Westward Expansion Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on westward expansion, from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 to the land run of 1889.

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Westward Expansion Crossword

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Answer key: Westward Expansion Crossword

1WAG2ON3TRAINXEER4G5FNR6SODRIL7HOMESTEADNOR8SETTLERU9MIYSIE10THN11PRAIRIEEE12RAILROADTY

Across 1 WAGONTRAIN · 6 SOD · 7 HOMESTEAD · 8 SETTLER · 11 PRAIRIE · 12 RAILROAD

Down 2 OXEN · 3 TERRITORY · 4 GOLDRUSH · 5 FRONTIER · 9 MINER · 10 TREATY

Next step Print the gold rush worksheetsFind US history words in a word search

All 116 clues

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Purchases, Treaties and Borders 21

  • Alamo Mission where a 13-day siege ended on March 6, 1836
  • Alaska Russian America, transferred in 1867
  • Annexation Taking in of a neighboring land, as in 1845
  • Boundary Line where one country's land ends
  • Cession Mexican ___: region handed over in the 1848 peace
  • Compromise Missouri ___ of 1820, with its line at 36°30′
  • Destiny Manifest ___: belief that Americans were meant to spread across the continent
  • Florida Spain gave it up in 1819
  • France It sold Louisiana in 1803 for $15 million
  • Mexico Nation that ceded California in 1848
  • Ordinance Northwest ___: 1787 act for the lands north and west of the Ohio
  • Oregon ___ Country: region whose dispute with Britain ended in 1846
  • Parallel The 49th ___: a line agreed in 1846
  • Purchase Louisiana ___: 1803 deal that nearly doubled the country
  • Republic Texas was one from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846
  • Rio Grande Recognized in 1848 as the southern edge of Texas
  • Section One square mile of public land, or 640 acres
  • Statehood Admission to the Union
  • Territory Political area ruled from Washington before it becomes a state
  • Township Square of land six miles on a side, in the 1785 system
  • Treaty Pact between governments, like the one of June 15, 1846

Trails, Wagons and Rivers 26

  • Axle Shaft with a wheel at each end
  • Canal The Erie one, finished in 1825, reached Lake Erie
  • Chimney ___ Rock: Nebraska formation that served as a landmark
  • Columbia Largest river of the Northwest, reached by the explorers in 1805
  • Conestoga Freight hauler in use as early as 1717
  • Cumberland ___ Gap: way through the Appalachians near Kentucky
  • Divide Continental ___: line that splits rivers bound for different oceans
  • Emigrant Traveler leaving one home for a new one far away
  • Ferry Paid crossing by boat
  • Flatboat Rectangular freight boat with square ends
  • Ford Place to wade a river with wheels and stock
  • Independence Jumping-off town called the Queen City of the Trails
  • Laramie Fort ___: 19th-century trading post, later a military installation
  • Oxen Draft cattle that many travelers favored by 1842
  • Pass South ___: wagon gap in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming
  • Pioneer One of the first to make a home in a new region
  • Platte River whose valley gave several trails west their route
  • Rockies The big western mountains, for short
  • Ruts Grooves that iron-rimmed wheels wore into the ground
  • Santa Fe Mexican provincial capital at the end of a trade route opened in 1821
  • Schooner Ship word in a nickname for the covered wagon
  • Steamboat Vessel whose engine turns paddlewheels or propellers
  • Wagon train Caravan of covered rigs bound for new land
  • Wilderness ___ Road: early route from the East to Kentucky
  • Willamette Northwest valley that was the destination of choice for ox-drawn caravans
  • Yoke Beam that couples two draft animals

Gold, Mail and Rails 24

  • Boomtown Community with sudden and rapid growth
  • China Country of origin of many laborers who built the line from the California end
  • Claim Plot marked off by its finder to work or to farm
  • Colorado The Pike's Peak boom that began in July 1858 was later named for it
  • Forty-niner Person who took part in the rush of 1849
  • Ghost town Abandoned or largely depopulated place
  • Gold rush It brought about 300,000 people to California
  • Locomotive Steam-driven puller of rail cars
  • Lode Comstock ___: silver ore body made public in 1859
  • Mail Pony Express riders carried it between Missouri and California
  • Miner Digger for gold or silver
  • Nugget Naturally occurring piece of native gold
  • Pan Shallow dish swirled to wash gold out of gravel
  • Placer ___ mining: working the deposits of a stream bed
  • Promontory Summit in Utah where the line was officially completed
  • Prospector One who hunts for ore
  • Railroad The first one across the continent was done in 1869
  • Relay Pony Express method: one fresh horse and rider after another
  • Sawmill Gold was found at one in Coloma on January 24, 1848
  • Sierra ___ Nevada: mountains that were a chief obstacle for the builders
  • Sluice Long box that washes gold from gravel with running water
  • Spike Golden ___: 17.6-karat ceremonial fastener of May 10, 1869
  • Stagecoach Four-wheeled public transport of the days before rails
  • Telegraph Its coast-to-coast line was completed on October 24, 1861

