Section 4: Farming on the Great Plains
Key Issue
Content
Why were
farmers able
to settle on
the Great
Plains?
Reasons for going west: the journeys, life and work of the homesteaders
Learning Focus
Federal and state government

and actions: legislation, grants of
land and money.
How and why did the US Government encourage people to
migrate west?
The reasons for and the results

of the Homestead Act (1862) and
the Timber and Culture Act
(1873)

What part did the railway companies play in this migration?
Railway companies contribution
to the settlement of the West.
Farming problems and solutions

Women of the Great Plains: the 
hardships they faced; their stabilising and civilising effect on society

What problems did the homesteaders face trying to farm the
land?
How were these problems
overcome?
How important were women in
the settlement of the Plains?
What sort of work did women
do?
The Coming of the Railways
Up to the 1860s all railroads stopped at the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By 1890, railroads spanned the whole of
the North American continent and linked the East and West Coasts.
Why create a Railway?

Many people had migrated West, the Railway would improve law and order, government and national unity.

The government wanted to gain from wealth generated by the Gold Rush.

Opening up trading links with China - could use ports on the West Coast.

Manifest Destiny - the railroads would help to fulfil this belief and settle uninhabited areas of the West.
Problems:

Money - The government provided 30 year loans and land (given hundreds of acres per km of track) which could
be sold to settlers, but it was not enough. The railroad companies needed to buy more land, pay workers and
build rolling stock. Shareholders had to be persuaded to invest in a business that may take time to turn a profit.

Difficult Land - Mountains, valleys, deserts - all pushed the skills of engineers and builders to the limit.

Conditions - labourers lived in extremely poor conditions in shacks or out in the open. Occasional hostility from
Indians, poor weather and food had to be brought hundreds of miles to feed them. Deaths were regular
occurrences. US army troops had to be used to protect labourers.

Labour shortage - In 1863,10,000 Chinese immigrant workers were brought over along with Irish ‘navvies’ who
had worked on canals and railroads in Britain.
Success:
The railroad was commissioned by Congress in 1862 when they passed the ‘Pacific Railways Act.’ The government set
a deadline for completion in 1869. The construction workers built lines quickly averaging 11 km a day on the Plains.
The Dale Creek Bride 38m high and 150m long was built in a month. Despite the problems and the Civil War (1861-5) the railroad was completed on time in May 1869.
Central Pacific Railroad Company started to lay track at
Sacramento in California (West)
Met at Promontory Point, Utah in May 1869
Union Pacific Railroad Company started to lay track at Omaha
in Iowa (East)
Other railroads were soon built across the Plains, by 1893 - six railroad companies crossed the Plains from the
Mississippi-Missouri to the West Coast. They connected towns and cities and carried travellers, settlers and
goods all over the USA. By 1880 ¾ of their income was from settlers on the Plains.
Railroads restricted the movement of
Indians across the Plains.
They allowed quick and easy trade
with the East.
Railroads provided jobs on the
Plains.
More effective law and order—easier
to pursue criminals! Judges, officials,
sheriffs could travel quickly.
Railroads encouraged the spread of
cattle on the Plains.
Railroads split Indian lands
Railroads provided a link between
Eastern and Western America
Railroad companies used special
offers to encourage settlers to live on
the Plains. (subsidised fairs, leaflets
etc…) Opened up the second phase of
settlement in the West.
Railroads allowed better and faster
communication.
Railroads brought settlers onto
Indian land.
Railroads allowed the US Army to
chase renegade Indians.
The railroads brought food, wood,
seeds and machinery to help settlers
on the Plains.
Buffalo were killed to feed railroad
workers and even shot by passengers
on trains just for fun. Buffalo were
scared away by the locomotives.
Foreign trade was helped by the
railways and helped to increase the
wealth of the USA
Railroads encouraged the spread of
cattle on the Plains.
Tasks
1)
2)
3)
Use one colour to shade in positive effects of the railroads and another to show negative effects.
Identify who gained the most and who seems to have lost as a result of the railroads - explain your
reasons.
“The Railroads only brought benefits to the Great Plains” How far do you agree with this statement?
1)
Identify who gained the most and who seems to have lost as a result of the railroads - explain your
reasons.
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2) The Railroads only brought benefits to the Great Plains” How far do you agree with this statement?
Plan Here
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Homesteaders
Summary:
Farmers on the Great Plains: most were families and helped to create a stable society and ’tamed’ the West. (Think about
the other migrants - miners, cattlemen and cowboys—not necessarily the most decorous of settlers!)
Where:
1854 - 65 Eastern edges of the Plains - Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska & Minnesota.
1865 + Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Oklahoma (Indian Territory)
The Homesteaders were fulfilling the American Dream. (i.e. Anybody from any background who was willing to work could be
successful). They set out to make the Plains fertile by settling there and farming to support their families. They were risk
takers and faced hardships - but were determined to make a better life for themselves - despite the hazards.
Who were the Homesteaders?
Former Slaves:
Escaping persecution in the South after the end of the American Civil War, to escape poverty on the plantations
European Immigrants:

