| A | B |
|---|
| extermination | total destruction |
| reservations | area of land set aside for Native American nations |
| range | an open area of land where the animals are free to roam |
| homestead | a home and the land surrounding it |
| prairie | eastern part of the Great Plains where tall grasses grow |
| sod | the thick mat of roots and earth beneath the prairie grass |
| lode | a rich vein of silver or gold |
| vigilante | a group of people who take the law into their own hands |
| cow town | a town that grew up along the railroad tracks where cattle are shipped to eastern markets |
| ghost town | an abandoned miners’ town |
| boomtown | towns that would spring up in a matter of days when prospectors found gold or silver |
| longhorn | wild cattle that roamed the open range |
| Exoduster | former slaves who opportunities on the plains |
| Comstock Lode | one of the biggest finds in mining of a rich vein of silver ore |
| Fort Laramie Treaty | an agreement to pay Indians for land if whites could build roads and forts on the plains |
| Indian Removal Act | Indian Removal Act |
| Dawes Act | the goal of this act was to end tribal ownership of lands and enable Indians to live like white men by giving land to individual families to farm |
| Trail of Tears | eastern Cherokee Indians forced to leave Georgia and move west to Oklahoma |
| Homestead Act | an 1862 law that allowed a person to claim 160 acres of free land if they built a house and worked the land for 5 years |