Homesteads, Ranches and the Plains 25

  • Abilene Town whose first carloads of cattle left on September 5, 1867
  • Barbed wire Inexpensive steel strands set with points at intervals; its modern form dates from 1874
  • Brand Mark put on livestock to identify the owner
  • Cabin Small house of logs
  • Chuckwagon Mobile field kitchen for crews on the move
  • Cowboy Ranch hand in the saddle
  • Dugout Earth lodge or pit-house, by another name
  • Exoduster Name for an African American who moved to Kansas in the migration of 1879
  • Frontier Edge of the country's populated land; the census tracked it to 1890
  • Homestead Farm granted under the land act of 1862
  • Lasso Lariat, or riata
  • Locust Rocky Mountain ___: insect whose swarm of 1875 covered more ground than California
  • Longhorn Cattle whose horns can span more than 8 feet from tip to tip
  • Oklahoma Its land run began at high noon on April 22, 1889
  • Plains Great ___: broad flatland east of the Rocky Mountains
  • Plow Farm tool that opens furrows for seed
  • Prairie Shortgrass, mixed grass or tallgrass, for example
  • Range Open ___: land where cattle roam freely
  • Roundup Bringing the herd together for counting
  • Settler One who comes to stay and farm new land
  • Sod Grass-and-earth blocks used for house walls
  • Sooner One who entered the Unassigned Lands before the official start in 1889
  • Stampede Sudden run of a whole herd in the same direction
  • Title Legal ownership, earned after five years on the land
  • Vaquero Horse-mounted herder whose ways the cowhands of the north took up

Explorers, Trappers and Native Nations 20

  • Beaver Animal whose pelt the fur business was built on
  • Bison Great grazer of the grasslands, miscalled a buffalo
  • Cherokee One of five peoples forced out of the Southeast
  • Clatsop Fort ___: the explorers' camp in the winter of 1805 to 1806
  • Corps ___ of Discovery: army unit sent to study the Louisiana lands
  • Expedition Journey of exploration, such as the one that ended in 1806
  • Guide One who shows travelers the way
  • Journal Daily record; the explorers brought several back to President Jefferson
  • Keelboat Boat built near Pittsburgh in 1803 for the first year of the journey
  • Mandan Fort ___: winter camp of 1804 to 1805, named in honor of the explorers' hosts
  • Mountain man Explorer of the fur country who lived off the land
  • Pacific Ocean the explorers reached in 1805
  • Portage Hauling canoes and cargo past rapids on foot
  • Removal Indian ___ Act: law signed by Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830
  • Rendezvous Fair where furs were sold and supplies restocked, 1825 to 1840
  • Reservation Land held and governed by a tribal government
  • Shoshone Lemhi ___: a people named in the story of Sacagawea
  • St. Louis City the explorers returned to with their maps and sketches
  • Tears Trail of ___: forced displacement of about 60,000 Native Americans
  • Trapper One who took pelts for a living

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for United States history classes from grade 4 to grade 8. Dates and figures were checked against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and six milestone documents of the National Archives (archives.gov), among them the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, the Homestead Act and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in October 2026. Licence: own work

How it works

This westward expansion crossword puzzle fits Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 basic words, among them Frontier, Homestead, Wagon train, Gold rush, Territory, Railroad and Prairie. Answers are terms, places and nations, never a person.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the basics

Purchases, Treaties and Borders has Annexation, Cession, Township and Alamo. Trails, Wagons and Rivers has Conestoga, Schooner, Platte and Yoke. Gold, Mail and Rails has Forty-niner, Sluice, Telegraph and Promontory. Homesteads, Ranches and the Plains has Dugout, Barbed wire, Chuckwagon and Sooner. Explorers, Trappers and Native Nations has Keelboat, Rendezvous, Removal and Reservation.

Dates and figures a class can check

Clues carry the numbers of the unit: $15 million for Louisiana in 1803, the 36°30′ line of 1820, about 300,000 people drawn to California, the 17.6-karat spike of May 10, 1869, and high noon on April 22, 1889.

  • Removal, Tears, Cherokee and Reservation are clued plainly from the record. Read the Native Nations set yourself before you print it for a class.

Questions and answers

What grade is the westward expansion crossword puzzle for?

Westward Expansion Basics suits grades 4 to 6, with answers such as Pioneer, Settler, Oxen and Bison. The five themed sets fit a United States history unit in grades 5 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Does the westward expansion crossword puzzle have an answer key?

Yes. Every print finishes with a key sheet: the filled grid, then each answer by its clue number. It costs nothing and needs no sign-up.

What was Manifest Destiny?

The belief, held in the United States in the 19th century, that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America. Destiny is an answer in the borders set.

What did the Homestead Act of 1862 do?

It granted adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence, as the National Archives puts it. Homestead and Title are both answers.

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