The Homesteaders

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The Homesteaders
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Learning objectives

• To understand who the homesteaders were.
• To understand why they moved onto the Great
  plains.
• To know what were the problems and solutions of
  farming on the Great Plains.

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Why did people go West?

• PUSH
• ENABLING
• PULL

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Who were the Homesteaders? PUSH FACTORS

• Homesteaders were small farmers, usually growing
  crops.

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White Americans from the east
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European Immigrants
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Ex- soldiers from the Civil War
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Ex-slaves
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Why were the able to go west? ENABLING FACTORS

• The many Indians had been cleared from these
  lands and moved onto reservations through a
  series of treaties. (See page 84)
• 1860s the building of railroads.

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Why did they want to go west?

• Manifest Destiny
• The land was cheap.
• Propaganda.

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Help from the government

• The 1862 Homestead Act (fear of speculators) -
  all American citizens were entitled to 160 acres
  of land on the Plains for a fee of just 10. They
  had to live on the land for five years, and then
  it was theirs permanently.

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Sod houses
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Farming on the Great Plains
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The problems of farming on the Great Plains
Ploughing the land
Fire
Growing crops
Water
Protecting crops
Insects
Size of landholding
Extremes of weather
Farming machinery
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The solutions to farming on the Great Plains
Care

• Sodbusters

Turkey Red
Wind pumps and dry farming
Barbed wire
Ploughing the land
1873 - Timber and Culture Act
Mass production and railways