Homestead Act (1862)-Law passed to encourage settlement of the Great Plains by offering Federal Land Grants (the federal government giving land). It granted 160 acres of public land for free if the Homesteader stayed on the land for five years and cultivated or farmed it., Transcontinental Railroad-Completed in 1869. Connected Eastern and Western parts of the United States and improved standard of living by shipping agricultural products east and manufactured goods west., Dawes Act (1887)-Law that broke up American Indian Reservations by dividing the land into individual 160-acre family plots. Goal was to assimilate/Americanize Native Americans., Klondike Gold Rush-1896 Gold Rush in Northern Washington and Alaska. Thousands of prospectors (gold miners) migrated north to Alaska, though mountainous terrain and cold weather led to few being successful., Great Plains-Middle part of the United States (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, etc.). Cold Winters and Hot Summers. Though flat plains made it ideal and fertile for farming., Cattle Drive-Cattle would be "driven" from Texas to Missouri and Kansas and then shipped by rail to Northern Cities with slaughterhouses. Ended in 1880 due to less open land and invention of refrigerated railroad cars and barbed wire..

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