History Practice Quiz: Mining, Railroads, Labor Laws, Technology, and Immigration

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key historical figures, inventions, mining discoveries, railroad expansions, and labor milestones.

Comstock Lode

A rich silver and gold deposit discovered in Nevada that brought fame to Virginia City.

Lode

A rich vein of gold or silver.

Henry Comstock

The individual associated with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

Virginia City

The city that became famous due to the discovery of the Comstock Lode.

Golden Spike

The spike driven to mark the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Boomtown

A town that grew rapidly because of mining opportunities.

Ghost Town

A abandoned town that many boomtowns transformed into after mining opportunities disappeared.

Rebate

A practice of giving secret discounts to a railroad's biggest customers.

Pool

An agreement among railroad companies to divide business and keep prices high.

Standard Track Gauges

Standardized rail spacing that made railroad transportation cheaper and faster.

Vigilante

A citizen who enforced the law themselves, commonly emerging due to a lack of law enforcement in western towns.

Lewis Hine

An investigative photographer who took over $5{,}000$ photographs exposing child labor.

Breaker Boys

Children working in coal mines who sorted coal and frequently suffered from black lung disease.

Black Lung Disease

A respiratory disease commonly contracted by coal workers and breaker boys.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The federal law that established the minimum wage and the $40$-hour work week.

Strikebreakers

Replacement workers hired to take the place of laborers while a strike was taking place.

Knights of Labor

A labor organization that fought for shorter workdays and equal pay.

Haymarket Riot

A violent clash in Chicago that damaged the public reputation of labor unions.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A factory disaster in which nearly $150$ people died, leading to the creation of building codes, sprinkler requirements, and fire drills.

Henry Ford

An industrialist most closely associated with mass production achieved through the assembly line.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor associated with the creation of the telephone.

Thomas Edison

The inventor who created the light bulb, the phonograph, and the electric power plant.

George Eastman

The inventor who developed the lightweight Kodak Camera.

Transatlantic Cable

An underwater communications cable associated with Cyrus Field that connected the United States and Europe.

Christopher Latham Sholes

The inventor credited with creating the typewriter.

Wright Brothers

Former bicycle mechanics who invented the airplane, attracting early military interest for locating enemy positions.

Patent

A legal license that protects an invention.

Ellis Island

The nation's main immigration processing center, through which approximately $12\text{ million}$ immigrants entered.

Statue of Liberty

The famous statue located on Liberty Island.

Central Pacific

The transcontinental railroad company that constructed tracks heading east from California.

Lincoln Funeral Train

The famous train that transported President Abraham Lincoln's body to Illinois after his assassination.