History Ch. 11
Some people believed that the existence of unoccupied land at the frontier had provided a ________, the idea that Americans could always make a fresh start
"Safety-value of social discontent"
Between 1867 and 1871, cowboys drove ________ up the Chisholm trail
1.5 million cattle
______ of the Cherokee nation died on the ____
1/3, trail of tears
A homesteader could claim up to ________ acres of public land and could receive _______ to that land after living there 5 years
160, title
Over night, virginia city, nevada went from a town of ______ to almost ________
A few hundred, 30,000 people
Indians were moved to reservations because
Gold and silver were found on their land
The _______ eventually led to the civil war conflict with Indians
Growing sectional conflict
________ staked a claim in ___________ that turned out to be nearly pure silver ore
Henry comstock, six-mile canyon
_________ were the majority of the population in New Mexico
Hispanics
The government supported settlement in the Greta plains region by passing the ____________
Homestead act
One of the richest strikes occurred in the late 1870s in _________
Leadville
Cattle from the east could not survive on tough prairie grasses, but the _______ could survive in harsh climates
Longhorn
Large landholders invested in ________ and _______ which made it easier to harvest a large crop
Mechanical reapers, steam tractors
In 1866 ranchers drove about 260,000 cattle to _______ where they sold it for __________ more than they could in Texas
Missouri, 10x
A glut of wheat on the world market caused prices to drop, and some farmers tried to make it through these periods by _______ their land
Mortgaging
Dawes act
Must live on the land for 15 years and make improvements
Spanish speaking immigrants to southwestern cities settled in neighborhoods called _______
Barrios
________ covered up to 50,000 acres and yielding big profits
Bonanza farms
In mining, ___________ was repeated throughout the west
Boom to bust
For centuries this open country has been home to vast herds of __________ that grazed of prairie grass
Buffalo
Settlers began raising _______ on the ______ after the civil war
Cattle, Great Plains
The wheat belt encompassed ....
Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas
____________ was a method of planting seeds deep in the ground where there was enough moisture
Dry farming
Why go west?
Eastern cities were growing rapidly, air pollution and poor conditions, the American dream, avoid war, encourage western settlement, homestead act
After the civil war, the country was booming with _________
European immigrants
___________ was a process that removed large pieces of earth
Hydraulic mining
The meridian is an .......
Imaginary line running north and south from the central dakotas to western Texas
The Dawes act failed because
Indians were often scammed and the Americans and Indians didn't trust each other
Mining spurred in ...
Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Dakota, and Montana
The ___________ covered much of the Great Plains and provided land where cattle ranchers could graze their herds free of charge
Open range
The farthest regions of the US were
Pennsylvania and the Ohio river (1800), Mississippi River (1830), California (1840)
__________ was a process that used picks and pans
Placer mining
The country was caught up in _____
Pre-civil war debates over slavery
The Great Plains region extended westward to the __________ from around the 100th meridian
Rocky Mountains
Most of the plains settlers built their first homes out of _____
Sod
Many ______ eventually lost their homesteads because of drought, wind erosion, and the overuse of land
Sodbusters
Cattle ranching grew in part because of vast areas of grassland owned by ______
The federal government
The census bureau reported that....
There was no longer a true frontier left in America
_________ taught American cowhands their trade and enriched the English language with words of Spanish origin.
Vaqueros
When law enforcers were scarce, self appointed volunteers sometimes formed __________ to track down and punish wrongdoers
Vigilance committees
Andrew Jackson sent Cherokees _________ when they broke a treaty and took their land to give to Americans
West across the Mississippi