The West Cross Word

2. an area in the Midwest known to most Americans as the great American desert until the homestead act, the invention of barbed wire, and improved methods of irrigation
3. wire that has short clusters of wire on it that have pointed edges on them. used to protect cattle and crops from animals and people. effectively put an end to the cattle drive method of farming
7. Land that is set aside for Native Americans by the United States government
8. produced when a mine closes and all of the people just up and leave
10. a system of messengers on horseback used to carry mail across the U.S., put out of business by the telegraph
13. the idea that Americans were chosen by God to settle all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
15. a railroad company that helped build the transcontinental railroad started from Sacramento, California and built east
18. A large group of covered wagons traveling west together
20. a system of transmitting a message from a distance along a wire.
21. the leading attraction to get more people to move to the west and start mining. lead to towns that quickly flourished and then disappeared

1. an explosive made of nitroglycerin, often used to help in mines and to clear out moutains to make way for railroads.
4. communities that sprang up when a mine opened.
5. the process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another, usually moved and herded by cowboys on horses.
6. a railroad company that helped build the transcontinental railroad started from Omaha, Nebraska and built west
9. Land in the Western U.S. that was given to a family to farm and live on
11. a large closed horse-drawn vehicle used to carry passengers on a route between 2 places
12. Where unsettled land begins
14. a religious' group who fled religious' persecution in the Midwest and settled in Utah
16. a man, typically one on horseback, who herds and tends cattle
17. The taking over of land
19. Land that is part of the United States but is not yet a state