in just ten days |
| telegraph | invention that sent messages along wires using electricity |
| samuel B. morse | developed a way to send telegraph messages |
| transcontinential railroad | A railroad across the continent linking the eastern united states to the western united states |
| union pacific | began building train track west from omaha, most workers were irish immigrants |
| central pacific | began building train track east from Sacramento, California most workers were chinese immigrants |
| promontory point | place in utah where the union pacific met the centeral pacific and connected the transcontinental railroad |
| chinese immigrants | made up almost 80% of he central pacific workers |
| Red cloud | told union pacific workers they were scaring aware the buffalo |
| Gen. William Tecumsah Sherman | warned the native americans that nothing would stop the building of the railroads |
| Homestead act of 1862 | law that offered free land to American Citizens and immigrants who were willing to start new farms on the great plains. |
| homesteaders | settlers who claimed land through the homestead Act |
| sod house (soddy) | houses made from sod (soil) on the great plains |
| sodbusters | the name for farmers on the great plains |
| pioneers | new settlers |
| exodusters | thousands of African American pioneers who moved to the great plains and started communities |
| Nicodemus, Kansas | A successful community started by exodusters |
| technology | the use of new ideas to make tools that improve people¨ lives |
| entrepreneur | A person who starts anew business hoping to make a profit |
| levi strauss | began making pants out of blue denim that were sturdy and didn¨t tear -the irst blue jeans |
| reservation | area of land set aside for Native Americans |
| sitting bull | chief of the lakota tribe back in the black hills of south dakota |
| col. George Custer | led the 7th cavalry on a mission to defeat the defeat the Lakota and force them onto a new reservation |
| battle of the little bighorn | battle in witch crazy horse helped lead the Lakota to victory against the U.S. forces |
| chief Joseph | A Nez perce¨ chief who led his people to the canadian border to avoid moving to a reservation |