#1 Unit 1: Westward Expansion and the Rise of Industry

“The Wild West”

I.  Settling the West

a.  After the ______, Americans began moving ______-- ______, ______, ______

b.  Cheap land

c.  Gold

i.  Gold Rush (1849) gold ______in ______

ii. People wanted to "strike it rich"

d.  Comstock Lode - ______discovered in ______

i.  Encouraged ______

ii. Generated $230 million

II.  Mining

a.  Encouraged the ______of many western states

b.  Boomtowns-rapidly growing ______in the west

i.  No ______force - ran by a "______"

ii. Women worked in ______or as ______

c.  Eventually became "ghost towns"

i.  Mines would be ______up

III.  Ranching

a.  Settlers came to the Great Plains to herd ______

i.  Texas ______- could ______harsh ______

b.  Open range

i.  No private ______

c.  Cattle provided food for Americans

i.  ______prices soared during the Civil War

d.  Cowboys herded cattle to ______

i.  Easy ______

e.  First cowboys were ______

i.  American cowboys = young

f.  Barbed wire –what did it do?

IV.  Farming the Great Plains

a.  Land in the Great Plains = good for farming

i.  ______

ii. Corn

b.  Built homes out of ______called ______houses

i.  Lack of trees

V.  The Homestead Act

a.  In 1862 the U.S. gov. passed a law to get people to ______west and settle

b.  Homestead Act

i.  Gave settlers ______acres of land after ______years in the Great Plains

c.  Requirements

i.  21 years old

ii. Head of ______

iii.  $10 filing fee

VI.  Life on the Homestead

a.  Often difficult

b.  Lack of ______

c.  Prairie ______

d.  Hot

e.  ______destroyed cops

f.  After 5 years, settlers received title to the land

i.  Build home and clear land for farming

VII.  Morill Land Grant Act

a.  1862

b.  Created land grant ______

c.  Educate people on ______, science, and engineering

i.  Encouraged interest in learning how to properly ______land

VIII.  Closing the Frontier

a.  1889- The gov. opened he last large territories for ______

i.  10,000 people rushed to claim land= ______Land Rush

ii. "Last frontier"

b.  Western myth

i.  Hollywood ______what the west was really like

ii. ______people who settled and built homes through great effort

c.  Frontier Thesis

i.  Written by Frederick Jackson ______

ii. West was the land of ______and the "American Dream"

American History II