How did the
Homesteaders farm
the Great Plains?
How did the
Homesteaders live
on the Great Plains?
Who were the
Homesteaders?
What was the
role of the
railroads?
How did the
Government help
the Homesteaders?
What were the
problems of farming
the Great Plains?
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to start
What were the
problems of living
on the Great Plains?
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to start
Why did the railroads have
land to sell to Homesteaders?
How did the railroads attract
Homesteaders to the Plains?
How did the railroads help
the Homesteaders?
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to start
American
Homesteaders
Former Slave
Homesteaders
European
Homesteaders
Religious groups
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to start
The Homestead Act
1862
Indian Treaties
The Timber Culture
Act 1873
The US Army
The Desert Land
Act 1877
Manifest Destiny
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to start
Ploughing the
land
Growing
crops
Fire
Water
Protecting
crops
Insects
Size of
landholding
Farming
machinery
Extremes of
weather
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one slide
Before it can grow crop land has to be ploughed. Until
the arrival of the homesteaders in the 1860s however,
the soil on the Plains had never been cut by a plough.
The Prairie grass that covered the Plains had thick
deep roots of up to 10cm. These roots grew in dense
tangled clumps that were difficult to cut. The first
homesteaders that arrived on the Plains brought their
iron ploughs from the Eastern USA. These could cut
through the previously ploughed soft soils there, but
they broke when used on the Great Plains.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
Although Stephen Long’s 1827 description of the Great
Plains as ‘The Great American Desert’ was an
exaggeration of their climate, the Plains were not ideally
suited to agriculture. The annual rainfall on the Plains
averaged 38cms. Rain usually fell during the hot summer
and the sun soon evaporated the standing water. Without
water to irrigate their crops the homesteaders could not
succeed. There were no lakes rivers to provide water for
irrigation. Digging a well was impractical as the work was
expensive and would often fail to find water anyway.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The Homestead Act of 1862 gave the homesteaders 160
acres of land each (a quarter square mile plot).
Although this much land was enough for a family in the
fertile lands of California and Oregon, it was
insufficient on the Plains. Homesteaders were unable
to support their families with only 160 acres. The lower
yields of crop caused by the harsh climate and lack of
water meant that many thousands of homesteaders
simply gave up their plots.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The homesteaders planted the crops of maize and wheat
that they brought with them from the Eastern states.
These were suited to the mild and damp climate there.
However these crops did not grow well on the dry hot
Plains. If the homesteaders could not grow their crops,
then their life on the Plains would be impossible to
sustain. No crops meant no food for the homesteaders.
Even if they could grow enough to eke out a living, they
could not grow a surplus to sell. Without a surplus the
homesteaders had no income, and could not pay for
supplies or machinery for their farms.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The homesteaders needed to mark out their claims to protect
them from other homesteaders. A homesteader could not afford to
lose any land because of a disputed boundary.
Cattle and buffalo were also a problem. The homesteaders often
farmed near to the vast cattle ranches, and the cows would stray
off the ranches and trample the homesteaders’ crops. Buffalo
were simply roaming wild, still in large herds until the 1870s.
The lack of trees on the Plains meant that there was no material to
build adequate fences. Some homesteaders tried to use the
prickly Osage tree to make hedges, but this was only a short term
solution.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The dry Plains were provided the perfect conditions for
fires to start. The long hot summers left the Prairie
Grass and the homesteaders’ crops bone dry.
Accidental fires started by a spark or a bit of broken
glass lying on the ground and reflecting the sun were a
disaster for the homesteaders.
Unless the fire could be stopped quickly by beating, it
soon spread. Without any water to put out the fire, the
homesteaders were forced to hide in their sod houses
until their crops were destroyed and the fire died.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
Plagues of grasshoppers visited the Plains in 1871, 1874 and
1875. The swarms contained millions of insects, and covered
hundreds of miles of the Plains at a time.
They devoured everything the homesteaders possessed. The
grasshoppers could eat a homesteader family’s entire crop in a
few hours, leaving them with nothing to eat or sell. The
grasshoppers ate boots, tools, clothes, even the wooden door
frame of the sod house. After a visit from grasshoppers, the a
homesteader could be left penniless and without any means of
survival.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The Plains experienced massive variations in
temperature as part of their normal temperature.
