U.S. History Ch. 2.2

When Major Stephen Long explored the Great Plains in 1819, he declared the region to be

• an area that had too many Native American settlements.

• a place well suited for cattle ranching.

• perfect for the cultivation of wheat.

• unfit for human habitation.

How did the U.S. government encourage the settlement of the Great Plains?

• by giving cheap loans to farmers

• by giving free land to the railroads

• by passing the Homestead Act

• by selling land to prospectors

Which of the following was a hardship faced by settlers on the Great Plains?

• prairie fires

• flooding

• too many trees

• loose soil

_______ was a practice in which a farmer planted seeds deep in the ground where moisture was present.

• Sodbusting

• Prairie dogging

• Dry farming

• Threshing

Farmers who attempted to farm in the Plains by plowing the land were called

• sodbusters.

• clodhoppers.

• prairie men.

• dirt farmers.

Which of the following innovations allowed farmers to harvest large crops quickly?

• the thresher

• the plow

• the automatic spindler

• the mechanical reaper

Which of the following crops was found to thrive in the harsh conditions in the Great Plains?

• corn

• wheat

• beans

• barley

The farming area that stretched throughout the Great Plains and encompassed much of the Dakotas and Kansas was known as

• the Great Plains Harvest.

• Bonanza Farms.

• the Wheat Belt.

• the Corn Belt.

What caused the rise in tenant farmers in the early 1900s?

• extensive borrowing that resulted in the loss of land

• European investors who purchased farms for tenants to harvest

• the influx of new immigrants to the area who could not purchase land

• a lessening of the desire to own large farms in the Wheat Belt

What declaration was made by the U.S. Census Bureau after the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889?

• that the land in Wyoming was now free to settlers

• that there were now enough people in Oklahoma for it to become a state

• that settlers now outnumbered those who lived in Eastern cities

• that the American frontier was now closed