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Settling the Frontier: Migration, Railroads, and Western Industries

4th Grade · Social Studies · US-WV-SS

7 lessons

Goal

Examine the geographic challenges, transportation developments, and major industries such as farming, ranching, and mining that drove westward migration.

7 lessons
0 of 7 done
  1. Geography and Terrain of the Western FrontierUp next
  2. The Homestead Act and Farming the Great PlainsNot started yet
  3. Building the Transcontinental RailroadYou are here
  4. Chinese and Irish Immigrant Railroad WorkersNot started yet
  5. The Cattle Kingdom: Cowboys and RanchersNot started yet
  6. Mining Boomtowns and the Search for Gold and SilverNot started yet
  7. Conflicts on the Range: Ranchers, Miners, and FarmersNot started yet
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Learning standards covered

us-wvSS.5.22West Virginia Social Studies Standards · All ages

Demonstrate an understanding of the advances in transportation and its effect on Western Expansion. • Illustrate how railroads affected development of the West (e.g., ease of travel, influence on trade and impact on environment, etc.). • Compare and contrast conflicts between various groups in the West (e.g., miners, ranchers, cowboys, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and European and Asian immigrants, etc.).