Winters were long with freezing temperatures and
snow. Summers were extremely hot. This made it
difficult to grow most crops in a normal year.
The Plains were also regularly struck by dust storms.
The vast open spaces of the Plains encouraged high
winds and tornadoes. All of these could do great
damage to crops.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
To begin with the homesteaders had to do almost
everything by hand. The work was physically hard and
never ending. The homesteaders were too poor to afford
the machinery that could help them farm. Even if they
could afford new machinery, there was little technology in
the 1860s and 1870s that could work on the Plains.
Broken machines and implements were also a problem at
first. Replacement parts were expensive and difficult to
obtain from often distant towns or suppliers in the East.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
To cut through the soil of the Plains the homesteaders
needed a much stronger plough. In 1830 an Illinois
blacksmith named John Deere had made a steel plough
for one of his neighbours, in order to solve the same
problem the homesteaders faced. This ‘Sodbuster’
plough was soon adopted by the homesteaders and
provided them with the means to plough their land.
Steel is a much stronger metal than iron, so the plough
did not break.
What was
the problem?
The homesteaders needed a way to trap the rainfall in the soil
before it was lost. They used a method known as ‘Dry Farming’.
Every time it rained or snowed, the homesteaders ploughed their
land. This left a thin layer of soil on top of the newly fallen rain
which was trapped underneath. The water was then available for
use when the new crop was planted in the spring.
In 1874 Daniel Halliday perfected wind pump technology suitable
for the Plains. A well was dug with a high powered drill to reach
the water. This could be anything from 30 to 120 feet. A windmill
was then built above the well to pump a constant supply of water
for the homesteader. Although too expensive at first, the price fell
to $25 by 1890.
What was
the problem?
The government eventually recognised the problem. In 1873 it
passed the Timber Culture Act. This gave homesteaders
another 160 acres of land. To get this extra land the
homesteaders had to plant 40 acres of trees.
In 1877 the homesteaders were offered more land in the
Desert Land Act. This allowed them to claim 640 acres of
marginal land where it was available. They had to irrigate it
and after three years could buy it for $1 an acre.
So by 1877 homesteaders could own up to 960 acres of land.
This was enough for most to survive on the Plains.
What was
the problem?
The homesteaders needed to recognize that they could not
grow crops that were unsuited to the climate of the Plains.
They needed crops that could cope with the extremes of
temperature and the lack of rainfall. In 1874, Russians started
to move onto the Plains. They brought their crops such as
Turkey Red Wheat with them.
This wheat grew in the harsh conditions of Russia, a very
similar climate to that of the Plains. Although the hard Turkey
Red Wheat could not be ground by American mills at first, by
the 1880s mills were built that could cope with it.
The homesteaders at last had a crop that would grow
successfully in the climate of the Plains.
What was
the problem?
In 1874 Joseph Glidden invented Barbed Wire. This was
a cheap and simple method for the homesteaders to
fence their land.
Barbed wire allowed homesteaders to overcome the
shortage of trees on the Plains. They were able to
clearly mark the boundary of their claim, and to keep
stray cattle and buffalo off.
Barbed wire did cause conflict with the ranch owners
however as it often cut off precious water supplies from
their cows.
What was
the problem?
The only solution to the problem of fires was to be
careful. Some homesteaders tried to stop fires from
spreading by leaving gaps in their crops. However the
shortage of land made this a measure that was
impossible for most to contemplate. Even if a break
was left, the high winds of the Plains spread the fire
quickly, even across gaps.
Until the development of major towns with a road
network and an infrastructure including a fire service in
the 20th century, this remained a major problem.
What was
the problem?
There was no solution to the problems of
grasshoppers and other insects until the early years of
the 1900s. After 1900, chemical companies started to
mass produce effective pesticides to kill the flies that
lived on the Plains. Homesteaders could pick the insect
larvae off their crops, but this was ineffective against a
plague swarm.
Until these were available however, the homesteaders
lived in fear of a plague of grasshoppers, as they knew
the effect it would have and knew they were powerless
to protect their crops.
