S.S

• Comstock Lode - source of gold and silver found in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Nevada in 1859
• boomtown - towns that grew near mines
• boomtown - towns that grew near mines
• Virginia City - a mining city that grew into a boom town, and then turn into a ghost town in Nevada
• Transcontinental railroad - a railroad line that spanned the continent, connecting the east with the west
• Subsidies - grants of land or money
• Buffalo soldiers - name given to African American civil war veterans who fought on the plains
• Reservation - land set aside for Native Americans to live on
• What was significant about the battle of wounded knee?

  It marked the end of the era of the Indian wars
• Cow town - settlement at the end of a cattle trail
• Name the first cow town where the Chisholm trail met the Kansas pacific railroad?

  Abilene
• Vaquero - Spanish word for Cowhand or cowboy
• One third all western Cowhands where of what descendent?

  Mexican
• Wild West - what is easterners called the myth of the west a place of violence, adventure, and endless opportunity
• Cattle kingdom - the region dominated by the cattle industry and it’s ranches trails in Cow town
• What led to a boom in the cattle industry, as Texans found a way to ship cattle to markets in the east and west?

  Railroads
• What happened to most cattle ranches after the cattle boom ended?

  Most became smaller ranches with cattle eating homegrown feed large cattle round ups and cattle drives ended
• Homesteaders - settlers, who acquired free land from the government
• Homestead act - passed by Congress in 1862 and offered a 160 acre plot to anyone who resided on the land for five years
• Sodbusters - plains farmers
• Ricos - older Hispanic residents who were large landowners infarct to keep their lands in the southwest, as it was deeded under Spanish and Mexican law.
• Grangers - groups of farmers, who pull their money to make a large purchases of tools seed and other supplies at a discount
• Vigilantes - self appointed law keepers