agribusiness large-scale farming operation typically involving considerable land holdings, hired labor, and extensive use of machinery; may also involve processing and distributing as well as growing

Anglo term applied in the Southwest to English-speaking whites

aqueduct pipe or channel designed to transport water from a remote source, usually by gravity

aridity dryness; lack of enough rainfall to support trees or woody plants

assimilate to absorb immigrants or members of a culturally distinct group into the prevailing culture






barrio a Spanish-speaking community; often a part of a larger city

Bohemia region of Central Europe now part of the Czech Republic

Bozeman Trail trail that ran from Fort Laramie, Wyoming to the gold fields of Montana

branding to burn a distinctive mark into an animal’s hide using a hot iron as a way to establish ownership






Californios Spanish-speaking people born in California before it was acquired by the US

Cheyenne Indian people who became nomadic buffalo hunters after migrating to the Great Plains in the 18th century

Chief Joseph Nez Perce chief who led his people in an attempt to escape to Canada in 1877; after a grueling journey they were forced to surrender and exiled to Indian Territory

Chinatown section of a city inhabited chiefly by peoples of Chinese birth or ancestry

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 law that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the US; extended periodically until WWII

combine large harvesting machine that both cuts and threshes grain

confederacy organization of separate groups who have allied for mutual support or joint action

counting coup among Plains Indians, to win glory in battle by touching an enemy

Crazy Horse Lakota leader who resisted white encroachment in the Black Hills and fought at the Little Big Horn River in 1876; he was killed by US soldiers in 1877






Dawes Severalty Act 1887 law intended to break up Indian reservations to create individual farms (holding land in severalty) rather than maintaining common ownership of land; surplus lands were to be sold and the proceeds used to fund Indian education

dime novel cheaply produced novel of the mid-to-late 19th century, often featuring the dramatized exploits of western gunfighters






ecosystem community of animals, plants, and bacteria, considered together with the environment in which they live






famine serious and widespread shortage of food

Federick Jackson Turner American historian who argued that the frontier and cheap, abundant land were dominant factors in creating American democracy and shaping national character






Ghost Dance Indian religion centered on a ritual dance; it held out the promise of an Indian messiah who would banish the whites, bring back the buffalo, and restore the land to the Indians

Great Plains high grassland of western North America, stretching from roughly the 98th meridian to the Rocky Mountains; it is generally level, treeless, and fairly dry

Great Sioux War war between the tribes that took part in the Battle of Little Big Horn and the US Army; it ended in 1881 with the surrender of Sitting Bull






Hispanos Spanish-speaking New Mexicans

horse culture nomadic way of life of those American Indians, mostly on the Great Plains, for whom the horse brought significant changes in their ability to hunt, travel, and make war

hydraulic having to do with water moved in pipes

hydraulic mining uses water under great pressure to wash away soil from underlying mineral deposits






icon symbol, usually one with virtues considered worthy of copying






James B. (“Wild Bill”) Hickock western gambler and gunfighter who for a time was the town marshal in Abilene, Kansas






Lakota confederation of Sioux Indian peoples who lived on the northern Great Plains

Little Big Horn River Montana river where in 1876 Lieutenant Colonel George Custer attacked a large Indian encampment; Custer and most of his force died in the battle

lumber mill place where logs are sawed into rough boards






Mamie Tape Chinese girl in San Francisco whose parents sued the city in 1885 to end the exclusion of Chinese students from the public schools

meridian any of the imaginary lines representing degrees of longitude that pass through the North and South Poles and encircle the earth

mestizo person of Mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry

metropolis urban center, especially one that is dominant within a region

Mormons members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, founded in New York in 1830






nomadic moving from camp to camp throughout the year






open range unfenced grazing lands on which cattle ran freely and ownership was established through branding






peyote cult religion that included ceremonial use of the hallucinogenic peyote cactus, native to Mexico and the Southwest

placer mining form of gold mining that uses water to separate gold from gravel deposits

polygamy the practice of having more than one wife at a time; Mormons referred to this as a “plural marriage”

pueblo town created under Mexican or Spanish rules






Reclamation Act 1902 law that provided funding for irrigation of western lands and created the Reclamation Service to oversee the process

Red Cloud Lakota chief who led a successful fight to prevent the army from keeping forts along the Bozeman Trail

roundup spring event in which cowboys gathered together the cattle herds, branded newborn calves, and castrated most of the new young males

Russian-German refers to people of German ancestry living in Russia; most had come to develop agricultural areas






sedentary living year-round in fixed villages and engaging in farming

Sierra Club environmental organization formed in 1892 and now dedicated to preserving and expanding the world’s parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas

sod piece of earth on which grass is growing; on the plains, it tended to be hard-packed






tannery establishment where animal skins and hides are made into leather

Tejanos Spanish-speaking people born in Texas before it was acquired by the US

tipi conical tent made from buffalo hide and used as a portable dwelling by Indians on the Great Plains






utopia an ideally perfect place






war of attrition form of warfare based on depravation of food, shelter, and other necessities; if successful, it drives opponents to surrender out of hunger or exposure

water table level at which the ground is completely saturated with water

Willa Cather early-20th-century writer, many of whose novels chronicle the lives of immigrants and others on the American frontier

Wounded Knee Creek 1890 conflict between a band of Lakotas and US troops, sometimes characterized as a massacre because the Lakotas were so outnumbered and overpowered; the last major encounter between the Indians and the army

Wyatt Earp American frontier marshal and gunfighter involved in 1881 in a controversial shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, in which several men were killed