Beginnings of the American Settlement Crossword Puzzle

QUESTIONS LIST:

• dust bowl : also known as the dirty thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the american prairies during the 1930s
• bonanza farm : a large highly profitable wheat farm
• great plains : broad expansive flat land, covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the mississippi river and east of the rocky mountains
• innovations : a new idea or method
• drought : after a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall; a shortage of water results
• frontier : the extreme limit of settled land beyond which lies wilderness, especially referring to the western u.s.
• sod busters : a name given to great plains farmers
• wind erosion : a serious environmental problem and common phenomenon occurring mostly in flat, bare areas; dry, sandy soils; or anywhere the soil is loose, dry, and finely granulated
• land settlement : a place, typically one that has been uninhabited, where people establish a community
• harvest : the process or period of gathering in crops
• dry farming : a way of farming dry land in which seeds are planted deep in the ground where there is some moisture
• old northwest : territory including all the then-owned land of the united states east of the mississippi river, and northwest of the ohio river
• wheat belt : the part of the north american great plains where wheat is the dominant crop
• homestead : a piece of u.s. public land acquired by filing a record and living on and cultivating it
• homestead act : provided settlers 160 acres of public land where they were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land
• wheat : a cereal plant that is the most important kind grown in temperate countries, the grain of which is ground to make flour for bread, pasta, pastry, etc
• old west : 19th century period that exaggerated the romance, anarchy, and chaotic violence of the wild west
• mortgage : a debt instrument, secured by the collateral of specified real estate property, that the borrower is obliged to pay back with predetermined set of payments