3 4 3 from sea to shining sea

Write to It!You have learned about the natural resources in the United States and how these resources differ from region to region.. Vocabulary natural resources region physical environm

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Scott Foresman Social Studies

Nonfi ction Draw Conclusions • Headings/Subheadings

• Map

• Time Line

• Captions

ISBN 0-328-14830-X

Fascinating Facts

pounds of paper each year

are made of paper and could have been

recycled

years for just one inch of rich soil to form

Scott Foresman Social Studies

Nonfi ction Draw Conclusions • Headings/Subheadings

• Map

• Time Line

• Captions

ISBN 0-328-14830-X

Fascinating Facts

pounds of paper each year

are made of paper and could have been

recycled

years for just one inch of rich soil to form

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Write to It!

You have learned about the natural resources

in the United States and how these resources differ from region to region Find out which resources are plentiful in your state Write two paragraphs about how people use them

Be sure to include information about jobs connected with your state’s natural resources

Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet of paper.

ISBN: 0-328-14830-X

by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited

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Glenview, Illinois 60025.

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Illustration

3 ©Guy Porfirio

Photographs

Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.

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All people have needs We need food, clothes,

and a safe place to live None of these needs

could be met without natural resources Natural

resources are materials from the earth Read on

and find out about the valuable resources from

our land from sea to shining sea

Vocabulary

natural resources

region physical environment

landform climate communities

fuel mineral lumber

by Barbara Bigelow

Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona

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What is a natural resource?

Natural resources are useful materials that

come from the earth They are changed into things

that we use every single day

The toothpaste you use to brush your teeth contains sand Sand is a natural resource The

paper this book was printed on came from a tree

Our forests are natural resources

The gasoline that powers the car or bus you ride started out as oil Oil is a natural resource formed

underground The steel used to make cars started

out as iron, another natural resource

Even if you walked to school or rode your bike today, you used natural resources Tires and the

soles of your shoes are made of rubber that comes

from tree sap or the ground

Coal is a natural resource.

3

The five regions of the United States are shown on this map Notice how each region’s name matches its placement on the map

“From sea to shining sea!”

The words “from sea to shining sea” are from the song “America the Beautiful.” The United States is the fourth-largest country in the world

To get from one end of the country to the other, you would have to travel about three thousand miles! If you did not make any stops along the way, it would still take at least two whole days and two whole nights to drive that far

These are the regions of the United States.

Northeast region

Southeast region Southwest region

West region

Midwest region

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The United States is divided into five different

regions A region is a large land area that has

special features

The five regions of the United States have very

different physical environments You can tell

one type of physical environment from another

by observing its landforms and its climate

Landform is a scientific word for different

features or shapes found on Earth’s surface

Deserts and mountains are two examples of

landforms Climate refers to the kind of weather

a place has from year to year

The regions of the United States look unbelievably different You will find mountains

in the West and plains in the Midwest The

Southwest is very hot and dry all year round The

states in the Northeast can get very cold and

snowy during the winter The South can be warm

This region is near the ocean.

5

Where did you say that came from?

The United States is rich in natural resources

The different regions of our country have different treasures in their soil, rocks, and waters Let’s look at a few states and their natural resources

Communities often develop where natural

resources are found Oil is one of the natural resources that attracted lots of attention in the

early 1900s Oil is a fuel

found beneath the ground

Fuels provide us with heat, light, and other forms of energy Oil is used to make the gasoline that powers cars and other vehicles

Texas is famous for its oil When large underground supplies of oil were found

in Texas, its population grew quickly People moved there to work in the oil fields

This oil well is spewing oil that has been trapped underground for millions of years

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Idaho is a state in the Northwest Much of its land is used for farming Idaho is famous for its

abundant potato crop Its soil is good for growing

wheat and trees

The state of Wisconsin is in our nation’s Midwest This state has lots of farmland, trees,

and livestock Livestock are farm animals, such

as cows Wisconsin has a lot of cows and is

known for its dairy products, such as milk and

cheese Wisconsin also produces the most paper

in our country

Idaho potatoes are sold in grocery stores throughout the United States.

7

“California, here I come!”

It was mentioned earlier that communities are often built in areas where natural resources are found That is exactly what happened in 1848 when gold was found in California

Gold is a very valuable mineral A mineral is

a natural resource that has never been alive The discovery of gold in California caused thousands

of people to journey west and seek their fortunes

This big westward movement became known as the Gold Rush

The gold miners were nicknamed “forty-niners” because the busiest year for gold mining in California was 1849.

