The Struggle for the West

The Great Plains are in the Central Western portion of the U.S. described as vast grasslands.

• True
• False

2) What resource made the state of Texas famous in the Old West?

• Gold
• Silver
• Longhorn Cattle
• Sodbusters

3) What does assimilation of the Native Americans refer to?

• It refers to the process of losing land to the white settlers
• It describes the war strategy of the Plains Native Americans
• It refers to the process of adopting the white settlers' culture
• It is a linguistic technique that enabled whites to communicate with Native Americans

4) The Homestead Act of 1862 offered settlers

• relief from their debts
• free public education
• loans to expand their farms
• 160 acres of western public land

5) Who lost the Battle of Little Big Horn?

• Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
• Custer and his cavalry
• the Cheyenne of Colorado 
• Colonel John Chivington

6) Which of the following groups taught Americans cattle ranching techniques in the early 1800s?

• Native Americans
• African Americans 
• settlers 
• Mexicans

7) What was a 'soddie'?

• a farmer who refused to work and relied on his neighbors
• a new type of plow that revolutionized western farming
• traditional lullaby sung by cattlemen along the Chisholm trail
• a small home on the plains, built out of blocks of turf 

8) Why did cowboys drive their herds of cattle north from Texas along the Chisholm and other trails?

• to get them to Kansas railway stations
• to move them to better grazing lands in Oklahoma
• to trade them with Native Americans in Indian Territory
• to escape Mexican ranchers moving into Texas from the south

9) Which of the following is an accurate statement about the settling of the West?

• Settlers often struggled with Native Americans
• Settlers included many African and Australian immigrants
• Most settlers became rich miners or cattle ranchers
• Settlers were all adventurous white males

10) This RR started in California and used Chinese immigrant workers, laid less track then other company because they had to pass through the Rocky Mountains. 

• Union Pacific
• Central Pacific
• Norfolk Southern 
• Amtrak