How do natural resources

affect a region’s growth?

Draw Conclusions
Make a trifold book
foldable to take
notes as you read
Unit 5. Label the three tabs
Geography, Economy, and
People.

:Xdcdbn

For more about Unit 5 go to

www.macmillanmh.com

The Midwest
193
 Jacques Marquette New France
French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the
area of the Mississippi River in 1673. They called the area
New France.
Today you can learn more about the Mississippi River and its
explorers at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in
Dubuque, Iowa..

Laura Ingalls Wilder Wilder’s Log Cabin

If you ever read a book called Little House on the Prairie, you
read about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life on the frontier.
Today you can visit Wilder’s Log Cabin in Pepin,
Wisconsin.

194 Unit 5
 For more about People, Places, and Events, visit:
www.macmillanmh.com

Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
Our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln, was born and
raised in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln’s parents were among the
first settlers to move to the Midwest.
Today you can visit the Lincoln Home National Historic
Site to learn more about Abraham Lincoln.

The Great Lakes Bill Hartwig

The Great Lakes are five gigantic lakes in the Midwest. Bill
Hartwig of the National Wildlife Refuge System is one of the
many people who work to keep the Great Lakes clean.
Today the Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater
lakes in the world. They’re so big you can see them from space!

195
 Midwest

Lake
Sakakawea

ND
Bismarck

The Midwest is home to both 1 Mount Rushmore honors Presidents

Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and SD
important and fun places Lincoln. Each head is about 60 feet tall.
0 100 200 miles Lake Oahe
to visit. 0 100 200 kilometers
BLACK Pierre
HILLS
BADLANDS

W E

S NE

KS

A rk a
n
R i ve s a s
r

The American Bison was very important

5
to Native Americans. Today there are
about 350,000 in the United States.

196 Unit 5
 Cheese and other dairy
2
products are a very important
part of the economy of the
Midwest.

Some say that the giant

3
footsteps of Paul Bunyan
and his blue ox, Babe,
created Minnesota’s
10,000 lakes.
CANADA

MESABI Lake Superior

RANGE Keweenaw
Peninsula
Tettegouche Apostle Islands
State Park National Lakeshore
UPPER PENINSULA

MN
SUPERIOR UPLAND
Lake
St. Paul Huron
Mi
ssi Lake Ontario
ssi
G

pp WI
iR LOWER
iv PENINSULA
R

Lake
er

Michigan MI
E

Madison Lansing Lake

A

Detroit Erie
T

IA CENTRAL PLAINS
Chicago

ve r ALLEGHENY
Missouri

Des Moines
Ri R i ve r
PLATEAU
P l at t e h
bas
P

OH
IN
Wa

Lincoln
IL Columbus r
L

R i ve

e
Indianapolis R iv
r
A

MO Springfield
o
Ohi

Wayne
I

National Forest
Topeka
N

St. Louis
Jefferson i ve r
Ohio R
S

The Indianapolis 500 is one of

City 4
the most famous car races in
INTERIOR
PLAINS OZ AR K the world.
PL AT E AU
Mark Twain
National Forest

197
 Lesson 1 The
VOCABULARY
fertile p. 200
Geography
prairie p. 202
of the
Midwest
READING SKILL
Draw Conclusions
Copy the chart. Use it to
draw conclusions about
the Mississippi River.

Text Clues Conclusion

STANDARDS FOCUS
SOCIAL People, Places, and
STUDIES
Environments
GEOGRAPHY Physical Systems

visual
Essential What is the geography of the Midwest?
preview
Question

The Great Lakes The Midwest has The Midwest has The Midwest has
A make a good B many rivers that C plains, hills, D hot summers,
home for plants and help make the soil mountains, and cold winters, and
animals. fertile for farming. badlands. seasonal storms.

198
 A A LAND FORMED BY WATER
The 12 states in the Midwest region are in the middle of the United
States. This region is known as the Heartland of America. Many
amazing plants and animals make this region unique and beautiful.