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Can you dig it?

Gold is usually found buried in rock Sometimes

it is mixed with loose soil Miners panned for gold

in the Old West by swirling water from muddy

streams in pans to separate the tiny gold flecks

from the dirt

Later, people dug deep holes called mines in the earth to search for larger chunks of gold A

miner’s job was to get the nuggets, or chunks, of

gold out of the mine so that it could be sold

Many people who took part in the Gold Rush wanted to find gold for

themselves Others followed

the crowd looking for different

kinds of work

Gold is a shiny yellow mineral

9

Fewer than fifteen thousand settlers lived in California before the Gold Rush Between the discovery of gold in 1848 and the end of the Gold Rush in 1850, about eighty thousand people moved there Soon after, California became this country’s thirty-first state

By 1858 the population of California had grown to 300,000 people Many of those people made their living by farming

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Forests are unbelievable!

Forests are one of our most precious natural resources They provide homes for wildlife They

produce oxygen for us to breathe They shade us

from the sun’s rays

The trees in forests are very important in the building industry too Lumber comes from

trees It is wood that is cut into boards for

building Wood from trees is also used to make

paper and furniture

Here is a chart showing some of the different natural

resources used by people in the United States.

11

“That’s a lovely tree you are wearing!”

What is the first thing you think of when

you hear the word tree? Firewood? Falling

leaves? Lumber at a construction site? Well, more than five thousand different products are made from trees, and you might find some of them rather surprising!

Many medicines come from trees A fabric called rayon comes from trees too Bowling balls, football helmets, hairspray, paints, tires, cough drops, and gum are all made from trees

One of the greatest thing about trees, though,

is that we can replace the ones we cut down

by planting new ones In other words, they are renewable resources If we are careful, trees will

never disappear!

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Will our natural resources

last forever?

Oil, coal, and natural gas are fuels We burn them to produce heat, electricity, and other forms

of energy All of these fuels were formed millions

of years ago and are buried in the ground

1859

America’s first oil field is drilled in Pennsylvania

1930s

Lots of oil is found

in Texas.

1839

The first steam shovel

is invented This invention makes it much easier to dig coal from the ground.

A Fuel Time Line

13

Slow Cooking Underground

Oil, coal, and natural gas are formed underground and usually stay there until someone digs them up Let’s take a look at how oil forms Coal and natural gas form essentially the same way

1973

The price of oil goes way up

in the United States People have to wait in lines for hours at gas stations to fill

up their gas tanks.

2004

Scientists predict that plankton, sunflowers, and bananas may be the fuels of the future.

1997

The gas-electric hybrid car is introduced in Japan It can run

on gas or electricity.

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Oil takes a really long time to make In fact, the oil

we use today started forming three hundred million

years ago, even before dinosaurs roamed Earth!

Back then, billions of tiny plants and animals were living in the salty waters of Earth’s oceans

When these ocean creatures died and sank to the

bottom of the water, they formed a muddy layer

Over time, the plant and animal bodies were

buried under more and more layers of mud All of

those layers created lots of pressure and heat in

the ocean floor As the mud turned to rock, those

dead plants and animals got “cooked” and turned

into thick, gooey oil

Oil is sometimes called “black gold” because

it is such a valuable natural resource.

15

Water: We Cannot Live Without It

Conserving our natural resources is a very important job We already know that our oil supplies could disappear in another century

or two Our supply of underground water is decreasing

Every time it rains or snows, water soaks into the ground through soil and cracks in rock We dig wells to get to this “groundwater” and use

it for everything from drinking to cooking to watering crops

There is a problem, though Rainwater cannot soak into hard surfaces, such as roads and parking lots, so it forms puddles on the pavement The water cannot get through the pavement and get back in the ground, threatening our groundwater supplies

Unfortunately, oil, coal, and natural gas are not like trees They are not renewable Once we find and use all the oil, coal, and natural gas

in Earth’s crust, they will be gone forever We cannot “plant” new supplies of these fuels That

is why it is so important to conserve them

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Glossary

climate the kind of weather a place has from

year to year

communities places where people live, work,

and have fun together

fuel a resource that can be used to produce

light, heat, or other forms of energy

landform a shape or part of the earth’s

surface, such as a mountain or a desert

mineral a natural resource that has never

been alive

natural resources useful materials that

come from the earth

physical environment a region’s landforms

and climate

region a large land area that has