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The west vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| frontier | unsettled or sparsely settled area of the country occupied mostly by the native americans |
| great plains | the area from the missouri river to the rocky mountains |
| comstock lode | location of the mine of valuable minerals next to virginia city, nevada |
| ghost town | a once thriving community in which the population has left |
| vigilantes | people that took the law into their own hands due to the lack of law enforcement |
| exodusters | freed slaves that fled the south after the reconstruction and settled in the west |
| wyoming | the first state to give a women the right to vote |
| transcontinental railroad | a railroad that would span the continental connected the east with the west |
| union pacific | railroad company that began in omaha and build track going west on the great plains |
| central pacific | railroad company that started in california and went east, blasting through the sierra nevada mountains |
| golden spike | event in which the union pacific and central pacific met in promontory summit, utah in 1869; completed the first transcontinental railroad |
| long drive | a 2-3 month trip in which cowboys led the cattle to the cow towns along the railroad |
| open range | unfenced land on the great plains in which cattle were allowed to graze |
| vaquero | the first cowboys that came from mexico and settled in the southwest |
| cowhand | cowboys that took the cattle from texas to the railroads on the great plains |
| sitting bull | sioux chief and medicine man that led native forces at the battle of little bighorn |
| crazy horse | sioux chief and warrior that fought at the battle of little bighorn and was known for his bravery |
| geronimo | apache chief that fought mexican and US forces in the southwest, surrendered to the us gov't in 1887 |
| chief joseph | chief of nez perce tribe; led them in daring escape to canada fighting off the us army |
| reservation | an area of land set aside for native americans to live on |
| battle of little bighorn | battle in which the US 7th cavalry was massacred by sioux, cheyenne, and arapaho warriors |
| george custer | leader of the us 7th cavalry known for fighting native americans; was defeated and killed at the battle of little bighorn |
| wounded knee | event in which a group of US soldiers massacred a camp of 300 sioux men, women, and children in 1890; marked the end of all armed resistance in the west |
| dawes act | US law that forced the natives to assimilate by making them farmers and sending native children to boarding schools in the east |
| buffalo soliders | regiment of african american cavalry that gained fame by fighting native americans in the west |
| barbed wire | invented by joseph glidden; it was cheap and allowed homesteaders to fence in their property; helped to close the open range to cattle grazing |
| homestead act | federal law passed in 1862 to encourage americans and immigrants to settle the west; gave free land to anyone that would live on it for 5 years |
| sodbusters | farmers that lived on the great plains; built their homes out of sod, which is the top layer of prairie soil thickly packed with grass roots |
| windmills | technology that helped homesteaders adapt to the great plains; pumped water from the ground |
| boomtown | a town that has a sudden burst of economic or population growth |
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sloan_day
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