Chapter 17: The West Transformed Study Guide
Section 1: Mining and Railroads
1. What was the source of gold and silver in Nevada called?
Comstock Lode
2. What was the general order of events in mining boomtowns?
Merchants arrived, government officials replaced vigilantes, all the ore was extracted from the mines.
3. What type of jobs did foreign immigrants to the west do?
Cowhands, railroad workers, miners
4. How did the federal government help with the construction of railroads?
Gave railroad companies land in the West
5. What is a railroad line that spans the continent called?
Transcontinental railroad
6. What were the names of the two companies that were completing the Transcontinental railroad?
Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad
7. What foreigners were brought in to work on building the transcontinental railroad?
Chinese
8. Where did the two lines meet to connect the railroad?
Promontory, Utah
Section 2: Native Americans Struggle to Survive
1. What did Native Americans hope to gain in return for agreeing to stay in one place?
The right to be undisturbed on their land
2. What is land set aside for Native Americans to live on called?
Reservations
3. What battle signaled the end of the Indian Wars? Battle of Wounded Knee
4. What animal did the Plains nations follow?
Buffalo
5. What were the names of the two Native American leaders who fought to keep whites out?
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
6. What was the name of the battle where General Custer and his army were killed?
Battle of Little Big Horn
7. What was the name of the Act that gave Native American men 160 acres of land to farm?
Dawes Act
8. Why did the Dawes Act fail?
Native Americans were generally not farmers
9. When soldiers felt provoked by a potential Native American uprising, troops would kill nearly 200
Sioux at what battle?
Battle of Wounded Knee
Section 3: The Cattle Kingdom
1. What began when new railroads made it possible for ranchers to ship beef to both eastern and western
markets?
The cattle industry
2. What is a Mexican cowhand called?
Vaquero
3. What term described the idea that the West was a place of gun-slinging cowboys, exciting adventures,
and big opportunities?
Wild West
4. Who created a traveling Wild West show?
“Buffalo Bill” Cody
5. Review your cause/effect chart about the boom and bust of the cattle kingdom. Section 4: Farming in the West
1. Which Act encouraged people to move West because it offered free land to those willing to farm it and
live there for 5 years?
Homestead Act
2. To what state did the land rush of 1889 bring thousands of settlers?
Oklahoma
3. What helped farmers push for higher prices and other economic reforms?
National Grange, farm cooperatives, and the Populist Party
4. What are some of the new farming equipment?
Steel plows, drills, reapers, and threshers
5. Look on your notes to review the roles of men, women, and children on the farm.
6. Who were the Exodusters?
African Americans who came to the Plains