What was
the problem?
Until they could grow trees of a significant size, the
homesteaders had no defence against the weather on
the Plains. The storms just had to be ridden out in the
sod house, hoping that the crops would not be
destroyed.
The homesteaders were initially fooled by a series of
unusually wet and mild years in the 1860s on the
Plains. Many claimed that the climate had been
changed by their presence. However the extreme
weather returned in the 1870s and remained a problem
from then on.
What was
the problem?
The railroads spread across the Plains during the 1870s and
1880s. They acted as cheap and fast transport from the
Eastern states to the Plains. This enabled suppliers of tools,
spare parts and machinery to send their goods to the
homesteaders for relatively low prices. The spread of towns
encouraged by the railroads allowed the homesteaders to
get hold of the parts and machines they wanted.
New machines such as reapers, binders and threshers
made farming the Plains much easier. Homesteaders could
farm more land and harvest more crops. The price of this
new machinery was relatively low and affordable for the
homesteaders.
What was
the problem?
Building a
house
Staying
healthy
Extreme
weather
Fuel
Indian
attacks
Isolation
Keeping
clean
Water
Pests
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one slide
The homesteaders arrived on their land needing to
build a house. However the traditional building material
of wood was not available to them. The Plains are vast
open space with very few trees. The homesteaders
would have to find something else to build their
houses from.
The homesteaders could not get supplies of wood from
the East as it would be too expensive, and a lack of
money was one of the homesteaders’ major problems.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The homesteaders required fuel to burn in large
quantities. They needed to heat their houses against
the cold Plains nights and freezing winters. They also
needed fuel for their ovens.
The lack of tress on the Plains meant that wood was
not available to them. The homesteaders had to find an
alternative material. The soil was not boggy peat, so
the peat stoves used in countries such as Ireland in the
19th century were not an option.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The Sod Houses that the homesteaders built were
continually dirty. The sods of earth cracked and flaked
in the heat of the Plains’ summers, leaving dirt in the
house. During the rains and winter, the sod houses
leaked dirty water into the living accommodation. The
floors were dirt. The wind on the Plains stirred up dust,
often in great storms and this got into the sod houses.
Farming was a dirty job, so the homesteaders returned
home after a day’s work dirty to a house that was
potentially just as dirty.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The Homesteaders lived hard and tiring lives. With
constant struggles to keep clean, warm and fed, the toll
of their health was often great. Their diets were often
poor in years of low harvests.
Disease was common for those living in sod houses,
especially amongst children. With no opportunity to
visit a doctor, the Homesteaders found it difficult to
stay fit and healthy.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
When the Homesteaders moved on to the Great Plains from the
early 1860s, they faced the risk of Indian attacks. Although
many tribes had moved on to reservations following the 1851
Fort Laramie Treaty and later agreements, the reservations did
not provide them with enough food or supplies. They could not
hunt Buffalo or follow their traditional migration patterns.
There were periodic outbreaks of violence in the Plains Wars in
the 1860s and 1870s, including Little Crow’s War, Red Cloud’s
War and the Great Sioux War. During Little Crow’s War, over
700 Homesteaders were massacred by Santee Sioux warriors.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
Homesteaders were very lucky if they lived a short distance
from a river or lake on the Plains. Most lived a long walk
from the nearest water source.
This made water a precious resource. Water for washing
clothes and the homesteaders’ bodies had to be used
sparingly as it replacing it was hard work.
The problem was not easily solved by the digging of a well
as might have been done elsewhere. Water could be
anything from 30 feet to 120 feet deep, too deep for the
homesteaders to dig by hand.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
The Plains experienced massive variations in temperature
as part of their normal cycle. Winters were long with
freezing temperatures and snow. Summers were very hot.
This made the Plains an extremely unpleasant and
dangerous location in which to live. It was difficult to keep
warm in winter and impossible to keep cool in the summer.
The Plains were also regularly struck by dust storms. The
vast open spaces of the Plains encouraged high winds and
tornadoes. Such storms did severe damage to the homes
and equipment of the homesteaders.
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to problems
What was
the solution?
