Unit Plan Outline

1. Lesson 1
a. States in the West
i. California
ii. Nevada
iii. Utah
iv. Colorado
v. Oregon
vi. Idaho
vii. Wyoming
viii. Washington
ix. Montana
x. Alaska
xi. Hawaii
b. Lessons/Topics Covered in this Unit
i. Volcanoes and Earthquakes
ii. Climate and Natural Resources
iii. The Native Americans
iv. Lewis and Clark
v. Oregon Trail
vi. Gold Rush
vii. How America got the West-- The Big Picture
viii. Transcontinental Railroad
ix. Public Lands & Theodore Roosevelt
2. Lesson 2
a. Shaky Ground (textbook section)
i. Earthquake: a sudden shaking of the ground
ii. Faults: cracks in the Earths outer layer
iii. Most earthquakes occur in the West due to the Pacific Ocean movement
against our continent
iv. Fault Line: a break or fracture in the ground that occurs when the Earth's
tectonic plates move or shift and are areas where earthquakes are likely to
occur
v. Primary source: a document or physical object, which was written or
created during the time under study. These sources were present during an
experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event
vi. Secondary source: source interprets and analyzes primary sources
3. Lesson 3
a. Big Changes (from textbook)
i. Fiery Mountains
ii. Volcano: a mountain formed when erupted lava cools and hardens onto
Earths surface
iii. Lava: melted rock
iv. Crater: a bowl-shaped area formed at the volcanos top
v. Most volcanoes found in the west border the Pacific ocean

1. Mauna Loa, Hawaii

2. Mount Rainier, Washington
3. Mount Hood, Oregon
vi. Divergent boundaries: where new crust is generated as the plates pull
away from each other.
vii. Convergent boundaries: where crust is destroyed as one plate dives
under another.
4. Lesson 4
a. Climate
i. Mountains Affect Climate
1. Timberline: the point on the mountain line where no trees grow
ii. Setting Records
1. Wests geography creates extreme climates
a. Death Valley has hottest temperatures
b. Coldest temperature recorded at Prospect Creek, Alaska
c. Mount Waialeale, Hawaii has 335 days of rain a year
5. Lesson 5
a. Natural Resources
i. Land
1. Most land too mountainous or dry for farming; Pacific coast exception
a. California is nations leading agriculture state
b. Oregon produces grains, vegetables, and fruits
2. Flatter, drier parts of West depend on ranching
3. Mountainous areas use forests to make lumber and paper products
4. Water
a. Major rivers: Missouri, Colorado, and Columbia
b. Major lakes: Great Salt Lake
c. Coastal waters provide rich fish and shellfish
6. Lesson 6
a. Early People
i. Different Cultures
1. Indian groups: Shoshone, Paiute, Yokuts, Pomo, and Makah
2. Great basin groups use nomadic ways of life
a. survived on small animals, nuts, seeds, and roots
b. made flour from acorns and hunted deer and rabbits
3. Trading Networks
a. Rivers made long-distance travel possible and created trade
networks
i. Dalles waterfall on Columbia River was major trading
center
b. Chinook created language to help communicate with other
groups

7. Lesson 7
a. Lewis and Clark
i. In 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led a journey to explore the West.
ii. They had help from a Shoshone woman name Sacagawea.
iii. They reached the Pacific in 1805.

8. Lesson 8
a. The Way West
i. Starting in 1843, thousands of settlers drove wagons through the South Pass to
live in the West.
ii. Beyond the Mountains
iii. Most travelers joined wagon trains.
iv. A wagon train is a group of wagons, each pulled by horses, mules, or oxen.
v. Few people settled in the mountains where conditions were harsh.
vi. Many settlers tried for Oregon Country which is now Oregon, Washington, and
parts of other states.
b. Oregon Country had rich soil, mild climate, and lots of rain where farmers were able to
grow food.

9. Lesson 9
a. Gold! (from textbook)
i. Gold discovered at Sutters Mill near Sacramento, California in 1848
ii. News of the gold nuggets spread quickly
iii. 80,000 people traveled to California in search of gold, called forty-niners, in
1849

iv. People journeyed to California from all over by covered wagon

v. Boomtowns sprung up with high populations of newcomers to California
10. Lesson 10
a. Using Primary Sources
i. Artifacts such as mining tools, golden nuggets
ii. Documents and images help tell personal stories of the historical event
iii. Impact media had on people and communication at the time
11. Lesson 11
a. Lewis and Clark
i. 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left to explore the west
ii. Traveled from St. Louis to North Dakota
iii. Sacagawea joined as a guide and led to Pacific Ocean
b. States 49 and 50
i. US bought Alaska from Russia in 1867
ii. Hawaii became a territory of the US in 1898
iii. Pacific territories: Guam, American Samoa, and other islands
12. Lesson 12
a. Pony Express: 1860-1861 (18 months) Carried mail to the west
i. Worked like a relay race- each rider rode for 75 miles then passed it to a
new team
ii. Mail could reach California in 10 days
iii. This was in 8 states: California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming,
Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.
b. Telegraph: A machine that uses electricity to send messages over wires
i. Began being used in 1861
ii. Morse code: Messages are sent through wires by tapping out the letters of
each word on a telegraph key. The key was in Morse code.
iii. The telegraph replaced the Pony Express because it was much quicker.
Messages could be sent and received from coast to coast within minutes.

iv. Key to Morse Code

13. Lesson 13
a. Transcontinental Railroad: One Company laid tracks in Nebraska and another
started in California and they combined to form a large railway system that
brought more people to settle out west.
b. Important dates
i. Promontory, Utah: where the tracks met on May 10, 1869 allowing for
travel from New York to California to take less than 2 weeks.
ii. June 28, 1861 Judah and the Big Four formed the Central Pacific Railroad
Company.
iii. October 27, 1862: The Central Pacific Railroad laid tracks east from
Sacramento.
iv. July 1865: The Union Pacific Railroad laid track east from Iowa.
v. May 10, 1869: The Last Spike was driven at a ceremony in Utah. This is
known as the Golden Spike
c. Chinese and Irish immigrant workers helped build the railroad
d. Ulysses Grant was the President at this time.
e. The Big Four: a group of men who played a vital role in the building of the
Transcontinental Railroad
i. Collis Huntington
ii. Leland Stanford
iii. Charles Crocker
iv. Mark Hopkins
14. Lesson 14
a. Limits on Land Use
i. Limits are set on how certain areas of land can be used (ex: National parks
like Yellow Stone National Park
ii. President Theodore Roosevelt kept many national parks safe by making
them public land.
b. Managing Land
i. Early settlers of West based economy mining, farming, ranching, logging,
and fishing
ii. Government believed that they should own land with certain resources, or
public land
iii. The government requires users of public land and resources to pay rent
today