Scandinavians looking for good farmland.

English, Scots, Germans and Russians escaping poverty in their own countries.

The Irish looking for freedom from the Potato Famine and discrimination by English landlords
White Americans from the East: (By far the largest group)

People facing poverty in the East

Former soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies looking to start a new life

People in search of new farms as their own were overworked or tenants who wanted to mange their own lands

People who were curious about the ‘Great American Desert’ and wanted adventure.

Non-farmers like lawyers, doctors, merchants, politicians etc… who saw the possibility of making careers serving the new towns
The attraction of the Plains
Propaganda (Posters, Newspapers and Letters): American and foreign newspapers placed adverts and articles describing
the West as a land of milk and honey, where crops grew as big as telegraph poles etc… Most were exaggerated - however
some foreign immigrants wrote home telling others to come as quickly as possible - so even the harsh life on the Plains may
have been better than what they faced in their native lands. Successful American farmers also wrote to their relatives speaking of their success, these were sometimes printed in newspapers and journals.
The Railroad Companies: they needed to sell excess land given by the government to fund their projects. They also needed settlers to produce goods they could carry. Settlers would also need to take delivery of goods like seeds, machinery and
timber - this would develop their freight business. The Railroads advertised at home and abroad offering long-term, low interest loan with delayed payments to encourage settlers. They also offered ‘Exploration Tickets’ in order for people to inspect
land beforehand. Additionally they provided free, fast and safe transport to the nearest rail depot where migrants planned to
settle and free accommodation on the journey. 1875 - the Santa Fe Railroad invited 225 newspaper editors to visit the West
at their expense. In 1882 - 500 million promotional posters were translated into Dutch, Danish and Norwegian.
The Government:
Initially the land was Public Domain (belonged to no-one and could be settled by anyone) - but the government changed this
in 1841. They divided land into townships of 9.6km² and each township was divided into sections of 1 square mile (640
acres). They offered the land to setters at $1 an acre. Unfortunately many poor families could not afford to pay this. It was
instead snapped up by land speculators who sold it at a higher price than the government. This is exactly what the government did not want to happen!
The Homestead Act 1862
Land in Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota was divided up into sections of 160 acres which settlers could acquire free of charge.
The settlers had to enter their claim in a land register. The terms were that settlers had to build a house and farm the land for
5 years. After this period they could claim the land officially as their own and received a deed after the payment of a $30 fee.
Timber and Culture Act 1873
The government offered 160 acres of land to settlers if at least 40 acres were planted with trees (later 10 acres). All immigrants including foreigners were entitled to land under both of these acts.
Desert Land Act 1877
Farmers could buy 640 acres of land in areas where rainfall was below average and irrigation schemes were necessary.
Effect of Homestead Act
US government wanted people to settle on the Plains for social reasons to create communities and towns. Additionally the economic benefit would mean more wealth for the country and the development of railroads.