T he Midwest region sits between

the Appalachian Mountains and the
Plants and Animals
of the Midwest

Rocky Mountains. Although there

are no oceans in the Midwest, there’s
plenty of water. Thousands of years
ago, huge glaciers covered parts of
the Midwest. As these gigantic sheets Foxglove White-tailed
of ice moved slowly across the region, Beard Tongue Jackrabbit
they flattened the land and carved
out giant holes. When the glaciers
melted, they filled the holes with
water.
Today the holes created by the
glaciers are called the Great Lakes. Prairie Cone Flower Burrowing Owl
Lake Superior, Lake Michigan,
Lake Huron, and Lake Erie are in
the Midwest. Lake Ontario is in the
Northeast. Thousands of smaller
lakes were also formed by the glaciers.
Minnesota, for example, has 22,000 Black-eyed Susan Red-tailed Hawk
lakes. All of these lakes make
a good home for the region’s plants
and animals.
The plants and animals of the
Midwest have adapted to different
QUICK CHECK
Draw Conclusions Where did the water in
landforms. They have also adapted to the Great Lakes first come from?
hot summers and cold winters.

199
 B FLOWING RIVERS
When the glaciers melted thousands farmers produce crops that
of years ago, they created rivers. These are healthy.
rivers carried soil from the north and Several big rivers run through the
brought it south. The soil was fertile, or region. More than half of the Mississippi
filled with vitamins and minerals that River is in the Midwest. The Ohio River
plants need to grow. Many of the states in creates a southern border for Ohio,
the Midwest, such as Iowa and Ohio, now Indiana, and Illinois. The Missouri River
have lots of fertile soil. Fertile soil lets flows into the Mississippi from the west.

Mississippi
River

M Minneapolis
iss
ou
ri
Ri
ve
r

Omaha

Kansas City

200 Lesson 1
 The Missouri is more than 2,300 miles
long. This river has been nicknamed the
Samuel Clemens, “Big Muddy” for the amount of dirt it
also known as Mark carries in its waters. To get an idea of
Twain, became one of
our country’s best-known
how much water is in the Midwest, take
writers. Many of Twain’s a look at the map below. You can see that
novels take place on or many of the region’s cities were built
near the Mississippi River.
along river banks.
Samuel Clemens
QUICK CHECK
Summarize How did glaciers improve
Midwestern soil?

St. Paul

Cincinnati
er
Riv
io
Oh

Louisville
St. Louis
201
 C LANDFORMS OF THE MIDWEST
The Midwest is mostly flat land. There Harney Peak, in the Black Hills
are very few hills or mountains. When mountains of South Dakota, is 7,242 feet
glaciers moved down the region, they above sea level. Underneath the Black
flattened hills and filled valleys with dirt. Hills is Wind Cave. Wind Cave has more
This created plains, or flat lands covered than 100 miles of winding passages. Alvin
by grasses and wildflowers. Plains covered McDonald explored the cave in the 1890s.
by grasses and wildflowers are called Read about his experience below.
prairies.

Mountains and Hills

Glaciers didn’t flatten all of the hills
Primary Sources
and mountains in the Midwest. There are
hills in parts of Ohio, Michigan, and even They are still finding new rooms at
the Wind Cave and we have about
Illinois. The farther you move away from
come to the conclusion there is no
the Great Lakes, the higher the land gets.
end to it.
The plains slowly give way to hills, and Alvin McDonald
by the time you get as far away from the
Great Lakes as you can within the region,
you are in the mountains.

Write About It What did Alvin

McDonald conclude about Wind Cave?

202 Lesson 1X
The Badlands
The Midwest has lakes, rivers, prairies,
and mountains with caves. Is that all, you
Wind Cave National
ask? No! There are also badlands in the Park is home to one of
Midwest. Badlands are very dry lands the world’s longest caves
that have been chipped away by wind and and 28,295 acres of
prairie, pine forest, and
water. The wind and water carved out diverse wildlife.
canyons, ravines, gullies (narrow and deep Wind Cave
holes that were created by water), and
other such landforms. Badlands usually Park in the Oglala National Grassland
have a spectacular color that ranges from of Nebraska. Wind, water, and erosion
dark black or blue to bright red. have twisted the peaks and rocks of these
It just so happens that all of the badlands into unusual shapes.
badlands in the United States are in
the Midwest. In North Dakota, there’s
Theodore Roosevelt National Park,
QUICK CHECK
Summarize Describe the landforms of the
while Badlands National Park is in South Midwest region.
Dakota. There’s also Toadstool Geologic

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

203
 D THE CLIMATE OF THE MIDWEST

Tornadoes whirl around at speeds

of up to 200 miles per hour.

