Informational Text Questions Standard 8-5.5
Directions: Using your Informational Text, create flash cards answering the following
questions in complete sentences.
1. Why did industry throughout the U.S. expand rapidly? Industry throughout the US
expanded rapidly due to wartime government spending and the federal government’s
support for building the Transcontinental Railroad.
2. What led to a growth in the steel and oil industries? The discoveries of iron ore and coal in
the west and the need for steel for the railroad as well as the role of entrepreneurs and
new technologies led to the growth in the steel and oil industries,
3. Why were meat packing and grain processing plants built? Meatpacking and grain
processing plants were built to make the bounty of the ranches and farms of the west and
Midwest available to people throughout the country.
4. Who provided the labor for expanding factories? Immigrants anxious to make their
fortunes in America provided the labor for expanding factories.
5. What did S.C. NOT attract during the immediate postwar period? During the immediate
postwar period, SC did not attract large numbers of immigrants looking for work.
6. How did the planter elite feel about the development of industry? The planter elite looked
down on the development of industry as a less noble calling than their antebellum
agricultural society.
7. What did Conservatives do to support the South? Conservative did very little to support
SC’s struggling industrial development.
8. What were Conservatives more interested in? Conservatives were more interested in
reviving the Old South that in fostering the birth of a New South.
9. What did major cities grow as a result of? Major cities grew as a result of their location on
track routes that connected them to suppliers and markets throughout the country.
10. What was Columbia? Columbia was a regional railroad hub served by over 100 trains a
day.
11. What did the transcontinental trains promote? The transcontinental railroad promoted the
establishment of time zones and standard time, so time in Sc was standardized too.
12. What became very important to S.C. due to the railroad boom? The textile industry that
had begun prior to the Civil war became very important.
13. What did local investors provide? Local investors provided most of the capital for the
building of textile mills, located close to the cotton fields and along rivers that would
supply power.
14. Who was attracted to mill villages? Poor farmers who could no longer make a living from
the land were attracted to mill villages that provided homes, schools, churches, and
stores in addition to jobs.
15. What were most African Americans not considered for? Most African Americans were not
considered for traditional textile mill labor.
16. Where were the first mills started? The first mills were started in the upstate, but within 15
years there were mills in the Midlands and the Lowcountry.
17. How were the textile mills modeled after New England mills? Modeled after New England
mills, these textile mills produced finished cloth on their many spindles.
18. S.C. was the second largest what? By 1910, South Carolina was the second largest textile
producing state in the nation.
19. What was life like for workers in the mill villages? Life for workers in the mill villages was
not ideal. Conditions depended upon the generosity of the mill owners and the economic
conditions of the times.
20. What happened to mill workers when depression struck? When depression struck, workers
were laid off and lost their homes as well as their jobs.
21. What made children good for working in the mills? Many children worked in the mills
where their small fingers made them better able to retie broken threads.
22. What nickname was given to workers in the mill villages? “Lint Heads”
23. What did workers in S.C. mills earn? Workers in South Carolina earned less than half of
what mill workers in other parts of the United States earned and women and children
were paid even less than men.
24. When did workers work and how many hours a week did they work? They worked from 6
am until 6 pm until Governor Tillman’s law reduced hours to 66 per week.
25. What disease did workers get and how did they get it? Workers often suffered from
diseases of the lung including tuberculosis from breathing in the cotton fiber and from the
crowded conditions of their workplace.
26. What increased after Reconstruction in S.C.? The production of cottonseed oil, lumber
and phosphates for fertilizers all increased after Reconstruction due mainly to the states’
ability to lure northern mills south by offering a source of cheap and non-union labor.
27. Where was phosphate rock found? Phosphate rock that was found near Charleston and
Beaufort was a major part of the commercial fertilizer that was produced in the state for
about twenty years after the Civil War.
28. What did phosphate mining bring in the late nineteenth century? In the late nineteenth
century, phosphate mining brought a degree of wealth to the coastal area from
Charleston to Beaufort.
29. What happened to phosphate mining in the Beaufort area? In the Beaufort area, phosphate
mining never recovered after the 1893 hurricane.
30. When did the S.C. companies for phosphates go out of business? When rich deposits were
found in Florida, the South Carolina companies went out of business.