| A | B |
|---|
| frontier | an undeveloped area |
| Comstock Lode | Nevada gold & silver mine discovered in 1859 |
| boomtowns | Western community that grew quickly because of mining boom & disappeared when boom ended. |
| Cattle Kingdom | Area of Great Plains on which many ranchers raised cattle in the late 1800s. |
| cattle drive | long journey on which cowboys herded cattle to northern markets or better grazing lands. |
| Chisholm Trail | trail that ran from San Antonia, Texas, to Abilene, Kansas for cattle drives. |
| Pony Express | System of messengers that carried mail between relay stations on a route 2,000-miles long. |
| transcontinental railroad | Railroad system that crossed the continental US. |
| Treaty of Ft. Laramie | a treaty signed in Wyoming by the US and northern Plains nations. |
| reservations | Federal lands set aside for American Indians. |
| Battle of the Little Bighorn | Battle between US soldiers, led by George Armstrong Custer, and Sioux warriors led by Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull. Worse defeat for US Army in the West. |
| Treaty of Medicine Lodge | Agreement between US government and southern Plains indians, Indians agreed to move onto reservations. |
| buffalo soldiers | African American soldiers who served in the cavalry during the wars for the west. |
| Massacre at Wounded Knee | US Army's killing of approximately 150 Sioux in South Dakota, ended US - Indian wars on the Plains. |
| Long Walk | 300-mile march made by Navajo captives to a reservation in Bosque Redondo, New Mexico, led to deaths of hundreds. |
| Ghost Dance | Religious movement among Native Americans that spread across the Plains in the 1880's. |
| Dawes General Allotment Act | Legislation passed by Congress that split up Indian reservation lands among individual Indians and promised them citizenship. |
| Homestead Act | Law passed by Congress to encourage settlement in the West by giving land to small-farmers. |
| Morrill Act | Federal law passed by Congress that gave land to western states to encourage them to build colleges. |
| exodusters | African Americans who settled western lands in the late 1800's. |
| sodbusters | Name given to Plains farmers who worked hard to break up the region's tough sod. |
| dry farming | Method of farming that shifted focus from water-dependent crops to more hardy crops. |
| National Grange | A social & educational organization for farmers. |
| deflation | Decrease in money supply and overall lower prices. |
| Populist Party | Political party formed in 1892 that supported free coinage of silver, work reforms, immigration restrictions, and government ownership of railroads and telegraph systems. |
| establish | To set up or create. |
| facilitate | To make easier. |
