Homesteaders and farming on the Plains
- Created by: Megan Smyth
- Created on: 09-12-13 19:03
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- Homesteaders and farming on the Plains
- Problems and solutions
- Land size - needed enough land to support family; Government allocation not always enough
- Government legislation - passed Timber Culture Act/Desert Land Act
- Breaking hard ground broke lightweight ploughs
- Steel ploughs (sod-busters)could be hired to break up hard prairie. Coming of Railroads = farms more mechanised (efficient) - reapers, binders, threshers could be bought
- Lack of water for crops - Av. Rainfall 38cm p.a. = not enough to sustain agriculture
- High powered drills and wind pumps = deep wells could be dug and water pumped to surface. Dry-farming techniques introduced. Turkey-red wheat introduced from Russia (1874); grew better than original varieties
- Lack of wood for houses/fences - needed fencing to prevent cattlemen's herds trampling crops
- Houses built from clods of turf (sod houses). 1874; barbed wire invented = crops could be fenced off
- Pests - grasshoppers; fleas and bed bugs in sod houses 'lived by the millions'
- Grasshoppers devoured crops; nothing could be done. A coat of white wash inside the house killed bed bugs
- Devastation - fire!
- In Summer grasslands dry; small fires could be extinguished, but for larger ones just had to hide in sod houses till it went out
- Indian Attacks
- Try to defend themselves/hope US Army was nearby
- Extremes of weather
- No solutions; just had to deal with it
- Isolation - long distances between farms and towns = lack of doctors/midwives and little social life
- Arrival of railroads = some homesteaders could sell their crops to distant markets and obtain some luxuries to make life easier
- Land size - needed enough land to support family; Government allocation not always enough
- By 1860, whole continent of America had been acquired by US Government through force, treaties or purchase. Keen to fulfil 'Manifest Destiny'
- Homesteaders Act 1862 - designed to encourage settlement and stop land speculation. 160 acres free if occupied and worked for 5 years; after this period could pay $30 for ownership certificate
- Timber Culture Act 1873 - further 160 acres if half planted with trees
- Desert Land Act 1877 - in areas where land was particularly poor/low rainfall = right to buy section cheaply
- Problems and solutions
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