The Homestead Act played a very significant part in encouraging settlement on the Plains. A huge amount of land
totalling 2.5 million acres was on offer.
1871-2 there were 9,000 claims made in Kansas alone.
1885-7 this rose to 43,000 claims.
By encouraging settlement the government made the settlement of the Plains grow at a much faster rate.
Between 1870 and 1890 more land in America has been cultivated and settled than in the previous 250 years of
White settlement.
1) Why
did people want to settle on the Plains? Give reasons and examples.
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2) ‘The actions of the Government of the Unites States was the most significant factor in encouraging Homesteaders onto the Plains’ How far do you agree with this statement?
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How did Homesteaders live and survive on the Plains?
A major problem was finding shelter. Many settlers opted to construct Sod Houses because of a shortage of
building material. They were often dirty, dusty, wet and cramped - but ideally suited to the Plains because
they were cheap, easy to build and fire-proof.
Sheet fixed to the roof timbers to
catch dirt and sod bugs—but it did
not stop rain.
Roof 40cm thick, heavy and needed
support by cedar imported from
wooded regions
Kerosene Lamp
House made from fresh sod, cut
each morning and laid while firm and
moist. It took 1 ½ acres of sod to
make a small house
Stove
Hand-operated sewing machine
Walls usually two sods thick
Dirt floor was hard-packed. The walls
smoothed off and then covered with
a plaster made from ashes and clay.
The inside was then whitewashed to
deter insects and make it brighter.
Roof made from willow poles
covered with brush and grassy sods
laid on top
My wife became unhappy the first
time when she saw bedbugs
racing up the walls. She had a
good thick whitewash and up and
plastered on the walls which got
rid of the bugs.
Oscar Babcock, a settler in
Nebraska, built a sod dug-out
which included a wooden door
and a glass window. The whole
structure cost less than $2.78 - a
real bargain!
You did not have to keep dogs in
order to have plenty of fleas. Just
have a dirt floor and you have
fleas for sure. They seem to
spring from the dust of the earth.
Sometimes the water would drip
on the stove while I was cooking
and I would have to keep lids on
the pans to stop mud from falling
into the food.
Dr Cass Barns Nebraska 1878
The Story of the Great American
West, 1974
Howard Ruede 1877
A prairie wife remembers cooking in a
sod house
The earth was an excellent
insulator making a sod-house
cool in summer and relatively
easy to keep warm in summer.
The sod-house offered so many
advantages that settlers
continued to build them long
after imported timber became
available for building wooden
frame houses.
The Story of the Great American West,
1974
H Horn, The Pioneers, 1974
Contagious diseases were common. The shared drinking cup,
the open well, the outdoor toilet
(or none at all) shared the blame
with the lack of ventilation and
crowded quarters of the sodhouse.
Dr Cass Barns Nebraska 1878
The soddie required very little
maintenance and was almost
indestructible. It even gave
protection against fierce prairie
fires.
The Story of the Great American West,
1974
TASKS
Read the sources and fill in the table showing the advantages and disadvantages of the sodhouse.
Advantages
Disadvantages
How did Homesteaders live and survive on the Plains?
Many homesteaders must have been excited by the prospect of reaching the Plains, but were hit with a harsh
reality when they arrived. The promises of the newspapers and railroad companies were wildly exaggerated and
they found that the land was far from the paradise they had been promised.
Problems
Gathering crops was backbreaking and required
lots of effort. Very few labourers were available
to help.
Water was scarce for those who didn’t live near
rivers or streams. Wells were difficult to dig and
had to go up to 30 feet into the earth.
In winter temperatures could drop to minus 40
degrees. Both animals and people could freeze
to death.
Prairie fires could spread quickly and destroy
crops and houses.
Plagues of grasshoppers could strip the land in
hours. Swarms could be so thick they would even
stop trains.
The ground was very hard or roots from the
prairie grasses prevented ploughing. Ordinary
ploughs broke or would not break the surface.
Summer saw droughts and temperatures of 37
