| A | B |
|---|
| Nomadic | wandering |
| Vigilance Committee | unauthorized citizen group trying to maintain order & punish criminals |
| Vaudeville | theatrical entertainment featuring a variety of acts |
| sod houses | early plains settlers built these where trees were not available |
| railroad | parallel steel on which wheels of cars fit |
| windmills | machine moved by wind causing wheels or sails to set in motion to pump water or grind grain |
| dry farming | method of conserving moisture for farming in drought areas |
| barbed wire | sharp points on fence material to pen animals or protect land |
| Promontory Point, Utah | where golden spike was driven |
| Sand Creek | Cheyenne Massacre by troops under John Chivington |
| Chisholm Trail | farmous western cattle trail from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas |
| Comstock Lode | rich silver mine at Virginia City, Nevada |
| Morrill Act of 1862 | Congress granted each state 30,000 acres for each senator & congressman, land was to be sold with proceeds to create & maintain colleges (land grant colleges) |
| Homestead Act of 1862 | law promising 160 acres of free land to anyone who paid a small filing fee & farmed it for 5 years |
| Battle of Little Big Horn | 600 soldiers sent to protect miners on Cheyenne land died in battle |
| Battle of Wounded Kee | Army followed Indians after Sitting Bull's death to South Dakota. Indians prepared to surrender, shot fired, 300 Native Americans & 25 soldiers died |
| Dawes Act of 1887 | tribal land divided up for Native Americans to farm |
| transcontinental railroad | stretched coast to coast across North American continent |
| Great Plains | vast, dry grassland in North America |
| long drive | cowhands drove herds of steers to railroad shipping centers in Missouri & Kansas |
| Sutter's Mill | gold discovered on South Fork of the American River, bringing a rush of fortune seeking from around the world |
