1. Changes on the Western Frontier Chapter 5
Changes on the Western Frontier Chapter 5
Section 1: Cultures Clash on the Prairie
Section 2: Settling on the Great Plains
Section 3: Farmers & the Populist Movement

2. Settlers Flock Westward
Rapid settlement of the Great Plains was possible because of two factors
*Federal Land Policy
*Completion of transcontinental railroad lines

3. Impact of the Railroads
: huge federal land grants given to railroad companies to encourage building
1st transcontinental railroad – 1869
Railroad sold extra land to farmers
Railroads sent recruiters to Europe

4. Europeans Flock to the West
Go West
Push Factors: Reasons that people want to leave their home country.
*1. Escape Warfare
*2. Overpopulation
*3. Lack of Economic Opportunity
Pull Factors: Reasons that people want to come to a new country.
*1. Free Land
*2. Economic Opportunity
*3. Political and Economic Freedom

5. Homestead Act 1862
The government would give the head of the household 160 acres free if homesteaders would live and make improvements on the land for 5 years.

6. Problems with the Act

7.
Exodusters
Kansas invited African Americans from the south to settle in the state. (See poster page 231 or above)
Settled in communities across Kansas
Nicodemus
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Listen to Podcast with the Kansas Historical Society:

8. Oklahoma Land Grab Race
Sooners: Those who snuck into the territory early and claimed land sooner than they should have.
The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres (8,000 km²).
Check out the following site for the Native American point of view:

9. The Closing of the Frontier
The Government passed legislation to preserve the environment of the west.
* 1872 – Yellowstone National Park
*1890’s – Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Mt. Rainer
By 1880 individuals had claimed 19 million acres
By 1890 the Western frontier was considered gone

10. Settlers Meet the Challenges on the Plains
Drought
Floods
Fires
Blizzards
Insect Infestations
Occasional raids by Indians or Outlaws
Not all 160 acres were equal in quality

11. Dugouts and Soddies
Soddies: Freestanding house made of stacked sod blocks cut out of the ground
Dugout: Home dug out of a hill or ravine

12. Benefits & Problems Warm in the winter Cool in the summer Fire Proof
Small
Little air or light
Snakes, insect, pests
Leaked when it rained

13. Women’s Work Lonely Isolated Life
Lonely Isolated Life
People had to be very self-sufficient
Feed Family
Make Clothing
Work in the fields (plowing, planting, harvesting)
Care for Animals (cows, hogs, sheep, chickens)
Sheer Sheep, card wool, sew or knit clothing from wool
Haul water from well
Make soap and candles
Do laundry by hand
Iron clothing
Can food
Many other things

14. Women’s Work

15. Technical and Educational Support for Farmers
New Technology made farming easier, less time-consuming, and more profitable
New Equipment
Steel Plow – 1837 – John Deere
Reaper – 1834 – Cyrus McCormick
Grain Drill – 1874
Barbed Wire – 1874
Cordbinder (Harvester) 1878
Reaper that could cut and thresh (Fore-runner of Combine)
Windmills

16. Educational Support Morrill Land Grant Act 1862 and 1890
Gave federal land to states to help finance agricultural colleges.
Passed on July 2, 1862, this act made it possible for new western states to establish colleges for their citizens. The new land-grant institutions, which emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts, opened opportunities to thousands of farmers and working people previously excluded from higher education.
Hatch Act 1887
Established agricultural experimental stations to communicate new developments in agriculture to farmers in every state.

17. Farming Innovations Development of grains for arid land
Dry farming techniques

18. Farmers in Debt

19. Bonanza Farms Enormous single crop spreads of 15,000 to 50,000 acres
Why did the big farms fail?
* The couldn’t compete with small farmers who were more flexible in the types of crops they grew
* Droughts