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The West: Unit 7

Vocabulary:
magma-page 266
earthquake-page 266
conservationist-page 279
telecommunications-page 276
timberline-page 268
bison-page 280
rodeo-page 285
Geography: pg. 262-271

A vast region
*Largest region in US
*Contains 11 states
*Varies with land and climate

Many Environments
*Snow capped mountains, volcanoes, hot deserts, and thick forests
*Animals adapted to climate

Mountains and Waters

*Rocky Mountains-North Americas largest range
*Stretches form Alaska to New Mexico
*Are a young mountain range
*Formed when plates of Earths crust bump into one another pushing one to the top
*Rocky mountains formed when 2 plate collided

Rivers
*Rockies get a lot of snow-snow melts and flows down mountain to form rivers
*Begins to snow in August and dose not melt until June
*Rio Grande, Missouri, and Colorado and many tributaries were formed by melting snow

The Great Salt Lake

*Rivers and streams flow in to Utahs Great Salt lake

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*Hot weather evaporates water and leaves salt behind

*More water evaporates than enters lake so Great Salt lake is shrinking
*Lake is saltier than the ocean-because of all the salt swimmers float easily
*Too salty for fish
*Lots of shrimp live there
*Pelicans, marsh birds fed on shrimp

A Region in Motion
*Earthquake-movement of earths plates against one another-causes motion and
shaking
*Earthquakes happen frequently in/on Pacific coast

Volcanoes
*magma-melted rock from underground
*When magma pushes up from earths crust its called lava
*volcanoes shot lava and hot ash into the air
*Mount St. Helens in Washington exploded in 1980
*Kilauea in Hawaii

Hot Spots
*Yellowstone national Park is a giant collapsed volcano - last erupted 600,000 years ago
*Heat from magma warms underground springs
*Hot springs are bodies of water warmed by steam from magma
*Geyser-hot water from an underground spring that is shot into the air
*Hawaiian islands formed because of a hot spot under the Pacific Ocean

Climate in the West

*The higher you go up a mountain the colder it gets
*If you hike the Rockies you can feel the change in temperature
*timberline-an altitude were it is to high and cold for trees to grow
*Snow falls in the mountains of Hawaii

Latitude and Climate

*Latitude-how close it is the the equator helps to determine how hot is will be
*Alaska is northern most state in US and is cool in summer and cold in winter
*Latitude of Hawaii is close to equator- weather warm and tropical

Precipitation
*Olympic Peninsula in Washington is wettest area in US

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*Receives 160 inches of rain a year

*Some plants and animals in this area are found no where else
*Areas west of Rockies receive a lot of rain
*Areas east of Rockies receive very little rain

The Economy of the West: pg. 272-279

Natural Resources
*Gold was discovered in California in 1848
*Thousands of people rushed to area to make it rich
*Same thing happened in Nevada in 1859 and Alaska in 1898
*Mining minerals is important to Western economy
*Energy resources also important
*Wyoming leading producer of uranium

Alaskan Oil
*Pipe line in Alaska is 800 miles long and sends oil down to rest of US
*Built in 1968 was best way to transport the oil
*From there oil goes to refineries to be broken down into usable products

By Land and Sea

*Landforms in West vary greatly
*Some places are good for farming, some for fishing, some for industry
*Alaska-seafood biggest industry
*Hawaii-pineapples biggest industry, sugar cane
*California-fruits, nuts, vegetables
*Oregon-peas, apples, cherries, grapes, vegetables
*Washington-fishing
*Idaho-potatoes largest crop
*Wyoming, Montana, Colorado-Big Sky-lots of flat land grassy good for cattle and sheep
ranching.

Making it out West

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*Economy depends on natural resources

*Areas natural resources are used to make goods:
example forests used for making pencils, baseball bats, and lumber for houses
*Hollywood, CA movie industry

Technology
*San Jose, Santa Clara CA- famous for making computers called Silicon Valley
*Silicon is natural material used to make computer parts.
*Companies in Washington and Utah are leaders in manufacturing computer parts
*Telecommunications-technology that lets people send messages/images over long
distances.

Federal Government
*Federal Government is leading employer in area
*Hawaii-1 in 10 people work for army or navy
*2/3rds of land in Utah and 1/4 of and in Nevada used for military bases
*Flat deserts in area perfect for military testing cars, planes, and missiles
*government top manufacturing company in Utah-rocket engines
*Scientific places monitoring earthquakes and movement of earth plates

Service Jobs
*Lots of visitors come to the west every year
*Winter- come for warm weather and snow of mountains ski, snow boarding
*Hotels, restaurants, National Parks

National Parks
*conservationists-people who protect wilderness areas and the wildlife
*each year thousands of people visit the National Parks of the west

People of the West pg. 280-285

Living in the West
*Native americans from the west had different ways of life
*Some hunted, fished, gathered food from the land
*Bison-a large shaggy animal that lived on the plains (buffalo)
*People on Pacific coast lived in villages near the ocean-built sturdy homes of
cedarwood, and fished for salmon
*Farther north, Inuit, lived in icy conditions of Alaska

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Native Americans Today

*Many native Americans still live in the west
*Some live in reservations
*Lakota continue to teach their art, language, and customs to their children

Westward Ho!
*Spanish settled throughout California, and the Southwest
*Fur trappers, known as mountain men, led people through the Rocky Mountains
*1830-1840s settlers went to Oregon for farm land
*1840s Asian immigrants came to work on the railroad
Westward HO...contd
*1879 African Americans came west to find freedom-called exodusters
*1869 railroad brought more people to the west
*1900 invention of automobile brought even more settlers west
The West Today
*One of our nations fastest growing regions
*Immigrants from Asia, China, Japan, India, and Vietnam settled in the west
Sights and Celebrations
*many came for wide open space and scenery
*West has many celebrations to attract settlers and visitors
*Las Vegas, NV
*Space Needle in Seattle, WA
*Chinatown and GOlden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA
*Hollywood, CA -Movies and TV shows
*Rose Festival in Portland, OR
Ride em Cowboy
*redeo-contest in horseback, riding, roping, and other similar skills
*Way cowboys could show off their trade skills
Crow Festival
*Largest native American festival held on the Crow Agency in Montana
*1,500 teepees set up along banks of Little Big Horn River
*Dance and play drums

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