Ranching and Farming Made by: Valerie & Morgan

What To Do:  Identify the Cattle Kingdom.  Explain why the cattle boom ended.  Identify the Exodusters.  Identify the hardships that farmers faced on the Plains.

Vocabulary from “Google”  Longhorns- an animal breed of cattle with long horns  Vaquero- a cowboy; a cattle drive (in Spanish-speaking parts of the U.S.)  Sodbuster- a farmer or farm worker who plows the land

Driving Cattle To Market  Longhorns – stray cattle from Spanish and Mexican ranches; wild cattle  After the Civil War the demand for beef increased; didn’t depend on buffalo anymore.  Cattle Drives – long trips taking longhorns to Kansas & Missouri.

Cowhands’ Life  Cowhands- people who kept cattle moving and rounded up the strays. (a rough job on the road)  Vaqueros- taught cowhands how to ride, rope, and brand cattle (skilled riders who tended cattle in ranches)

The Cattle Boom  Cattle Kingdom-the rise of the cattle industry  Ranchers-let their cattle run free on open range  Brand-a symbol cowhands burned into their cattle’s hide(each ranch had its own brand)

The Cattle Boom  Water was scarce and ranchers fought over waterholes and streams(cattle ranchers also fought over grass with sheep ranchers)  Bad weather speeded the end of the Cattle Boom(bitter winters killed millions of cattle)

Farmers On Plains  Homestead – the government gave 160 acres of land to anyone who had farmed for five years. The government wanted to encourage farmers to settle in the West. It also wanted to give poor people in the east a chance to own their own farms.(only about 20% of the land went to small farmers)

Farmers On Plains  Homesteaders- Easterners who rushed to accept the offer of free land.  Big Land-owning Companies- took the large areas of land illegally.  Exodusters- A group of African Americans who wanted to move to Kansas for homestead land (1879) (named after the book Exodus in the Bible)

Farmers On Plains  An army general wrote to President Hayes “Every river landing is blockaded by white enemies of the colored exodus, some of the whom are armed and mounted.”  40,000 to 70,000 African Americans moved to Kansas by 1881.

Geography and History Adapting to the Plains  Houses of Sod-since wood was scarce, farmers built houses of sod(soil held by prairie grass roots)  Sod Busters-plains farmers  Dry weather made little rain, so crops died and pioneers feared grass fires

Women on the Plains  Women-made clothing, quilts, soap, candles, and other goods by hand  They cooked and preserved the food  They educated children and treated the sick or injured  Helped with planting and harvesting  When needed, they also helped with building houses

End of Frontier  Eastern Indians were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1830’s.  the government bought back the land from Indians.  The last major land rush took place in Oklahoma, 1889.

Resources  e91.html e91.html  rates/cattle-drives rates/cattle-drives  k/ k/   04/sodhouse.html 04/sodhouse.html  creen+gently/funny-gifs/ / creen+gently/funny-gifs/ /