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Settling the Great Plains
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- Did you and your family follow in the footsteps of many other "gold rushers" and move West to settle on the Great Plains? Why did you go?
- How was the journey? What type of problems arose? Was there enough food and water? Did you have negative encounters with natives or weather?
- Where did you settle? Was it an unpopulated area, or did you move into a town? Did you stake a claim through a land office, or did you buy your land from someone else?
- What did you find in the Great Plains? Gold? Freedom? Land? Was it exactly what you were looking for?
- What type of work did you and your family members do at this time? Were you a miner, railroad worker, farmer, or employed by the government?
- Did you or any of your family members have experiences with Native Americans? What happened? How did you feel about the natives? Did you fear them?
- As the railroad was built, its modern advances substantially changed the Great Plains, did you expect it to have such a strong impact?
- Did you and your family live by a railroad? What impact did this have on your lives? Did you have access to more goods? Did you travel? Did it cause any fires or kill livestock that strayed onto the tracks?
- What type of school, if any, did your 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 you attend? Was your 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 you 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 you live in? Did you build it yourself? What was it made out of? How big was it?
- Were the winters a difficult season? What did you worry about? What hardship did each season bring?
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