Temperatures in the Midwest can vary

widely. The areas around the Great Lakes
may also experience what is called the lake
effect. Since water takes longer to heat and
cool than land, the air over the water is
often hotter or cooler than the air over the 1. VOCABULARY Summarize this lesson
in a paragraph using the vocabulary words
land. When winds blow across the lakes, below.
they carry this hot or cool air over the land, fertile prairie
affecting the temperature.
2. READING SKILL Draw Text Clues Conclusion

Storms occur in the Midwest, too. In Conclusions Use the chart from
winter, heavy snowstorms whip across the page 198 to write a paragraph
plains. In summer, strong winds can form about why the Mississippi River is so large.
dangerous, destructive tornadoes. 3. Write About It Write a
Essential
Question paragraph about how the geography of
the Midwest drew people to settle
QUICK CHECK there.
Cause and Effect How do the Great Lakes cause
climate changes in the Midwest?

204 Lesson 1
 Compare Bar and Line Graphs
VOCABULARY A graph is a special kind of diagram that shows facts
bar graph clearly. A bar graph uses bars to show information.
line graph A line graph shows how something has changed
over time.
The bar graph below shows the value of Iowa’s top five
farm products in 2004. The line graph below shows how
the population of the Midwest has changed.

A: Iowa’s Top Farm Products, 2004

• Graph A is a bar graph. It shows the 5

value of Iowa’s top farm products in

Value in Billions of Dollars
4
2004. The height of the bars tells the
value of each product in 2004. 3

• Graph B is a line graph. The numbers 2

on the left of the line graph represent
the population of the Midwest region. 1
The labels at the bottom show the
years that the graph covers. 0
Corn Hogs Soybeans Cattle Dairy
Product

• What was the population of the B: Population of the Midwest,

Midwest in 1910? 1850–2000

• What product had the most value in 70

Iowa in 2004?
Population in Millions

60
50
40
30
• Find the number and kinds of pets 20
your classmates have. Decide which
kind of graph would be best to show 10
the information. Make the graph. 0
1850 1880 1910 1940 1970 2000
Year

205
 The
Lesson 2
VOCABULARY Economy
iron p. 208
ore p. 208
of the
open-pit mining p. 208
agribusiness p. 210
mass production
p. 212
Midwest
assembly line p. 212

READING SKILL
Draw Conclusions
Copy the chart. Use it to
draw conclusions about
the future of the Midwest’s
economy.

Text Clues Conclusion

STANDARDS FOCUS
SOCIAL Production, Distribution,
STUDIES
and Consumption Cleveland Cliffs Iron Ore Mine
GEOGRAPHY Environment and Society and Mill in Republic, Michigan

visual
Essential How have people made a living in the Midwest over time?
preview
Question

WI

MI

Natural resources By the 1900s, the Manufacturing Today the service

A have always
B Midwest had C and agriculture D and technology
been an important part become a giant in steel are important to the industries are important
of the region’s economy. production. Midwest economy. to the Midwest.

206
 A A RICH LAND
The Midwest’s economy starts with the land. The land provides
energy sources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as
metals, such as iron and copper.

Resources of the Midwest

8dVa CVijgVa ND
\Vh

MN WI
8deeZg D^a SD

IA MI
>gdc L^cYb^aah NE
OH
IL
IN
KS

MO

Map Skill
LOCATION Which states have both oil
and coal as a natural resource?

Y ou already know that a region’s

economy depends heavily on the
hills and mountains you find metals.
Metals are a valuable resource.
natural resources found in the region. That’s not all the Midwest has. It
The Midwest has many. also has wind! Strong winds that blow
The region’s water resources across the Midwest are an incredible
include the Great Lakes and rivers energy source. They turn the blades
such as the Ohio, Mississippi, and of wind turbines that are used to
Missouri. These waterways are used create electricity.
to ship goods across the country.
The rich soil of the Midwest QUICK CHECK
provides ideal conditions for farming. Summarize What energy resources can be
When you go underground or in found in the Midwest?