Homesteaders lived on their 160 acre plots, often
isolated from other people. Each plot covered a quarter
of a square mile, so homesteaders were not even close
to their nearest neighbours.
Homesteaders were usually miles from the nearest
town. As a result they lacked other people for company
and social activities. Homesteaders were cut off from
their families back in the East or in Europe, so felt even
more isolated due the their situation on the Plains.
Go back
to problems
What was
the solution?
Plagues of grasshoppers visited the Plains in 1871, 1874 and
1875. The swarms contained millions of insects, and covered
hundreds of miles of the Plains at a time.
They devoured everything the homesteaders possessed. The
grasshoppers could eat a homesteader family’s entire crop in
a few hours, leaving them with nothing to eat or sell. The
grasshoppers ate boots, tools, clothes, even the wooden door
frame of the sod house. After a visit from grasshoppers, the a
homesteader could be left penniless and without any means of
survival.
Go back
to problems
What was
the solution?
To overcome the lack of timber to build their houses the
Homesteaders used sods of earth cut from the Plains as bricks.
They built their houses out of this earth and called them sod
houses.
Many sod houses were huge affairs, with many rooms, but they all
suffered from the same problems. They were dirty, drafty and
leaked whenever it rained. The walls and floor were infested with
lice, which crawled over the Homesteaders as they slept. Mud fell
off the ceiling into the Homesteaders’ cooking pots, and germs were
rife. Despite this, many Homesteaders were proud of their first
‘soddy’ and often lived in them for decades.
What was
the problem?
Before the arrival of the Homesteaders, the Plains Indians
had used Buffalo dung as chips for their fires. The
Homesteaders simply copied this idea. The collection of the
Buffalo chips was the job of women on the Plains. The
chips had to be collected from the open Plains, and brought
back to the Homestead in a wheelbarrow or a cart.
The Buffalo dung was a relatively inefficient fuel, and had to
be collected on a continual basis. Until the trees the
Homesteaders planted following the Timber Culture Act of
1877 grew to maturity there was no other source of fuel.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Homesteaders
were able to buy coal from the railroad.
What was
the problem?
The only effective solution to the dirt problem for
Homesteaders was to constantly work at keeping clean.
Regular sweeping out of the sod house, as well as the
removal of fallen lumps of mud.
This was a tiring and dispiriting process that was the
responsibility of women Homesteaders. Some
Homesteaders whitewashed their walls, but this was only
ever a temporary solution and although it looked smarter
than the mud, the sod house still leaked.
What was
the problem?
The Homesteaders had to rely on their own medicine when
they were sick. Women were responsible for this.
Popular cures included applying warm manure to an arm
for a snakebite. Other cures used were eating a roasted
mouse for Measles and pouring warm urine into the ear for
an Ear Ache.
Women worked together in a community when sickness
was present to ensure that people were cared for.
Expertise was shared and passed down from mother to
daughter.
What was
the problem?
The Homesteaders could simply hope that they would not
suffer attacks in their homes, but this was not the most
effective defense!
The US Army proved to be their saviour in the long run. In the
series of conflicts known as the ‘Plains Wars’ during the 1860s and
1870s, the US Army, led by Generals Sheridan and Sherman,
defeated all of the tribes of the Plains. This involved massacres
such as Sand Creek and the River Washita, as well as forcing the
Indians to sign treaties giving up their rights to tribal lands. Once
the Indians had been defeated in the 1870s and 1880s, the
Homesteaders were safe from attack.
What was
the problem?
Without water the Homesteaders could not survive. Some
were lucky enough to have a stream, but most did not. In
the early days of a Homestead, the Homesteaders had to
travel to a local water hole or stream and collect water in
a bucket by hand. This process was a daily occurrence.
The journey could be many miles.
By the 1870s, wind driven pumps were available to the
Homesteaders for only $25 each. These could drill down
the up to 120ft needed to reach water, and use the ample
supplies of wind power to pump a continuous supply of
water for the Homesteaders.
What was
the problem?
In the first two decades of Homesteading on the Great
Plains (1860s and 1870s), the climate was especially
wet and mild, and the Homesteaders thrived. However
this was a false impression, and led to more problems
later.
