| A | B |
|---|
| Dry Farming | Method of farming used by Great Plains farmers in the 1890s after a severe drought dried out the region |
| Cattle Kingdom | Area of the Great Plains, stretching from Texas to Canada, on which many ranchers raised cattle in the late 1800s |
| Range Wars | Battles among large ranchers, small ranchers, and farmers on the Great Plains for the use of the open range |
| Reservations | Federal lands set aside for American Indians |
| Homestead Act | Law passed by Congress to encourage settlement in the West by giving government owned land to small farmers |
| Transcontinental Railroad | A railroad that crossed the continental United States, connecting the East to the West |
| Dawes Act | Legislation passed by Congress that split up Indian reservation lands among individual Indians and promised citizenship |
| Chisholm Trail | Trail from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas, established by Jesse Chisholm in 1867 for cattle drives |
| Boomtowns | Communities that sprang up when mines opened |
| Sod Homes | houses built from bricks of sod cut out of the ground |
| Barbed Wire | patented by Joseph Glidden, used to fence off large areas of land at a low cost |