207
 B MINING FOR METAL
Iron is an important resource in the ground so miners don’t need to dig deep
Midwest. Iron is valuable because it can tunnels to reach it. Instead, miners dig
be turned into steel—a strong metal used a pit, remove the top layer of earth, and
to make buildings, tools, and cars. In the scoop up the ore beneath. This is called
1800s, iron ore was found in Minnesota open-pit mining.
and Michigan. Ore is a rock with iron
or another mineral inside. Iron mining Steel and Skyscrapers
became big business in the Midwest. Steel changed the economy of the
Midwest. The demand for steel across
Minnesota has one of the richest
the United States soared in the 1800s and
supplies of iron ore in the world. The iron
1900s. Factories sprang up to turn the
ore is found just below the surface of the
region’s iron into steel.

Open-Pit Mine

surface

access
road

pit bottom

ore
Open-pit iron ore mine in Republic,
Michigan

208 Lesson 2
 By 1900 the Midwest had become a giant
in steel production. Steel was used to
make railroad cars, bridges, tall buildings,
planes, and cars.
Sears
Tower
QUICK CHECK
Main Idea and Details How did steel change the
economy of the Midwest?

How an Elevator Works

electric motor

cables

guide
rail

elevator
car

counter
weight
buffer
FPO

The invention of the first safety elevator in 1852

changed history. Before safe elevators, buildings were 5
to 6 stories tall at most. After the elevator, buildings got
taller and taller.

209
 Soybeans being loaded onto
a truck in Minnesota

C AGRICULTURE ON THE PRAIRIE

Early Midwestern farms were small. Wisconsin and Michigan raise cows for
A farm family ate most of what they their milk. Some of this milk is used to
produced. After machines were invented make milk products, including cheese.
to help farmers plant and harvest more Midwestern farming has changed over
crops faster, farmers could raise crops time. Big companies now own some
for money. The most important cash Midwest farmland. A large farm owned by
crops in the Midwest are corn, soybeans, a company is called an agribusiness.
and wheat. Iowa grows the most corn
and soybeans in the United States, while
Kansas raises the most wheat. QUICK CHECK
Sequence Events Describe how Midwestern
Dairy farming is also important to the farming has changed over time.
Midwestern economy. Many farms in

210 Lesson 2
 Kansas Wheat
Midwestern crops are used to feed people
and animals across the United States. This is
how the region earned its nickname “America’s
Breadbasket.” These crops are also used to feed Djibouti
people around the world.

The Midwest does a huge business in farm

exports, or the sale of crops to other nations. In
2003, Kansas farms earned $3 billion by selling
their goods to other countries. The most important
Kansas crop is wheat. More than half of Kansas’s
wheat is sold to other countries.

Japan, Mexico, Djibouti, and Nigeria are some

of the countries that buy Kansas wheat. Japan is
a nation with little land and many people. This
means it must buy agricultural products from other
countries. Although Mexico and Nigeria are nations ↑ Workers in Djibouti load bags of wheat
from the United States onto a ship
with plenty of farmland, wheat does not grow well in headed for Ethiopia .
their countries’ hot climates.

A wheat field in Kansas

Kansas

Write About It Write a paragraph about

why other countries may import agricultural
products from the United States.

211
 1
2
Assembly Line

4 3

D CHANGING THE WORLD

In the early 1900s, many Midwestern or a line of workers and machines that
cities became manufacturing centers. put together a product in steps. Each
Detroit, Michigan, was famous for cars, worker or machine does one task, again
Toledo, Ohio, for glass, and Minneapolis, and again. The diagram above shows the
Minnesota, for flour mills. As machines steps from start to finish in Ford’s early
did more and more of the work on farms, assembly line.
people who lived in the countryside
moved to Midwestern cities to find jobs in
factories.

