Westward Expansion

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Across
  1. 3. A law passed by Congress in 1862 offering government loans and free land to the two companies building the Transcontinental Railroad
  2. 4. A railroad that crosses an entire continent
  3. 5. Used on the very last rail of the transcontinental railroad marking its completion
  4. 6. Where the Union Pacific started their railway
  5. 8. A house built of strips of sod, laid like brickwork
  6. 12. Famous cattle trail used to herd longhorns from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas
  7. 13. Resulted in closing the western frontier and ending the cattle drives and cowboy era
  8. 15. Where the Central Pacific started their railway
Down
  1. 1. Young men mainly from Texas paid to herd and drive cattle north
  2. 2. Nickname given to the first African American Cavalry regiments of the U.S. Army who served in the western U.S. during 1867-1896
  3. 7. Person who claimed land on the Great Plains under The Homestead Act of 1862
  4. 9. Former slave turned Cowboy. Famous for his skills of roping, and cattle herding
  5. 10. Made available 160 acres of free farmland
  6. 11. The name given to the Transcontinental Railroad by Native Americans
  7. 14. A person who went west early prior to the official opening to settlement in order to gain the claim