Approximately how many immigrants came to the U.S. from 1866 to 1915?
25 million
From what 2 places did the people come from to make the cities' population explode?
From farms and from other countries (immigrants)
What did Joseph Farwell Glidden invent and why was it needed?
The idea of spinning steel strands into barbed wire used for fencing to keep cattle in and out of crop fields.
Why did the cattle drivers begin to disappear and who were they replaced with?
Cattle drivers fenced in their land and became ranchers.
What was the last great violent dispute in the West called & what happened?
The Wounded Knee Massacre is when U.S. troops fired on defenseless Sioux after a deaf person didn't understand orders.
What was the exodus of 1879?
When thousands of freed slaves moved out west to settle.
What did the Homestead act do and when was it enacted?
It opened the plains for settlement. 160 acres to anyone willing to pay $10 for recording fee and live on & farm the land.
Where did many native Americans live after the U.S. gave away their land to farmers and ranchers?
Reservations.
What was the most famous battle of the Sioux War & what happened?
The Battle of Little Bighorn. Col. Custer's Last Stand failed and all of Custer's men were killed.
What is inflation?
rapid increase in prices due to an increase in money supply
What happened to the prices of crops after the Civil War and why?
Crop prices fell because of a crop surplus from new farming methods and machinery.
What is meant by Chinatown or Little Italy?
Immigrants of one country tended to live in one section of a city with others of that same country.
What name did Mark Twain give to the Age of Industry (1865- 1900) & why?
Gilded age, because on the surface, there was prosperity, but under that there was corruption
What was the name of the gold and silver mine on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada?
The Comstock Lode
Who mostly used the Great Plains from about 1870-1890?
Cowboys or cattle drivers
Why did many of the new immigrants come to the United States?
to escape religious/ political persecution & economic hardship
What brought lots of people into Colorado in 1858? What happened there after that?
Gold near Pikes Peak. Most didn't find gold but stayed to farm or ranch.
Why didn't the Dawes Act of 1887 succeed?
Native Americans weren't used to farming, because they had lived as nomads. (the land was bad for farming anyway)
What happened so Sioux were forced off their reservation in Black Hills, SD & Wyoming?
In 1874, gold was found. Gold seekers swarmed area & it got violent, resulting in Sioux war?
What was the land like in the West, the last large area to be settled in the U.S.?
It was large plains or prairie land with few trees and rocks.
What were the 2 groups of immigrants named in the book & who was in them?
old immigrants (from northwestern Europe from before 1880's)& new immigrants (from southern & Eastern Europe after 1880)
How did the railroad affect the cowboys as they drove their cattle north in the summer to graze?
They could sell their cattle and have them shipped on the railroad.