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