degrees Celsius for weeks on end. This withered
crops of corn and wheat.
The wind blew endlessly across the Plains in
winter and summer, night and day.
The Homestead Act did not always provide
enough farmland to support a whole family on
the Plains
There was no effective way of fencing the Plains
in the early days. Wild cattle and cattlemen
driving herds to market could destroy crops.
Ticks carried by longhorn cattle caused fatal
’Texas Fever among homesteaders’ animals.
Solutions
The spread of railroads across the Plains meant
huge quantities of materials (wood, seeds,
machinery, spare parts etc…) could be brought
to settlers
The Timber and Culture Act allowed families to
claim another 160 acres if they agreed to plant
trees on part of their land.
Barbed wire was a cheap and easy way of
fencing off large areas of land.
Dry farming was introduced. Some fields were
left unplanted to conserve moisture. Land would
be ploughed after rain or snow and the surface
covered with dust to stop moisture from
evaporating.
Machinery eased the pressures of farm labour.
For example McCormick’s
harvester. Demand made prices lower.
Steel tipped ploughs (known as sod-busters)
were introduced by John Deere. These ploughs
could even penetrate the hard prairie soil.
New crops were introduced which were better
suited to lack of water and conditions on the
Plains. Turkey Red Wheat was a successful crop
which came from the Crimea in 1874.
Well drillers used high powered machinery to drill
hundreds of metres into the earth and charged
homesteaders a fair fee for their work.
Wind-pumps were then built which drew water
from deep in the earth. They were easy to build,
reliable and provided water all year round.
PROBLEM UNSOLVED!
Task
Match the solutions to the problems of the Plains by drawing lines between the boxes.
The Role of Women on the Plains
Women made an important contribution to the life and society of the Plains. They not only supported their husbands and families, many women made successful careers and names for themselves
in the West.
Abigail Scot Duniway published a
newspaper for women called The New
Northwest. It was first published in 1871
Women formed the vast majority of teachers
on the Plains. Catharine Beecher started
recruiting women teachers in 1845 with her
pamphlet ‘The Duty of American Women to
their country’
Caroline Churchill founded a newspaper to
promote equality for women. It was called
the Colorado Antelope and later The Queen
Bee. 1879
Since most women taught on the Plains,
their insistence on high standards of speech
and behaviour led to the Plains becoming
more ‘civilised.’
Helen Clarke helped to mange the US
Governments Indian programme. She
assisted in the allocation of land on
reservations in the early 1890s.
Mormon women in Utah established their
own silk industry in 1877. Within a year they
had 5 million silkworms. They produced silk
successfully for the next 28 years until cheap
imports took over.
Carrie Nation gained the attention of the
whole USA because of her activities. She
campaigned against alcohol and often
entered saloons and destroyed them with an
axe.
Many women on the Plains survived boredom, isolation, disease and lack of materials
and still kept their homesteads running.
Women in Wyoming gained the vote and
equality in 1869 - well before women in
Britain.
Martha Maxwell was a gifted shooter who
was a taxidermist. She was so successful
she displayed her work at an exhibition in
Philadelphia in 1876.
Many women worked as missionaries brining
Christianity and education to the Indians.
Women performed the household tasks
while the men worked on the land. This
included collecting ‘buffalo chips’ (dung) for
fuel, keeping the house clean and repairing
clothing. They developed their own
medicines as doctors were scarce.
Lack of doctors and midwives meant women
gave birth on their own and then carried on
performing their duties as housewives. They
became extremely tough.
Women also had to be strong and help out
with farming tasks at busy times of year including harvesting crops and herding
cattle.
Nellie Cashman operated a chain of
restaurants in lots of rough mining towns.
Task
‘How important was the role of women in helping to settle the Plains?’ Explain your
answer using the sources and your own knowledge.
How important was the role of women in helping to settle the Plains?’ Explain your answer
using the sources and your own knowledge.
Plan Here
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