When the normal weather patterns returned in the
1870s and 1880s, the Homesteaders found themselves
unable to cope in the worst areas such as Montana.
Even with the use of dry farming techniques and
Turkey Red Wheat, some areas of the Great Plains
could never be farmed by Homesteaders.
What was
the problem?
Living on their isolated Homesteads the Homesteaders had
to find their own ways of entertaining themselves and
overcoming their boredom. Cut off from their families in the
East and in Europe the Homesteaders wrote regular letters
home, and waited anxiously for news from their families and
friends. This allowed them to keep in contact with their old
lives.
On the Plains, the Homesteaders kept in close contact with
their neighbours, helping each other in times of crisis.
Women worked as midwives and teachers, and church or
community groups organised social functions.
What was
the problem?
Homesteaders had no way of fighting the swarms of
insects that attacked their crops in the 1870s. Many
were left penniless and forced to appeal to the State
Governments for help.
In the early years of the 20th century chemical
companies began to mass produce effective and cheap
pesticides to kill off the insects that attacked the
Homesteaders’ crops. However until this time the
Homesteaders just had to hope that insects did not
come.
What was
the problem?
One of the terms of the 1861 Pacific Railways Act that
led to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad
was that the government gave the railroad companies 6
400 acres of land on the Great Plains for every mile of
track built. This was part of the payment deal for
building the railroad. The land cost the government
nothing. The government continued to grant land on
the Plains to the railroad companies as they built more
transcontinental railroads in the 1870s.
In total the US Government gave the railroad
companies 155 million acres on the Great Plains. This
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was valuable land - that was why the railroad
one slide
companies took it.
To sell their land the railroad companies launched huge
campaigns across American and Europe. They sent agents to
encourage people to buy their lands. Posters and newspaper
adverts referred to the Plains with such phrases as ‘The Golden
Belt of Kansas’ and ‘The Best Prairie Lands’ (Iowa and
Nebraska. The land was sold relatively cheaply with the railroad
companies offering loans over up to ten years. Many of the
adverts were gross exaggerations of the quality of the land, with
one company claiming that winter in Nebraska lasted less than
one month, and that the growing season was over nine months
long. Despite this the railroad companies’ adverts succeeded in
bringing hundreds of thousands of homesteaders to the Plains.
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The railroads spread across the Plains during the 1870s and
1880s. They acted as cheap and fast transport from the
Eastern states to the Plains. This enabled suppliers of tools,
spare parts and machinery to send their goods to the
homesteaders for relatively low prices. The spread of towns
encouraged by the railroads allowed the homesteaders to
get hold of the parts and machines they wanted.
New machines such as reapers, binders and threshers
made farming the Plains much easier. Homesteaders could
farm more land and harvest more crops. The price of this
new machinery was relatively low and affordable for the
homesteaders.
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one slide
The majority of the homesteaders were white Americans who saw the
Plains as offering the opportunities that were unavailable to them in
the Eastern USA.
There were two main factors that made them leave the East. The first
was the shortage of farmland. The Eastern states had been
overcrowded in the 1840s when many left to go to California and
Oregon. By the 1860s, the situation was worse still, Young people
seeking land for their families were unable to afford it in the East, the
Plains offered them lots of land very cheaply.
The end of the Civil War left hundreds of thousands of ex-soldiers
looking for a new challenge. They could find little opportunity to get
on in the East or South and moved to the Plains for a new start. The
Plains were a new region of settlement, and Americans believed they
could make something of themselves that they would never be able
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to in the East.
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One of the results of the defeat of the Confederate
South in the American Civil War was the abolition of
slavery. African Americans found themselves no better
off economically as free people, and often faced
persecution from whites. The Plains offered a chance
to get land as American citizens, and to escape the
prejudice and persecution of the Southern states. Tens
of thousands of ex-slaves went to the Plains for a new
start in life. In 1879 40 000 ex-slaves went to Kansas,
the main destination for black Americans. A famous
example of a black community of homesteaders is the
town of Nicodemus in Kansas.
