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Moving West and Making a Home is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how settlers adapted to new land as they moved west, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.4.3-5. 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 8 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.

Moving West and Making a Home

D2.Geo.4.3-5

NameDate

Read each text, then answer the questions.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

On the Oregon Trail

An information text written for this worksheet. In the 1840s thousands of families set out from Independence, Missouri, for farmland in the Oregon Country, about 2,000 miles away. The trip took four to six months in wagons pulled by oxen. Families left in spring, so there would be grass for the animals and they could cross the mountains before the snow. Disease, especially cholera, killed more travelers than anything else. The trail crossed the lands of the Lakota, Cheyenne, Shoshone and other nations. Many meetings were for trade, but conflict grew as more wagons came.

  1. 1. Why did families leave in spring?
  2. 2. How long did the trip take?
  3. 3. Where did many families start the trail?
2.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

The California Gold Rush

An information text written for this worksheet. In January 1848 gold was found at Sutter's Mill in California. In 1849 alone about 90,000 people arrived, from the eastern United States, Mexico, Chile, China and other places. San Francisco grew from a small town of about 1,000 people to a city of about 25,000 in less than two years. California passed a tax on foreign miners that fell hardest on Mexican and Chinese miners. For California's Native peoples the Gold Rush was a disaster. Disease, hunger and killings cut their number from about 150,000 to about 30,000 by 1870.

  1. 1. Where was gold found in 1848?
  2. 2. Why did San Francisco grow so fast?
  3. 3. What does this text not tell you about the miners?

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Moving West and Making a Home

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. So there would be grass for the animals and they could cross the mountains before the snow. 2. Four to six months. 3. Independence, Missouri.
  2. 2.1. At Sutter's Mill in California. 2. Gold seekers arrived by the thousands after gold was found. 3. It does not tell you how many miners actually found gold.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.4.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.