New Methods of Manufacturing

In Detroit, carmaker Henry Ford
spent years researching ways to build
cars quickly and cheaply. In 1913 Ford
began creating cars through mass
production. This is the manufacturing of
many products at one time. Ford made
thousands of cars on an assembly line,

212 Lesson 2
 1 Car body is placed on assembly line.
2 Seats, top, and sides are attached to car body.
3 Meantime gas tank and engine are attached to frame.
4 Wheels and steering wheel are attached to frame.
5 Frame moves along line to meet body.
6 Car body is attached to frame.

Chart Skill
6
As the car body moved, the seats,
sides, and top were added. Then the
engine and wheels were attached to the
car frame. What was the last step?

Working in the Midwest Today

Jobs in the Midwest have continued to
change. More people work in the service
industry. Some service workers have jobs
in hotels, banks, or insurance companies.
Many Midwesterners have jobs in
technology. Illinois has one of the
world’s largest laboratories for studying
1. VOCABULARY Write a sentence for each
atoms—Fermilab. Missouri is a leader in
vocabulary word.
medical research, or looking for ways to
cure diseases. Slowly, new industries will iron agribusiness mass production
replace the factories that once 2. READING SKILL Draw Text Clues Conclusion

led the Midwestern economy. Conclusions Use the chart

from page 206 to write
about why the Midwest
QUICK CHECK
is a good place for both agriculture and
Main Idea and Details How did
industry.
Henry Ford change the car industry?
3.
Essential
Write About It Write a
Question paragraph about iron ore in the
← Fermilab in Illinois. Midwest.

213
 Lesson 3
PEOPLE
THE
VOCABULARY
descendants p. 215
OF THE MIDWEST
pioneer p. 217
migration p. 217
tradition p. 219

READING SKILL
Draw Conclusions
Copy the chart. As you
read, list reasons why
people came to the
Midwest.

Text Clues Conclusion

Native American
Hoop Dancer

STANDARDS FOCUS
SOCIAL Culture
STUDIES

GEOGRAPHY Human Systems

visual
Essential Who are the people of the Midwest?
preview
Question

Native Americans Many people Today immigrants The Midwest is

A were the first B from Europe C to the Midwest D home to many
Midwesterners. Many made the Midwest their come from all around great artists, musicians,
of their mounds remain. home. the world. writers, and athletes.

214
 A THE FIRST MIDWESTERNERS
Native Americans were the first people of the Midwest. Today
Midwesterners are the descendants, or the children and
grandchildren, of Native Americans and immigrants who have
come to the Midwest from around the world.

H undreds of years ago, a group

of people that were called mound
The Lakota live in the Midwest,
too. They are part of a group known
builders lived in the Midwest. as the Plains peoples. In the past,
They were called mound builders they lived on the plains of Nebraska,
because they built large hills. Mound North Dakota, South Dakota, and
builders farmed, traded, and built Minnesota. The Lakota depended on
cities. At one time, one of the buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter.
largest Mississippian cities, Cahokia, Today Lakota communities in the
may have had up to 20,000 people Midwest mix modern culture with
living there. The mound cultures traditional ways of life.
disappeared sometime around 1300.
They were replaced by other cultures.
QUICK CHECK
One of these cultures is the Ojibwa Summarize What groups of people lived in
(sometimes called Chippewa). They the Midwest hundreds of years ago?
lived in present-day Michigan and
Ohio. The Ojibwa are part of a
group of Native Americans called
the Eastern Woodlands peoples.
They hunted, fished, and sometimes
farmed in the forests and waters of
the Midwest before Europeans came
to North America. Today there
are many Ojibwa reservations in
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Grave Creek Burial Mound →

215
 Early settlers to the Midwest
traveled by flatboat.

B PEOPLE OF THE MIDWEST

In the 1500s, European fur traders Many people in these eastern cities
began exploring the Midwest for a new learned about the fertile Midwestern soil.
and inexpensive supply of furs. Around Fertile soil meant a chance for them to
1770, a fur trader named Jean Baptiste make a good living as a farmer. Many
Pointe du Sable began a trading post near decided to move to the Midwest in search
Lake Michigan. Du Sable was from the of this rich land with endless possibilities.
French colony of Haiti, an island in the As more people traveled west, new
Caribbean Sea. Du Sable’s trading post trails opened. Later settlers traveled
grew into the city of Chicago. along these new trails in covered wagons.
These wagons were pulled by horses,
Heading West
mules, or oxen. By 1850, more than five
Fur traders shipped their goods to
million people had settled in the Midwest.
Europe from ports in the Northeast.

