Western Life Vocabulary

Out West – Chapter 11

• Homesteader: person who lives on and cultivates a tract of U.S. land under the homestead law

• Homestead Act: legislation act authorizing the sale of public land to settlers

• Prairie: large area of level land, fertile soil, tall coarse grasses, few trees

• Capital: large amount of money needed to start a business or farm

Homesteaders – Chapters 15,16

• McCormick Reaper: horse-drawn machine, invented by Cyrus McCormick, cut and harvested grain, revolutionized farming

• Morrill Act: provided states with large land grants to establish agricultural colleges

• Booker T. Washington: developed and headed the Tuskegee Institute; great orator

The Cowboy – Chapter 12

• Cowboy: person who tended cattle in the West• Longhorn: hardy Texas cattle, long horns,

descended from cattle brought by Spaniards• Range: open land for grazing cattle• Stampede: wild, uncontrollable running of cattle• Chuck wagon: wagon that carried food, cooking

supplies, cowboys supplies• Chaps: leather leggings that protected cowboys

legs• Ranch: large farms for breeding/raising cattle

The Cowboy – Chapter 12

• Jesse Chisholm: Scotch-Cherokee trader, mapped out a straight level trail between southern Kansas and his trading post, opened for cattle drive in 1867

• Wild Bill Hickok: stage coach driver, marshal of western towns, killed playing poker

• Calamity Jane: (Martha Jane Canary) horse-rider and sharpshooter, worn men’s clothing, did men’s work

The Railroads – Chapters 13,14

• Transcontinental: across the continent• Tycoon: businessman with great wealth and power• Pacific Railroad Act of 1864: provided land grants and

money to build the transcontinental railway• Central Pacific: RR company that laid track from the

West• Union Pacific: RR company that laid track form the east• Promontory Point, Utah: Where union and Central

Pacific met to complete the RR• Pullman Cars: train coaches that were expensive to ride• George Pullman: entrepreneur who build train cars, set

up a model company for his workers

The Indians – Chapters 17, 18

• Reservation: land set aside for Native American tribes when their ancestral land was taken by settlers

• “final solution”: eliminating a problem by destroying a group of people

• “buffalo soldiers”: black cavalry troopers, named by the Indians because of black curly hair

The Indians – Chapters 17, 18

• Crazy Horse: Sioux Indian who won the battle of Little Big Horn (Greasy Grass River)

• General George Custer: army cavalryman whose troops were destroyed at Little Big Horn

• Sitting Bull: last of the Indians to engage in armed resistance

• Little Big Horn: place of last Sioux victory• Wounded Knee: last major armed encounter

with Indians and whites, Indian massacre

The Indians – Chapters 17, 18

• Nez Perce: peaceful tribe, refused to settle on reservation, fled to seek safety

• Chief Joseph: chief of Nez Perce, led his people on a 1,700 mile journey to escape federal soldiers and find freedom in Canada

Famous People – Chapters 19, 20, 21

• Gilded Age: era from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century (1900), attractive images covered up problems, poverty and inequality

• Villain: scoundrel or criminal• Political machine: powerful unofficial

government official that operates alongside real city government

• Robber barons: big businessmen, usually became wealthy at the expense of others

• Prohibition: outlawing the sale of liquor

Famous People – Chapters 19, 20, 21

• William Marcy Tweed: political boss of NYC who became rich by fraud

• Alfred Ely Beach: inventor, publisher, patent lawyer, fought Tweed and built NYC subway to ease traffic

• Phineas Taylor Barnum: showman and promoter of public entertainment, known for his museums, traveling circuses, and Jumbo the elephant

• Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain: humorist, writer, literary genius, wrote about who Americans were and who they wanted to be