STALAGMITE, STALACTITE

•  If you have every visited a limestone cave, such as the world famous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, you may have noticed some rather unusual rock formations.  Recall that precipitation that soaks through the soil and rocks on land becomes groundwater, stored below Earth’s surface. If the groundwater is located above a limestone cave, drops of water will sometimes find their way through tiny opening and cracks in the roof of the cave. Microscopic particles of limestone from the roof are worn away as the drop of water travels, and the water carries them along with it. Eventually, the water evaporates, leaving the limestone deposit behind. Over time, many drops follow the same path, adding bit by bit to the limestone formation. By the time thousands of years have passed, all the tiny deposits add up to a large stalactite. A stalactite is a pointed rock formation that hangs down from the roof of the cave and points toward the ground.

• If the drop of water falls to the ground before it evaporates, the limestone deposit starts to build from the floor of the cave upward instead. Following a similar process, drop after drop adds to the formation over many years. When the deposits occur on the floor of the cave pointing up instead of on the roof of the cave pointing down, the limestone formation is called a stalagmite. Rarest of all the cave formations occur when a stalactite and an stalagmite form separately over time, but then meet in the middle and fuse together. This kind of formation is known as a single column.

• Located in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, the vast 46,766 acre collection of caves known as Carlsbad Caverns is home to some of the  most amazing stalactites and stalagmites on Earth. The caves were discovered in 1901, when a large formation of bats flying upward from the caves was mistaken for smoke. Cowboy Jim White went to investigate, and discovered the amazing rock formations. He photographed them, and visitors began to come from all over the world to see their natural beauty. In 1995, Carlsbad Caverns was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization.

 Name:__________________________________

Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm your answers.

1.  In your own words, explain how a stalactite forms:
2.  Explain how a stalagmite differs from a stalactite.
3. Why do you think that the caves at Carlsbad Caverns remained undiscovered for many years.
4.  What mistake led to the discovery of the caves?
5. Why do you think Carlsbad Caverns became so popular with tourists?

INDENTURED SERVANTS

•  In the 1600’s, large farms called plantations flourished in the Southern Colonies. The soil there was rich, and the warm climate created excellent conditions for successfully growing crops for profit. Two of the favorite crops of the times were tobacco and rice, which were joined by indigo, a plant used to make a deep blue dye for coloring ink and cloth, in the late 1700’s.

•  Traditional family farms were relatively small. Families were large, depending on all members of the family to do the work on the farm. Often, the farm raised only enough to meet the family’s needs, including a small surplus to be used for the next year’s seed. In particularly good times, an abundance of any crop would be canned and preserved for the winter, when less fresh food was available. Small amounts might be traded with other farmers for crops of another kind to increase the variety of food available. Rarely would any crops be sold for profit.

• Running large plantation farms created a new problem. The members of a single family, or even several together were insufficient to do all the necessary work on the plantation. Owners brought workers over from England. Often, working class people who wanted a new start in the Americas would sign a contract and become an indentured servant. In exchange for the price of their passage on a ship from England to America, and food, clothing, and shelte on the plantation, an indentured servant would work an agreed-upon number of years in the service of the plantation owner. At the end of their contracted time, they were free to leave the plantation and pursue their new lives in America.

• Some indentured servants were treated quite fairly. Some were employed in service as house maids or ladies in waiting. Others were treated with the same disregard as slaves. For all intents and purposes, indentured servants were slaves with the hope of freedom ever before them. Their time of servitude would eventually end. For the increasing number of slaves who began arriving from African and the Carribean, there was no such promise.

Name:__________________________________

Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm your answers.

1. What distinguished an indentured servant from a slave?
2. Why were indentured servants and slaves more likely to be found in the Southern Colonies?
3. What impact do you think the introduction of slaves to plantations had on indentured servants already working there
4. What motivation might working class people in England have had to sign a contract to work as an indentured servant? 
5. Evaluate the use of indentured servants. Was it moral? Why, or why not?