The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian and east of the Rocky Mountains, was not generally used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states. Today the term "High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains.

Much of the Great Plains became open range, or rangeland where cattle roamed free, hosting ranching operations where anyone was theoretically free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. In 1866-95, cowboys herded 10 million cattle north to rail heads such as Dodge City, Kansas and Ogallala, Nebraska; from there, cattle were shipped eastward.

Answer the following questions:
1. How many cows were sent north?
2. When?
3. Who led them?
4. Where did they go?
5. In which cities?
6. Where did the trains take them?
7. Where were cows allowed to roam freely?
8. Who was allowed to have cows?
9. When did they round them up?
10. What happened to the baby cows?
11. Who did it?
12. Where did this type of ranching begin?
13. Did it move anywhere else?
1. 10 million
2. 1866-95
3. cowboys
4. rail heads
5. Dodge City, Kansas and Ogallala, Nebraska
6. eastward
7. Much of the Great Plains
8. anyone, theoretically
9. In the spring and fall
10. branded
11. the cowboys
12. Texas
13. yes