Setteling the West

The Homestead Act encouraged people to move West because it..

• established ranching towns for cattle drivers.
• offered free land to those willing to farm it.
• offered land to gold prospectors.
• promised protection from Native Americans.

Native Americans living on the Great Plains relied on which of the following to meet many of their basic needs?

• Cotton
• Deer
• Buffalo
• Gold

Settlers moving west did not think the Great Plains were fit for farming because..

• only the Spanish and DNative Americans had settled there.
• the area recieved little rainfall and had few trees.
• the region was home to many dangerous wild animals.
• most of the land was too far from existing towns.

When the mines ran out in Boom-towns and the people moved on it often created ____________

• Slow towns
• Small towns
• Ghost towns
• Mini towns

___________ played a major role in the mining and cattle industry for transporting

• wagon trains
• railroads
• trucks
• tractors

Which of the following factors contributed to the demise of the open-range system and the need for cowboys?

• The use of sod for houses
• The invention of barbed wire
• The development of railroads
• The disappearance of big mining companies

Grazing cattle on government property for free with no restrictions was called

• open season
• open range
• open opportunity
• open ranching

Mining towns that had rapid growth from hundreds to thousands were known as

• Funtowns
• ghosttowns 
• boomtowns
• gloomtowns

The Comstock strike turned the town of _____ , Nevada, into a boomtown.

• Virginia City

• boomtowns

• the federal government

• longhorn

• prospectors

The Texas ______ was a breed of cattle descended from Spanish cattle that had been brought to Mexico two centruies earlier.

• Virginia City

• boomtowns

• the federal government

• longhorn

• prospectors