westward expansion

4. A person who claimed land on the Great Plains under the Homestead act of 1862
7. young men mainly from Texas paid to herd and drive cattle north. Approximately ¼-⅓ all cowboys were Hispanic or African Americans
8. used on the very last rail of the transcontinental railroad marking its completion.
9. the name given to the trans continental rail road by Native Americans
11. there was an ____ in population in the west
13. crops destroyed by ___
14. Former slave turned Cowboy. Famous for his skills of roping, and cattle herding.
15. a long journey taken by cowboys to herd, or drive, cattle from the ranches in Texas north on trails leading to the railroads.

1. Enacted by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 that made available 160 acres of free farmland
2. a house built of strips of sod, laid like brickwork, and used by settlers on the Great Plains where timber was scarce
3. a law passed by congress in 1862 offering government loans and free land to the two companies building the Transcontinental Railroad
5. Solders ________ who took up arms against the government were not allowed to file a claim for land
6. _____ was a person settling on land in the early west prior to the official opening to settlement in order to gain the claim
10. people traveled across the country more ____
12. people were able get goods ____ making life a bit easier