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Western Frontier
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Frontier | Unsettled or sparsely settled area of the country occupied mostly by Native Americans |
| Great Plains | The area from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains |
| Comstock Lode | Location of a mine of valuable minerals next to Virginia City, Nevada |
| Boomtown | A town that has a sudden burst of economic or population growth |
| Ghost Town | A once thriving community in which of the population has left |
| Vigilantes | People that took the law into their own hands due to lack of law enforcement |
| Exodusters | Freed slaves that fled the South after Reconstruction and settled in the West |
| Wyoming | The first state to give women the right to vote |
| Transcontinental Railroad | A railroad that would span the continent; Connected the East with the West |
| Union Pacific | Railroad company that began in Omaha and built 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 cattle to the cow towns along the railroads |
| Open Range | Unfenced land on the Great Plains where 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 government in 1887 |
| Chief Joseph | Chief of the Nez Perce tribe; Led them in a 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 natives to assimilate by making them farmers and sending native children to boarding schools in the East |
| Buffalo Soldiers | Regiment of African American cavalry that gained fame 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 up from the ground |
Created by:
Brandon_Otto
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