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Settling the Great Plains
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- Did she and her family follow in the footsteps of many other "gold rushers" and move West to settle on the Great Plains? Why did she go?
- How was the journey? What type of problems arose? Was there enough food and water? Did she have negative encounters with natives or weather?
- Where did she settle? Was it an unpopulated area, or did she move into a town? Did she stake a claim through a land office, or did she buy her land from someone else?
- What did she find in the Great Plains? Gold? Freedom? Land? Was it exactly what she were looking for?
- What type of work did she and her family members do at this time? Was she a miner, railroad worker, farmer, or employed by the government?
- Did she or any of her family members have experiences with Native Americans? What happened? How did she feel about the natives? Did she fear them?
- As the railroad was built, its modern advances substantially changed the Great Plains, did she expect it to have such a strong impact?
- Did she and her family live by a railroad? What impact did this have on their lives? Did she have access to more goods? Did she travel? Did it cause any fires or kill livestock that strayed onto the tracks?
- What type of school, if any, did her family members attend? Was there a structured school for children to go to? How many children attended? How many months out of each year was school in session?
- Was there a church for all to attend? Did she attend? Was her community religious?
- What else did the closest town contain? A dry goods store? A hotel? How did the town grow over the years?
- Was there a saloon in town? If yes, did it have noisy fights? Was this a place that she frequented?
- Were there individuals in town that had a bad reputation? What did they do? Did strangers ever come into town and cause trouble? What happened? Was there a sheriff or was the town quiet enough that it didn't need one?
- What type of home did she live in? Did she build it herself? What was it made out of? How big was it?
- Were the winters a difficult season? What did she worry about? What hardship did each season bring?
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