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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the main musician at prairie dances?

2. What was especially valued for their ability to keep out the cold?

3. Which of the following was a drawback to a dugout dwelling?

4. How did Santa enter the homes of prairie families on Christmas Eve?

5. Some prairie women were called upon to perform minor surgery and to ______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what the pioneers would do on their favorite holiday.

2. Describe how a winter storm was so incapacitating to prairie families.

3. Describe the devastation of "The Grasshopper Year" in 1874.

4. What was the incident at Sand Creek and what resulted from it?

5. Why would prairie women suffer bouts of loneliness?

6. Describe a typical picnic for the homesteaders.

7. What did pioneer children do to amuse themselves?

8. What were some of the methods of transportation for people moving west to Kansas?

9. What were the two major government initiatives that forced Native Americans out of Kansas and where did they go?

10. What crops were the mainstays of Kansas crops and what else did the families eat?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why were social visits so welcome among the Kansas homesteaders? What was the nature of a typical social call from one family on another? What were some of the social events held so that groups of homesteaders could meet and form friendships? What were the usual activities that would occur at these events?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the role of the local newspaper in a frontier town. What types of information were usually included in an issue? How did the nature and tone of newspapers change as communities grew and politics reared its ugly head?

Essay Topic 3

Cowboys and cattle drives have a lasting impression on American culture yet they were active for only about a 20-year period. What was the purpose of a cattle drive? How was a cattle drive structured? Who were the personnel included on a cattle drive? What were the advantages and disadvantages of cattle drives to the Kansas homesteaders?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,011 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample