Settling the Great Plains

Between 1862 and 1900

Thousands of people poured in to settle the Great Plains

Objective

• Identify the factors that drew people to settle on the Great Plains.

Homesteaders

Factors that drew people to settle on the

Great Plains

• Homestead Act• Railroad Land Sales• Hope for a better life

By 1890 there were 5 million people living on the Great Plains

Life on the Family Farm

Life on the Family Farm

Dramatic Differences

• Shortage of wood

• Extreme weather changes

• Insect swarms

• Prairie fires

Shortage of Wood

Plenty of Sod (sod-soil in which thick grass grows)

Advantages of Sod Homes• Cool in Summer• Warm in Winter• Didn’t catch fire easily

Disadvantages of Sod Homes• Hard to keep clean• Leaky roofs

Extreme Weather Changes

• Summer sun baked the groundmaking the prairie catch fire more easily

• Hailstorms came oftensometimes ruining entire crops

• Winter snow and freezing temperaturesmade life very difficult

Insect Swarms

• Grasshoppers attacked the Great Plains in 1874

• Millions of ate anything that was green

• Destroying entire crops in minutes

New Technology saves the Family Farm

• New models of windmills

-lets farmers pump water from hundreds of feet below ground

• Stronger plows help homesteaders cut through thick sod

• Harvesting machines make farm work easier

Your Life in a Soddy

• Look under your desk • Get out the journal and the bag of sod• Write ”Personal Journal of & Your Name” on the

label on the front of the journal• Beginning on the front of the first page create a

journal entry as if you were living in a soddy on the prairie on October 31, 1885.

• The entry should be in your best handwriting• The entry should contain at least three (3) good

descriptive paragraphs

Brochure Project

• This week we will each work to create a brochure about life on the Great Plains

• You will use the computers and the program Microsoft Word to create your own brochure

• Brochure due Oct. 13th