Westward Expansion

Which of the following could deliver mail from Missouri to California in just 10 days?

• a. telegraph

• b. the “horseless carriage”

• c. the Pony Express

A __________was a town that was built as gold miners came to look for gold and needed goods and services.

• a. Goldtown

• b. Boomtown

• c. Ghost town

Which of the following describes a challenge faced by the Union Pacific railroad?

• a. it had to build through the Sierra Nevada mountains

• b. it faced conflict with Native Americans

• c. it faced conflict with Chinese Americans

Which of the following was NOT one of the challenges typically faced by homesteaders?

• a. high cost of land

• b. harsh weather

• c. large amounts of grasshoppers

Which of the following best describes a reason why cattle drives came to an end?

• a. Consumers became more interested in gold than cattle

• b. Farmers on the Great Plains began raising cattle

• c. They were no longer necessary once railroads reached Texas

What were the “gold rushers” called who went to California in the mid 1800’s?

• a. forty-niners

• b. homesteaders

• c. exodusters

Under the Homestead Act of 1862, what would a person lose if they returned to the East Coast after only 4 years of living on their land? (Left their Homestead claim)

• a. 100 dollars

• b. his or her American citizenship

• c. 160 acres of free land

Why would a homesteader on the Great Plains have cheered the invention of barbed wire?

• a. the wooden fences they were using rotted too quickly

• b. the methods of dry farming required barbed wire to work

• c. Homesteaders needed something to keep cattle from destroying their crops

Where was the golden spike used to complete the Transcontinental Railroad?

• a. Sutter’s Mill

• b. Promontory Point, Utah

• c. St. Louis, Missouri

What is the name of the grass-covered dirt used in building homes?

• a. prairie

• b. sod

• c. cow chips