1. Section 4 – pg 469 Farming in the West
Chapter 14
Section 4 – pg 469
Farming in the West

2. Pg 469
Homesteading
By 1900, half a million farmers had settled on the Great Plains
Drawn by the offer of free land

3. Homestead Act Pg 469 During the Civil War, Congress
passed the Homestead Act of 1862
Offered a 160-acre plot to anyone who lived on the land for 5 years
Wanted to give the poor a chance to own farms
Thousands became homesteaders (settlers who acquired free land from the gov’t

4. Few people had the money to move west and start a farm
Pg 469
Few people had the money to move west and start a farm
Land companies took over large areas illegally
Plains were dry and 160 acre was not enough to make a profit
One 1 in 3 lasted the required 5 years

5. Railroads Promote Farming
Pg 469
Railroads Promote Farming
Railroads promoted farming
Farms meant more shipping
Railroads gave away a lot of land given to them by the gov’t
Recruited thousands of people from the eastern US, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia to settle the Great Plains

6. Hard Life on the Plains Life on the Great Plains was not easy Pg 470
Water was scarce
Crops were hard to grow
Farmers often struggled to make ends meet

7. Busting Sod Pg 470 The first farmers on the Plains chose
sites near water and trees
Latter farmers had to choose
from land farther west, which
was dryer
The soil in the Plains was fertile
Covered in thick sod (a surface layer of earth in which the roots of grass tangle with soil)
With little raid, sod often
baked into a hardened mass
Settlers would cut this
into bricks to build walls

8. New Farming Methods Farmers broke through the tough sod with plows
Pg 470
New Farming Methods
Farmers broke through the tough sod with plows
The sod often would crack plows made of wood or iron
1877 John Deere of Illinois invented a sodbusting plow made of steel
Steel plowers were stronger and lighter

9. Plains farmers (sodbusters) used drills to plant crops
Pg 470
Plains farmers (sodbusters) used drills to plant crops
Drills buried seeds deep in the ground where there was moisture
Used reapers to harvest crops and threshers to beat off the hard coverings of grains

10. Water lay hundreds of feet below the ground
Pg 470
Water lay hundreds of feet below the ground
Used windmills to pump water out
Put up fences to keep cattle from trampling crops
Used barbwire b/c they had no wood
Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874

11. Farm Families Whole families worked on the farms Pg 471
Men: worked from dusk til dawn
Children: tended to the animals and helped with chores
Women: kept up the house, helped plant and harvest, sewed clothing, preserved food, educated the children made house items like candles and soup

12. Exodusters Pg 471 Thousands of African Americans moved into the Plains
By the early 1800s, abt 70,000 AAs settled in Kansas
Known as Exodusters b/c they believed they were like the Jews fleeing slavery in Egypt
Biblical story from Exodus
Some took up farming and
others moved into towns
Men worked as hired
hands and women
worked as laundresses

13. The Spanish Southwest Pg 471
In the Southwest along the border with Mexico there was Spanish-speaking farmers and sheepherders
Many settled there during the Mexican-American War when the US acquired the territory
Railroads brought more immigrants
Many came to help build new lines
Some of the older Hispanic residents were large landowners (ricos)
Fought to keep their lands, deeded under Spanish or Mexican law

14. Pg 472
A Last Rush for Land
By the 1880s, few areas of the Plains remained free to settlers
The federal gov’t agreed to open Oklahoma to homesteaders

15. Pg 472
Boomers and Sooners
April 1889 – nearly 100,000 ppl gathered at a line near present day Oklahoma City
“Boomers”
Come to claim some of the 2 million acres of free homesteads in what was once Indian Territory
At noon a volley of gunfire signaled the start pf the Oklahoma Land Rush
Some ppl had already snuck onto the land and hid until the gunfire then claimed the best land – called “sooners”

16. Pg 472
The Frontier Closes
In the 1890, the national census reported that the US no longer had land available for homesteading
There was no longer a west frontier

17. Pg 472
Farmers Organize
Wheat and grain from Plains farm fed the growing cities of America and Europe
A few big farmers prospered
Small farmers face economic crisis and organized to end it

18. Pg 472
Crisis on the Farm
The more grain farmers hauled to market, the lower grain prices fell
Farmers were producing a surplus of crops
Small farmers were hit the hardest by low grain prices
Many had borrowed money for land and machinery
Many could not repay their debts and lost their land
Same thing happened in the South as cotton prices fell

19. Cooperatives and Political Parties
Pg 472
Cooperatives and Political Parties
Many farmers lived in poverty and isolation
Some communities formed granges – groups of farmers who met for lectures, sewing bees, and other events
1867: National Grange is formed
Started as a social and educational movement became an economic protest
In the 1870s and 1880s, Grangers demanded the same low rates from railroads and warehouses as were given to big farmers
Elected state officials who passed laws limiting rates

20. Farmers’ Alliance was organized in the late 1870s to help farmers
Set up farm cooperatives – groups of farmers who pool their money to make large purchases of tools, seed, and other supplies at a discount
In the South, both whites and blacks joined
1892 – unhappy farmers joined w/ members of labor unions to form the Populist Party
Pushed for social reforms
Demanded public ownership of railroads and warehouses to control rates, a tax on income to replace property taxes, an 8 – hour workday, and other reforms
Pg 472

21. Populists wanted to use silver in addition to gold as a basis of money
Pg 473
Populists wanted to use silver in addition to gold as a basis of money
Hoped this would cause inflation and this would help farmers pay off their debts and prevent foreclosures

22. Pg 473
The Election of 1896
In the election of 1896 the Populist Party supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan, known as the “Great Commoner”
Farmers supported him b/c he wanted to use silver as money
Bankers and business owners claimed rising prices would ruin the economy
They supported Republican William McKinley and his gold-alone standard
McKinely won and for the first time in decades the Republicans took both the White House and Congress
The Populist Party faded