216 Lesson 3
Most of the Native American’s land in
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were taken by
soldiers for the new settlers. Thousands of African
These first settlers to travel west were Americans traveled on the
Underground Railroad
known as pioneers. The parents of to escape slavery in the
Abraham Lincoln, our nation’s sixteenth South. By 1850 nearly
president, were pioneers. 100,000 African
Americans had fled to the
Midwest and Canada.
New Immigrants
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Underground Railroad
the population of the Midwest became
more diverse. Norwegian farmers
moved to Minnesota and people from African Americans in the Midwest
Czechoslovakia worked the land in African Americans headed to the
Nebraska. Polish immigrants found Midwest from the South to escape slavery.
factory jobs in Illinois and thousands of They traveled on what is now known as
Germans settled in Wisconsin, Missouri, the Underground Railroad—a network
and Ohio. of people who helped enslaved people
escape. William Wells Brown escaped
slavery in 1833:

“ As we traveled towards a land of

liberty, my heart would at times leap
for joy.
”
Later, African Americans moved from
the South to the Midwest to find jobs and
equality. Most settled in factory cities
in Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan. Their
move north between the years of 1914
and 1950 is called the Great Migration.
A migration is a journey from one place
to another.

QUICK CHECK
Summarize Describe the different people that
have come to the Midwest.

← Midwesterners today come from around the world.

217
 C THE MIDWEST TODAY
People from across the world continue Celebrating Cultures and Traditions
to move to the Midwest. Many Mexicans Different cultures make the Midwest
have settled in Chicago. Immigrants from fun and exciting. Many types of
East Africa and Southeast Asia live in St. celebrations honor the region’s ethnic
Paul and Minneapolis. Detroit has the heritage. People in Holland, Michigan,
largest population of Arab Americans celebrate their Dutch roots with a
in the United States. Today modern tulip festival each spring. Milwaukee,
immigrants arrive by car, bus, or plane, Wisconsin, has a large German festival
not by flatboat or wagon. every summer, and St. Louis, Missouri,
holds a Japanese festival every fall.

Map Skill
LOCATION What festivals are
closest to the Great Lakes?

218 Lesson 3
 Midwesterners also honor their region’s
history, weather, and traditions, or
customs, that make the region a great Express Your Opinion
place to live. St. Paul, Minnesota, holds a
Winter Carnival to celebrate the region’s
Three friends learned that pollution
cold weather. The Corn Palace in South
was threatening the brook trout in
Dakota is decorated with thousands of streams near their township. In an
cornstalks to celebrate farming. St. Louis effort to protect the fish, the girls
is proud of its history as the “Gateway to formed a group called Save Our
the West.” Streams (SOS). They wrote letters and
Dutch descendants celebrate
talked with people and leaders in the
their heritage during area to work on a plan for keeping the
the Tulip Festival in streams clean.
Holland, Michigan. ↓

Write About It Write a letter to your

local newspaper expressing your opinion
about an issue.

219
 D MIDWEST ART, MUSIC, AND FUN
Throughout history, the states of the them! Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed
Midwest have been home to many great helped develop rock and roll in the 1950s.
artists, musicians, writers, and athletes. Today, Cleveland is home to the Rock
Some of our nation’s best-known writers, and Roll Hall of Fame. Detroit is famous
for example, are from the Midwest. Laura for soul music. Kansas City is known for
Ingalls Wilder wrote amazing stories jazz. Bluegrass star Alison Krauss grew up
about her life as a pioneer. The poet in Illinois.
Thomas Stearns Eliot, known as T. S.
Eliot, was born in St. Louis. Read what he I am very well
had to say about it. satisfied with
having been born
The Midwest is also known for its in St. Louis.
music. What kinds of music do you like? —T.S. ELIOT
In the Midwest, the best answer is all of

Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski moved to South Dakota in

1947 to carve the Crazy Horse monument out of the
Black Hills mountains. Although he died in 1982, his
children continue working on the monument. ↓

220 Lesson 3
The 500 Mile Race
The largest sport facility in the world
is in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is called
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every
year, it holds the Indy 500 race over
Memorial weekend. In 2006, the Indy
500 race celebrated its 90th anniversary.
But that’s not all that happens at the
Speedway. Famous races such as the
Allstate 400 and the United States Grand
Prix are also held there. These races
attract thousands of visitors from around
the world.
↑ The Indianapolis 500 is held every year
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
QUICK CHECK
Summarize What are some of the things people
in the Midwest do for fun?

