Skills used
- Latitude & Longitude
- Using scale to measure distance
- Critical thinking
Vocabulary
cattle trails
Materials Needed
Globe in Horizon Ring Mounting
Lesson
Place a small "X" on your globe at the southern tip of the state of Texas near 26N/98W. Starting at that location draw a line in a northerly direction to southeastern Montana near 46N/106W. What is the distance between the Texas location and the Montana location? (1.) _____________________________
During the 1870's and 1880's teams made up of Mexican vaqueros and American cowboys herded millions of cattle along cattle trails from south Texas to northern railroads and markets. The line that you drew on your globe is the approximate route of one of these trails that stretched from the Rio Grande River to Miles City, Montana. Name two major rivers that this trail crossed. (2.) ____________________________________________________________
Though the great circle distance that you measured between these locations was about 1600 miles, the actual cattle trail the cowboys followed was closer to 2,000 miles. If it took a typical cattle drive about 165 days to make the trip along this route, what was the average distance covered each day? (3.) __________________________________________