Core Knowledge: Westward Expansion AFTER The Civil War

1. Who was the most likely to become rich on the mining frontier?

• a) an individual miner
• b) a hotel owner
• c) a storekeeper
• d) a mining company

2. The harsh “vigilante justice,” also known as frontier justice, of the mining camps developed because there were no

• a) churches.
• b) schools.
• c) mayors.
• d) police.

3. Who helped build the transcontinental railroad?

• a) settlers
• b) immigrants
• c) miners
• d) cowboys

4. Ranchers drove their cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, because

• a) there was better grass for the animals there.
• b) the people of Abilene didn’t raise cattle for themselves.
• c) the cattle were safer there, away from thieves.
• d) from there, the cattle could be shipped by railroad to Chicago and markets in the East.

5. On the long drive, cowboys worried most about the danger of

• a) thieves.
• b) stampedes.
• c) floods.
• d) diseases.

6. Which of the following is not a reason for the end of the great age of the cowboy?

• a) Many people in the East began to raise their own cattle.
• b) Two fierce winters and a hot, dry summer led ranchers to pen in their cattle.
• c) Ranchers moved farther north and were closer to the railroads.
• d) Farmers moved in and took up much of the land.

7. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are all forms of

• a) presentation.
• b) preparation.
• c) precipitation.
• d) precision.

8. Which of the following is not a reason for the settling of the Great Plains?

• a) wars between sheep herders and cattle ranchers
• b) a temporary increase in the amount of rainfall
• c) free land offered through the Homestead Act of 1862
• d) cheap land advertised and sold by the railroads

9. Under the Homestead Act of 1862, free land was given away to

• a) U.S. citizens only.
• b) poor people only.
• c) Native American tribes.
• d) U.S. citizens and immigrants.

10. The main reason that settlers on the plains built sod houses is that

• a) they were cool in the summer.
• b) they were warm in the winter.
• c) there were few trees from which to build wooden houses.
• d) they were more attractive than wooden and stone houses.