Settling the West Chapter Review

What valuable metals brought the first waves of settlers that populated the mountain states of the West?

Gold, Silver, and Copper

Type of mining in which deposits of ore could be extracted mostly by hand.

Placer Mining.

Type of mining which required corporations to dig deep beneath the surface.

Quartz Mining

He staked a claim in Six-Mile Canyon, Montana He staked a claim in Six-Mile Canyon, Montana. The blue-gray mud there turned out to be nearly pure silver ore.

Henry Comstock

Law enforcement which consisted of self-appointed volunteers who would track down and punish wrongdoers.

Mining town where Samuel Clemens accepted a job as a reporter for a local paper and began using his pen name “Mark Twain.”

Virginia City, Nevada.

True or False? The Pikes’ Peak strike was really a hoax; there really was no gold in the area.

This city, a supply point for mining areas, became the second largest city in the West after San Francisco.

Denver, Colorado

Congress admitted these three states of the northern Great Plains in 1889 after enough miners, ranchers, and ranchers moved into the area.

North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana

What breed of cattle had adapted to living on the Great Plains?

The Texas Longhorn.

A vast area of grassland owned by the government A vast area of grassland owned by the government. This area covered much of the Great Plains and provided land where ranchers could graze their herds free of charge.

The open range.

Who introduced ranching in the Southwest before these areas became part of the U.S.?

Mexicans.

Why was ranching impractical before the Civil War? List two!

Beef prices were low, and Moving the cattle to the eastern markets was not practical.

What two developments changed this?

The Civil War and, The construction of the railroads

Moving cattle long distances to a railroad depot for fast transport and great profit.

The Long Drive

Stray calves with no identifying symbols.

Mavericks

This invention enabled hundreds of square miles of open range to be fenced off cheaply and easily. It also ended the long drives.

Barbed wire.

Region of the U.S. that extends westward to the Rocky Mountains.

The Great Plains

Law passed by Congress in 1862 to encourage settlement in the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act

How much land could a homesteader claim under this act?

160 acres.

How long did a homesteader have to live there before receiving a title to that land?

5 years.

Homes on the Plains were constructed using this “material”.

sod

Farming technique where seeds were planted deep in the ground where there was enough moisture for them to grow.

Dry Farming

Name given for the people who plowed the soil on the Plains.

Sodbusters

What were three technological innovations in agriculture?

Mechanical reapers, Binders, and Threshing machines

Before the Sand Creek massacre, the Cheyenne had come to Fort Lyon to A. Negotiate Surrender Attack Defend their land

A) negotiate

Why would the government encourage white hunters to kill the buffalo?

To force Native Americans onto reservations.

Large ranches that could cover several hundred acres and yielded massive profits.

Bonanza farms

What contributed to troubled times for wheat farmers in the 1890s?

Competition from other wheat-producing nations caused prices to drop, Prolonged drought destroyed crops and farms.

Payments by the government to those who lived on the reservations.

Annuities.

Dakota chief who asked traders to provide his people food on credit Dakota chief who asked traders to provide his people food on credit. He led the Dakota Sioux uprising in Minnesota.

Chief Little Crow

He was a religious leader as well as a war chief who lured the U. S He was a religious leader as well as a war chief who lured the U.S. troops into an ambush in Wyoming in 1866.

Crazy Horse

What name was given for this battle?

Fetterman’s Massacre

Leader of the Cheyenne who was massacred at Sand Creek.

Black Kettle

U.S. commander who attacked the Cheyenne at Sand Creek.

John Chivington

Lakota Sioux chief killed at Wounded Knee.

Sitting Bull

Formed by Congress in 1867, it proposed creating two large reservations on the Plains, one for the Sioux and another for southern Plains Indians.

Indian Peace Commission

Commander of the 7th Calvary Commander of the 7th Calvary. He underestimated the fighting abilities of the Lakota and Cheyenne.

Colonel George A. Custer

A ritual important to the Lakota A ritual important to the Lakota. It celebrated a hoped-for reckoning when settlers would disappear, the buffalo would return, and Native Americans would reunite with their deceased ancestors.

Ghost Dance.

To be absorbed into American society as landowners and citizens.

Assimilate; assimilation

This act gave 160 acres of reservation land for farming.

Dawes Act