1. Settling the Great Plains Between 1862 and 1900 Thousands of people poured in to settle the Great Plains

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

3. 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

4. Life on the Family Farm

5. Dramatic Differences Shortage of wood Extreme weather changes Insect swarms Prairie fires

6. 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

7. Extreme Weather Changes Summer sun baked the ground making the prairie catch fire more easily Hailstorms came often sometimes ruining entire crops Winter snow and freezing temperatures made life very difficult

8. Insect Swarms Grasshoppers attacked the Great Plains in 1874 Millions of ate anything that was green Destroying entire crops in minutes

9. 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

10. A Soddy

11. 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

12. 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