Frontier : line separating areas of denser settlement from unsettled territory (Great Plains,

Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, and the deserts of the Southwest)!

Great Plains : rolling, treeless plains that stretched from Texas to North Dakota, received little
rainfall, soil extremely fertile!

Push-and-pull factors : factors that explain the migration of people from one place to another
(push factors that push people to leave a place and pull factors that attract people to a place)!

Transcontinental railroad : provided the principal stimulus for the settlement of the Great
Plains !

Reservation : federal lands reserved for Indian tribes, usually located in infertile and
undesirable areas!

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Buffalo Soldiers : African-American troops!
!

Sand Creek Massacre : Union troops attacked a Cheyenne camp at Sand Creek in eastern
Colorado, killing more than a hundred Indians!

Sioux Indians : lived on the Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred to them as the home of the
Great Spirit!

Little Big Horn : the Sioux Indians led by Crazy Horse defeat General Custer and his men (267
killed)!

Wounded Knee : fearing another Sioux rebellion, U.S. Army troops massacre as many as 200
Sioux men, women, and children with rapid-fire artillery guns!

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Homestead Act : promised settlers 160 acres of land!
!

Boom town : arose when thousands of prospectors and adventurers were attracted to a spot in
the hopes of striking a fortune!

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Open Range : public lands not belonging to anyone and not fenced!
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Barbed wire : kept animals from jumping over or crawling through the fence!
!
Sod house : made from thick clumps of grass and soil cut into bricks!
!

Dawes Act : passed by Congress to Americanize the Indians, threatened the survival of Indian
culture and led to sell-off of reservation lands!