Section 2: Western Farmers

Chapter 14: The Western Crossroads(1860-1910)

Economic Development of the West Civil War republicans wanted west to be

developed as free states and by independent farmers who could improve the land.

Republicans passed a series of acts in 1862 to turn public lands into private property.

A covered wagon heads west.

Land Acts

Three government acts increased non-Indian settlement of the Great Plains.

Homestead Act 1862The Homestead Act

permitted “any citizen or intended citizen to select any surveyed land up to 160 acres and to gain title to it after five years’ residence” if the person cultivated the land.

Eventually 400,000 families took advantage of the offer.

Homestead ActFirst act to allow

any “head of household” who hadn’t taken up arms to the U.S. government to apply.

Including black people, former slaves and immigrants from Europe and other countries.

Must remain on the land for a minimum of five years and show evidence of improvements to the land.

Pacific Railway ActThe Pacific Railway Act gave lands to railroad

companies to develop a railroad line linking the East and West coasts.

Morrill Act 1862The Morrill Act granted a total of more

than 17 million acres of federal land to the states. The act ordered the sale of this land to finance the construction of agricultural and engineering colleges.

The act led to the founding of more than 70 state universities (including Penn State and Michigan State).

Graphic OrganizerComplete the graphic organizer of the

government actions to aid economic development in the west.

Fierce Land CompetitionCame from the Expense of American

Indians‘Runs’ for land took place throughout the

West. People came on horses, bicycles, and

pushing wheelbarrows full of supplies.In October 1889 a flood of prospective

settlers responded to a government offer of inexpensive homesteads in Oklahoma in the Oklahoma Land Rush.

The RailroadsRailroad companies also lured settlers

west. Between 1869 and 1883, four rail lines

were built across the West. 10 years after passing the Pacific

Railway Act the U.S. government had given railroad companies more than 125 million acres of public land.

The RailroadsGovernment officials believed that

railroad companies would promote western settlement and economic growth.

Settlers benefited from the nearby rail lines, using them to ship their crops to

distant markets.

Quick WriteHow did the U.S. government encourage

the growth of private property ownership on the Great Plains?by passing the Homestead Act and

granting 125 million acres of public land to railroad companies

"Manifest Destiny“ - John Gast

Moving West Three main groups traveled westward

after the Civil War: White Americans from the East

Mississippi land was too expensiveAfrican Americans from the South

To escape violence and persecutionImmigrants from foreign countries

African AmericansAfrican Americans who moved from the

post-Reconstruction South to Kansas were called Exodusters

Many exodusters took advantage of land deals

Many fled to Kansas, especially during the Kansas Fever in 1879.

Benjamin SingletonSome 20,000 to 40,000

African Americans fled the South, where violence had broken out during elections in 1878. Known as Exodusters, they trekked west, following leaders such as Benjamin Singleton, a 70-year-old former slave.

ImmigrantsMany helped build the railroadsRussian immigrants may have

introduced the Russian thistle – also called tumbleweed – to the West.

Many of the Chinese immigrants to the U.S. worked as farmers, farm laborers, produce vendors, or sharecroppers.

Quick WriteWhy did various groups of people migrate

to the West? Economic opportunity, escape from violence

and persecution, and railroad construction.

Western Environments and Farming The Great Plains region did not prosper

immediately. Supplies were expensive, and the environment posed problems for farmers.

Scarce Resources - Water Water was in short supply throughout

much of the West. Farmers had developed irrigation

systems that used canals, dams, and sloping fields to control water flow.

Digging wells was difficult. Some farmers used windmills to draw water from their wells.

Scarce ResourcesTrees were also scarce on the Great Plains,

which meant a lack of fuel and building material.

Some burned dried buffalo manure. Some built sod houses, stacking chunks of the heavy topsoil like bricks.

USDAThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (1862)

helped farmers adapt. USDA experts sought out and publicized new varieties of wheat suitable for the Great Plains.

Agents also taught dry farming – new techniques that conserved moisture.

New Farming Equipment James Oliver’s plow factory in South Bend,

Indiana produced thousands of plows with sharp, durable blades that could slice through the tough sod of the Plains.

New Farming Equipment“Self-binding” harvesters cut wheat and

also tied it into bundles. Many new devices used steam-powered

engines.

Hard TimesPurchasing this new equipment put many

farmers into debt when they bought the equipment to compete with larger landholders.

Bonanza FarmsEfficient new farm machinery and cheap,

abundant land enabled some companies to create a new kind of large-scale operation, the bonanza farm.Most were owned by large companies and

operated like factories.

Bonanza FarmsWhen weather conditions were favorable,

bonanza farms produced large profits, but in times of severe drought or low wheat prices, bonanza farm profits fell.

The era of bonanza farms soon faded due to their inability to handle boom and bust cycles.

Quick WriteWhat technological innovations made

farming profitable on the Great Plains?

Farm Life on the Plains Farm families on the Plains faced many

problemsSod houses were damp and dirty, and the

roofs often leaked or collapsed when it rained.

Harsh Weather and Hard Work Winter on the Plains often brought blizzards

and bone-chilling cold. The summer heat was also fierce.There were droughts with no relief.

Harsh Weather and Hard WorkIn the 1870s farmers faced swarms of

grasshoppers that devoured everything in their path, even the wooden handles of farming tools.

Raging fires sometimes swept across the prairies.

Flow ChartProvide examples of hardships that

farmers on the Great Plains faced. harsh weather insects prairie fires unending work

Harsh Weather and Hard WorkFarming involved hard labor.

Men did most of the heavy labor of building houses, fencing the land, and farming.

Women did household and child-rearing tasks, and often spent hours in the field. They also tended gardens, preserved fruits and vegetables, and cared for farm animals.

Children had chores that involved fetching water, tending gardens, and churning butter.

Storytellers of the PlainsMany western writers recorded stories

about life on the Plains. Willa Cather traveled west with her family

to Nebraska. She grew up on the farm and put her knowledge into writing her books. She published her first in 1913, called O Pioneers!

HopefulDifficulties for

many who had to abandon their farms.

Some formed communities with churches, schools, newspapers, clubs and theater halls.

El Final