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Boom Towns is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on towns that grew around a resource or a railhead, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.8.3-5. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 25 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Boom Towns

D2.Geo.8.3-5

NameDate

Draw a line from each town to the reason it boomed.

1.Draw a line from each one to its match.
  • Virginia City, Nevada, 1859
  • Leadville, Colorado, 1877
  • Abilene, Kansas, 1867
  • Beaumont, Texas, 1901
  • A.A railhead where cowboys drove cattle north on the Chisholm Trail
  • B.Boomed after the Spindletop oil gusher
  • C.Grew over the Comstock Lode, a huge find of silver
  • D.A silver boom town high in the Rocky Mountains
2.Draw a line from each one to its match.
  • Dodge City, Kansas, 1872
  • Bodie, California, 1870s
  • Skagway, Alaska, 1897
  • Sacramento, California, 1849
  • A.The port where gold seekers started for the Klondike
  • B.Grew as the supply town for miners near Sutter's Mill
  • C.Grew as a market where hunters sold bison hides to ship east by rail
  • D.A gold-mining town that is now an empty ghost town

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.8.3-5 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Boom Towns

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Virginia City, Nevada, 1859 — C (Grew over the Comstock Lode, a huge find of silver) 2. Leadville, Colorado, 1877 — D (A silver boom town high in the Rocky Mountains) 3. Abilene, Kansas, 1867 — A (A railhead where cowboys drove cattle north on the Chisholm Trail) 4. Beaumont, Texas, 1901 — B (Boomed after the Spindletop oil gusher)
  2. 2.1. Dodge City, Kansas, 1872 — C (Grew as a market where hunters sold bison hides to ship east by rail) 2. Bodie, California, 1870s — D (A gold-mining town that is now an empty ghost town) 3. Skagway, Alaska, 1897 — A (The port where gold seekers started for the Klondike) 4. Sacramento, California, 1849 — B (Grew as the supply town for miners near Sutter's Mill)

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.8.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.