1. The Western Frontier

2. Railroads
From 1850 to 1871, the government granted land to railroad companies
In 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed.

3. Homestead Act
Homestead Act (1862): Congress offered 160 acres of land per household to any citizen or intended citizen
Exodusters: freed slaves who moved West after Reconstruction
In 1889, settlers claimed 2 million acres of land in less than a day during a land give away in Oklahoma

4. Homestead Act Land Grant

5. Plains Life
There were few trees on the Great Plains, so settlers could not build their homes out of wood.
Some settlers lived in dugouts, which are homes dug out of hills
Other settlers lived in sod houses, called soddies.

6. Soddy

7. Dugout

8. The Hobbit Illustration

9. Women on the Plains Women were essential to settling the Great Plains.
Women worked alongside men farming.
Women also made clothes for their families, doctored people and animals, and sponsored schools and churches.

10. Women on the Plains

11. Women on the Plains

12. Farm Inventions Barbed wire is used to fence land.
The reaper sped up harvesting.
John Deere invented the steel plow in 1837 to stir up heavy soil.
Settlers used wind power to retrieve underground water for irrigation.

13. Original John Deere Plow

14. Modern John Deere Plow

15. The Morrill Act
The Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890 gave federal land to the states to help finance agricultural colleges.

16. Farmers in Debt
Bonanza farms were large farms between 15,000 and 50,000 acres that produced a single crop, but many went bankrupt during the drought.
Many small farmers fell into debt due to expensive machinery and railroad shipping costs.

17. Bonanza Farm