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Worksheets

Social Studies Ch 7

Total questions: 21

Worksheet time: 16mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Before the 1860s, how did Californians communicate with the East?

a)

by cross-country train

b)

by telegraph

c)

by letters carried on ships

d)

by overland stage

2.

What was John Butterfield's contribution to California's growth as a state?

a)

He founded a company that carried mail by stagecoach

b)

He founded California's first commercial farm

c)

He invested in the transcontinental railroad

d)

He built a canal to irrigate the Imperial Valley

3.

Who were the Big Four?

a)

a group who invested in the first telegraph to California

b)

a group who owned the Pony Express

c)

a group who owned the Central Pacific Railroad Company

d)

a group who paid for the entire transcontinental railroad

4.

Why was it hard for companies to find workers for the transcontinental railroad?

a)

They did not have the money

b)

Chinese workers were not allowed to enter the country

c)

People in the East were not interested in moving west

d)

Many Americans were involved in the Civil War

5.

How was California's economy affected at first by the completion of the transcontinental railroad?

a)

California businesses grew

b)

Cheap goods from outside the state caused businesses to close

c)

More goods came from Mexico

d)

Businesses could not keep up with the demand

6.

What enabled the Southern Pacific Railroad to gain more than 11 million acres of California land?

a)

Under the Pacific Railroad Act, companies got land for every mile of track they laid

b)

The company bought it from rancho owners

c)

The company took the land from the California Indians

d)

New towns sold land to the company

7.

What does the word export mean?

a)

to buy from other countries

b)

to compete with

c)

to advertise a product

d)

to sell to other countries

8.

What caused the violence at Mussel Slough?

a)

A railroad company did not pay its workers

b)

Farmers and a railroad company disagreed over the price of land

c)

Neighbors disagreed over who owned water rights

d)

Rancho owners refused to leave land they said they owned

9.

What enabled people to establish farms in the Imperial Valley in the early 1900s?

a)

Immigrants planted a new and better kind of orange tree

b)

Chinese workers built levees to prevent flooding

c)

Workers built a canal from the Colorado River to irrigate the land

d)

Growers advertised to create new markets

10.

If it is 5:00 AM in San Francisco, what time is it in New York City?

a)

2:00 AM

b)

5:00 AM

c)

8:00 AM

d)

11:00 AM

11.

A scientist who worked to develop new and better kinds of plants

a)

Yee Fung Cheung

b)

John Bidwell

c)

Theodore Judah

d)

Luther Burbank

e)

Leland Stanford

12.

A successful wheat farmer from the Central Valley

a)

Yee Fung Cheung

b)

John Bidwell

c)

Theodore Judah

d)

Luther Burbank

e)

Leland Stanford

13.

One of the Big Four

a)

Yee Fung Cheung

b)

John Bidwell

c)

Theodore Judah

d)

Luther Burbank

e)

Leland Stanford

14.

An engineer with a plan for building a transcontinental railroad

a)

Yee Fung Cheung

b)

John Bidwell

c)

Theodore Judah

d)

Luther Burbank

e)

Leland Stanford

15.

An herbalist who came to California to look for gold

a)

Yee Fung Cheung

b)

John Bidwell

c)

Theodore Judah

d)

Luther Burbank

e)

Leland Stanford

16.

What changes took place in the speed of communication between California and the eastern states in the 1850s and the early 1860s? (check ALL that apply)

a)

Wagon trains heading west to find gold would carry letters for friends and family in California

b)

The Pony Express brought mail in 10 days

c)

The telephone made communication instant

d)

The telegraph could send messages in a few minutes

e)

The Overland Mail Company brought mail by stagecoach in 24 days

17.

How was the transcontinental railroad paid for? (Check ALL that apply)

a)

Theodore Judah struck it rich mining for gold and bought railroad companies

b)

Theodore Judah got The Big Four to invest in the Central Pacific Railroad Company

c)

Theodore Judah convinced wealthy farmers to rent some of their land to the railroad companies to build on

d)

Theodore Judah appeared before Congress and got the US government to give land and money to the railroads

18.

Who were the workers who built the transcontinental railroad? (Mark ALL that apply)

a)

Entrepreneurs from San Francisco

b)

Chinese immigrants

c)

Slaves from the south

d)

Irish immigrants

e)

Civil War veterans after the war ended

19.

What solution did California farmers come up with when most of the land in the Imperial Valley was too dry for farming?

a)

They built levees to control flooding into the area

b)

They planted succulents like aloe vera

c)

They built canals for irrigation

d)

They farmed somewhere else

20.

What solution did California farmers come up with when they found the oranges growing in California were sour and full of seeds?

a)

They added sugar to the soil to make them sweeter

b)

They planted new types of oranges like Washington navels and Valencias

c)

They built canals for irrigation to make them juicier

d)

They planted wheat instead

21.

What solution did California farmers come up with when the land along the Sacramento River kept flooding?

a)

They built levees

b)

They built canals for irrigation

c)

They planted different crops that would grow well in flooded areas

d)

They moved their farms away from the river's edge