1. VOCABULARY Use each vocabulary word

to describe the people of the Midwest.
pioneer migration tradition
Text Clues Conclusion
2. READING SKILL Draw
Conclusions Use the chart
from page 214 to write about
why you think the Midwest inspires so
many writers and artists.
3. Essential
Write About It Write a short
Question essay about what the Great
Migration might have been like
for the people who migrated.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland, Ohio

221
 Unit 5 Review and Assess

Vocabulary Comprehension and

Copy the sentences below. Use the
Critical Thinking
list of vocabulary words to fill in the 5. How were the Great Lakes
blanks. formed?
mass production iron 6. Who was Jean Baptiste Pointe du
Sable?
fertile pioneer
7. Reading Skill Why is the
1. Wheat and corn are grown in the Midwest home to so many
_______ soil of the Midwest. musical styles? Draw
2. Henry Ford was one of the first to conclusions.
use ______in manufacturing.
8. Critical Thinking What do you
3. Steel is made in part from a think it was like to be a pioneer?
metal known as ______.
4. An early settler of the Midwest
is called a ______.

Skill
Use Line and Bar Graphs Population of
Great Lakes States, 2005
Write a complete sentence to answer 14
each question. 12
People in Millions

10
9. Which state has the largest 8

population? 6
4
10. Which state has the smallest 2
population? 0
Ohio Michigan Indiana Illinois Wisconsin Minnesota

States

222 Unit 5
 Test Preparation
Read the paragraphs. Then answer the questions.

Without warm ocean breezes, much of the Midwest

is extremely cold in the winter. Icy winds travel across
the plains, chilling everything in their path. Blizzards,
or winter storms with strong winds and snow, can form
and become dangerous.
Cities near the Great Lakes receive the heaviest
snowfall. This lake effect snow occurs when cold, dry
air from Canada meets warmer, damp air over the Great
Lakes. Moisture in the air cools and becomes snow.
Some areas can receive more than 200 inches of lake
effect snow each year.

1. What conclusions can you draw about 3. What cities receive the heaviest
winters in the Midwest? snowfall?
A. It is warmer inland in winter. A. Most of the cities in the Midwest
B. Most people leave the Midwest receive heavy snowfall.
during the winter. B. Cities near the Great Lakes
C. The weather in Canada affects C. Cities in Canada
winters in the Midwest. D. None of the cities in the Midwest
D. The weather in Canada is cold. experience heavy snowfall.

2. What causes lake effect snow? 4. How do you think the lake effect snow
A. temperatures fall below freezing affects the people of the Midwest?

B. dry air from Canada meets damp 5. What might it be like to live in a part
air over the Great Lakes of the Midwest that has an extreme
C. winds travel across the plains climate, such as the Badlands or
a desert?
D. cold air comes from Canada

223
 Activities
Write About the Big Idea
How do natural resources
affect a region’s growth? Expository Essay
Use the Unit 5 foldable to
help you write an essay that
answers the Big Idea question, :Xdcdbn

“How do natural resources

affect a region’s growth?” Be
sure to begin your essay with
an introduction. Use the notes
you wrote under each tab in the
foldable for details to support each main idea. End with
a concluding paragraph that answers the question.

Create a Diorama
Work in a small group to create a diorama
showing a pioneer family coming to the
Midwest on a flatboat or covered wagon.
Here’s how you can get started:
1. Research the pioneers who headed west.

2. Choose the structures you would like to

represent in your diorama.

3. Choose the materials you will use to

build your diorama.

4. Build the pieces and assemble the

diorama.

5. Write a paragraph telling what is

happening in your diorama.

224 Unit 5