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one slide
The railroad companies concentrated their efforts to
sell the land they had been given by the government on
Europe. Settlers arrived from Europe in their hundreds
of thousands after 1870. They came to escape the
poverty and inability to gain more land in their native
lands. Emigrants were attracted by the inflated
promises of the railroad land agents. Settlers came
from Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark,
Norway, Holland, France and Russia. In 1875 half of the
population of Nebraska was made up of European
homesteaders and their families. In the 1870s the Santa
Fe Railroad Company brought 60 000 German
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homesteaders to the Plains.
The Plains offered the chance for persecuted religious groups to
build new communities on the Plains. The Mennonites were an
originally German sect that was suffering persecution in Russia
during the 1870s. The Santa Fe Railroad sent Carl Schmidt to
Russia in 1874. Schmidt convinced the Mennonites that America
would offer them the freedom and safety that they could not get
in Russia. So thousands of Mennonites moved to the Plains in
the 1870s and 1880s in search of religious freedom. Other
groups of German-Russians such as Hutterites and Amish also
moved to the Plains in the 1870s seeking freedom. It was these
settlers who brought the Turkey Red Wheat that grew so well on
the Plains.
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The 1862 Homestead Act was the first act passed by the US
Government to help the homesteaders to settle on the Great
Plains. The US Government wanted settlers to move onto the
Plains in huge numbers. However speculators were claiming vast
areas of land and then trying to sell the land to potential
homesteaders. The prices put settlers off going to the Plains.
To avoid this the government stated that all American citizens
were entitled to 160 acres of land on the Plains for a fee of just
$10. They had to live on the land for five years, and then it was
theirs permanently. The five year term was designed to stop the
speculators from claiming the land. With the low cost of the land,
the government hoped that homesteaders would have enough
money to start farming on the Plains.
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The government decided to give the homesteaders
more land in the Timber Culture Act of 1873. This
recognised that the 160 acres given under the
Homestead Act was not enough. So the Timber Culture
Act gave each homesteader another 160 acres of land
for free. In return the homesteaders had to plant 40
acres of trees. This would eventually provide them with
wood for fires and building. It would also reduce the
problems of wind by acting as a wind break for the
homesteaders. By giving the land for free the
government recognised the poverty of most
homesteaders.
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In 1877 the US Government passed the Desert Land Act to give
the homesteaders access to more land. Under its terms
homesteaders could claim a further 640 acres of marginal land
that was unfit for immediate farming. The homesteader had to
irrigate the land and after three years could buy it for the low
price of $1 an acre.
This act was not as important to homesteaders as the
Homestead Act or the Timber Culture Act, as the land it offered
was only available in certain places on the Plains. Also much
of the land available under the act was bought by the big
ranches, even though most failed to actually irrigate it as
required. However for those homesteaders who could benefit
from the Desert Land Act, they could claim up to 960 acres by
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1877.
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The US Government signed a succession of treaties
with the Plains Indians from the 1830s onwards. Each
treaty reduced the amount of land available to the
Plains Indians, and granted more to the American
settlers. Notable examples of treaties include:
•1st Fort Laramie 1851
•Medicine Lodge 1867
•2nd Fort Laramie 1868
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During the 1860s and the 1870s the US Army fought a
series of wars with the Plains Indian Tribes.
US Army leaders such as General Sherman, Colonel
Chivington and General Custer led the USA to victory.
Sometimes the two sides fought in proper battles, but
in others the US soldiers were accused of massacring
innocent women and children.
By the end of the 1880s the Plains Indians had been
totally defeated and the US Army had moved them off
their lands onto the reservations leaving the land free
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for the Homesteaders to settle and farm.
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The phrase ‘Manifest Destiny’ was first used to describe the
spread of the USA across the West by journalist John L
O’Sullivan in 1845. Although he was describing the flood of
settlers to California and Oregon, the idea took hold and
was applied to the homesteaders of the 1860s.
The US Government wanted total control over the land of
the USA, and so encouraged settlement of the Plains. The
Acts it passed and the actions of the US Army in the Plains
Wars all made it easier for the nation to fulfil its ‘Manifest
Destiny’ of taking over the whole continent. The US
Government encouraged the homesteaders to believe that
their sacrifices on the Plains were part of the nation’s work
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towards its Manifest Destiny.
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