| A | B |
|---|
| frontier | an undeveloped area |
| Henry Comstock | discovered huge deposit of gold and silver in Nevada |
| Comstock Lode | large deposit of gold and silver found in Nevada |
| boomtowns | communities that grew suddenly when a mine opened |
| Cattle Kingdom | The Great Plains from Texas to Canada, where many ranchers raised cattle |
| cattle drive | long journeys where cowboys herded cattle to the market or the northern plains for grazing |
| Chisholm Trail | one of the earliest and most popular routes for cattle drives |
| Pony Express | system of messengers on horseback that carried messages across the West |
| transcontinental railroad | a railroad that would cross the continent and connect the East and West |
| Treaty of Fort Laramie | first major treaty between the US government and the Plains Indians |
| reservations | areas of federal land set aside for Native Americans |
| Treaty of Medicine Lodge | most southern Plains Indians agreed to live on reservations |
| buffalo soldiers | troops, including African American cavalry |
| Battle of Little Big Horn | Sioux forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull surrounded and defeated Custer and his troops |
| Massacre at Wounded Knee | US army shot and killed about 150 Sioux. Was the last major incident on the Great Plains |
| Long Walk | 300 march in which Navajo were forced to walk across the desert to a reservation in New Mexico |
| Ghost Dance | a religious movement that predicted the arrival of paradise for Native Americans |
| Dawes General Allotment Act | tried to lessen traditional influences on Indian society by making land ownership private rather than shared |
| Homestead Act | gave government land to small farmers |
| Morrill Act | granted more than 17 million acres of federal land to the states |
| Exodusters | southerners who made a mass exit from the south |
| sodbusters | Plains farmers who broke up sod |
| dry farming | a new method of farming that shifted the focus away from water-dependent crops such as corn |
| National Grange | social and educational organization for farmers |
| deflation | a decrease in the money supply and overall lower prices |
| Populist Party | called for the government to own railroads and telephone and telegraph systems |
