A Hundred and Sixty Acres
I got a hundred and sixty acres in the valley
Got a hundred and sixty acres of the best
Got an old stove there that'll cook three square
And a bunk where I can lay me down to rest.
Up at dawn to greet the sun
I've forgotten what a care or worry means
Head for home when day is done
With my pocket money jinglin' in my jeans.
I´ve got a hundred and sixty acres full of sunshine
Got a hundred and sixty million stars above
Got an old paint hoss, I'm the guy who's boss
On the hundred and sixty acres that I love!
Up at dawn to greet the sun
I´ve forgotten what a care or worry means
Head for home when day is done
With my pocket money jinglin' in my jeans.
I´ve got a hundred and sixty acres full of
sunshine
Got a hundred and sixty million stars above
Got an old paint hoss, I'm the guy who's boss
On the hundred and sixty acres that I love!
Got an old paint hoss, I'm the guy who's boss
On the hundred and sixty acres that I love!
Lesson Objectives
• To identify the groups of people who
became homesteaders
• To examine the role of the US
Government and Railroad companies in
encouraging the movement West
• To hypothesise possible problems
homesteaders faced
Who became Homesteaders and why?
• Young men
with a sense
of adventure
and no other
commitments
could group
together and
claim large
amounts of
land
Families would
all move
West and
share the back
Breaking work
Women –
usually
groups
Of sisters
would move
West but
this was
more unusual
Ex-slaves would move
West to be free of
Racism and earn a living
without persecution
Ex-Civil War
soldiers became
Homesteaders
after the war
Ended and they
were no longer
needed in the army
Railroad companies
advertised heavily for
people to move West
and they even
advertised abroad in
places like Eastern
Europe where people
wanted to escape
poverty
•Settlers allowed to have free of charge
160 acres of land
•The terms stated that homesteaders
had to build a house on the land and live
there for five years. After that time
they would receive the deeds to land.
•1873 - the act was extended through
the Timber Culture Act. This provided
another 160 acres of land as long as 40
acres were planted with trees. This was
later reduced to 10 acres.
Problems with the
Homestead Act
What was good about
the Homestead Act?
•Critics said the amount
of land was to small for
a family to survive
•It became possible for
Homesteaders to get as
much as 480 acres of
land. This meant
families could make
more profit.
•Land was more or less
fertile depending where
you were
•Land speculators got
their employees to apply
for land and then buy it
off them to sell for
higher profits
•This was further
extended to 640 acres.
•It played a significant
part in encouraging
settlement on the
Plains.