Settling on the Great Plains

Chapter 13 Section 3

I Settlers Flock Westward to FarmA. Railroads Open the West

• 1850 -1871 Fed Gov’t gave land grants to RR to lay track in W• Union & Central Pac. Received 10 sq. miles

per track of mile laid• Both hired Civ. War vets., Irish, &

Chinese im., Af. Amer., & Mex. Amer. For the grueling labor• 8 miles of track per day

• Union & Central Pac. Meet in Promontory (Utah) linking the 1st Transcontinental RR• 4 more in next 15 yrs connecting E & W

B. Government Support for Settlement• Homestead Act of 1862 thousands

of homesteaders = settlers on this free land• Sometimes private speculators & gov’t

workers used law for their own gain• Cattlemen fenced & claimed land/RR co.

hold land that was given to build extensions and sell it

• Kansas gov. opens land to settlement massive land rush• Some took possession before gov’t

officially declared it open Oklahoma AKA the Sooner state

C. Closing of the Frontier• Speculator calls Congress to protect

land near Yellowstone R. from settlement because of the geysers & nat. springs• Congress set aside land that weould

later become Yellowstone National Park•RR forced to give up W land claims

but 19 mil. Acres still bought from gov’t•Western frontier was fast

disappearing but was very influential to the American identity

II Settlers of the FrontierA. Dugouts & Soddies

• Trees were scarce settlers build house from land itself• Dugouts =Dug homes into sides

of small hills • Soddy = freestanding house

made by stacking blocks prarie turf

• Soddies were cool in summer and hot in winter BUT offered little air or light• Perfect for snakes and insects

B. Women’s Work•Biggest hardship was being

completely self suffient out in he prairie by yourself•Women most of feeding &

clothing family but also sometimes worked alongside men in fields• Also doctored their fam. & others

around them• Also sponsored schools &

churched to provide for the future

C. Technical & Educational Support for Farmers • Building a homestead was diff. work

• Prairie sod breaks wooden plows & reaping wheat by hand steel plow• Cyrus McCormick invents reaping machine sold as

farmers migrate to plains• Treeless landscape = no wood for fences barbed

wire

• Morrill Land Grant Acts give fed. Land to sttes to help finance agricultural colleges• Hatch Act estab. Agricultural experiment

stations to comm. New inventions to farmers in other states• NEW INVENTIONS & ACTS BREADBASKET OF

THE NATION

D. Farmers in Debt• Farmers borrow $ to buy expensive farming equip debt• When $ of wheat was low raise more crops to make ends meet

Bonanza Farms• Enormous single-crop farms of 10,000 acres or larger

• Some farmers mortgaged their land to buy more property larger farming debts• Drought caused many farms to close• RR charges more $ to trans. Goods from W farms than they did for E farms• RR charged more for shorter hauls that long ones

Thinking Through history Questions

•How did the RR’s help open the West?•In what ways did governmental policies encourage settlement of the west?•How were women central to the homesteading process?•How did RR’s take advantage of farmers?