Section 2
Farming the Plains
Guide to Reading
Main Idea
After 1865, settlers staked out homesteads
and began farming the Great Plains. 
Key Terms and Names
• Great Plains 
• dry farming 
• Stephen Long 
• sodbuster 
• Homestead Act 
• Wheat Belt 
• homestead 
• bonanza farm
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Guide to Reading (cont.)
Reading Strategy
Organizing As you read about the settlement of the
Great Plains, complete a graphic organizer
similar to the one on page 292 of your textbook
listing the ways the government encouraged
settlement. 
Reading Objectives
• Explain why and how people began settling
the Plains. 
• Trace the growth of commercial farming on
the Plains.
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Guide to Reading (cont.)
Section Theme
Science and Technology The need for new
farming techniques in the West led to several
technological innovations.
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Geography of the Plains
• The Great Plains region extends
westward to the Rocky Mountains from
around the 100th meridian–an imaginary
line running north and south from the
central Dakotas through western Texas. 
• Rainfall on the Great Plains averages
less than 20 inches per year. 
• Trees only grow naturally along rivers
and streams and on hilltops. 
• Huge herds of buffalo once grazed on
the prairie grasses of the Great Plains.
(pages 292–293)
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Geography of the Plains (cont.)
• Major Stephen Long explored the Great
Plains with an army expedition in 1819. 
• He called it the “Great American
Desert” and said it was almost entirely
unfit for farming.
(pages 292–293)
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Geography of the Plains (cont.)
What is the geography of the Great Plains?
The Great Plains region extends westward
to the Rocky Mountains from around the
100th meridian–an imaginary line running
north and south from the central Dakotas
through western Texas. Rainfall averages
less than 20 inches per year. Trees only
grow naturally along rivers and streams
and
(pages 292–293)
on hilltops.
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The Beginnings of Settlement
• Railroads provided easy access to the
Great Plains. 
• Railroad companies sold land along the
rail lines at low prices and provided
credit. 
• The federal government helped settle the
Great Plains by passing the Homestead
Act in 1862. 
• For $10, a settler could file for a
homestead, or a tract of public land
available for settlement.
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(page 293)
The Beginnings of Settlement (cont.)
• The homesteader could get up to 160
acres of public land and could receive
title of it after living there five years. 
• Settlers on the Plains found life very
difficult. 
• The environment was harsh, with
summer temperatures soaring over
100°F and winter bringing blizzards
and extreme cold. 
• Prairie fires and swarms of
grasshoppers were a danger and
a threat.
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(page 293)
The Beginnings of Settlement (cont.)
How did the railroads and the federal
government help settle the Great
Plains?
Railroads provided easy access to the Great
Plains. Railroad companies sold land along the
rail lines at low prices and provided credit. The
federal government passed the Homestead Act
in 1862. For $10, a settler could file for a
homestead. The homesteader could get up to
160 acres of public land and could receive title
(page 293)
of it after living
there
five
years.
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The Wheat Belt
• Many inventions and new farming
methods made farming on the Great
Plains very profitable. 
• Farmers on the Great Plains used the
dry farming method–planting seeds
deep in the ground where there was
enough moisture for them to grow. 
• By the 1860s, farmers on the Great
Plains were using newly designed
steel plows, seed drills, reapers, and
threshing machines.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
• These machines made dry farming
possible. 
• Farmers could work large tracts of land
with the machines. 
• Farmers who plowed the soil on the
Great Plains were called sodbusters. 
• Many of them lost their homesteads
because of drought, wind erosion, and
overuse of the land.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
• During the 1860s and 1870s, new
technology, such as the mechanical
reapers and binders and threshing
machines, made farming more
profitable. 
• The innovations were also well suited
for harvesting wheat. 
• Wheat withstood drought better than
other crops, so it became the most
important crop on the Great Plains.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
• Wheat farmers from Minnesota and other
Midwestern states moved to the Great
Plains in large numbers to take
advantage of the inexpensive land and
the new farming technology. 
• The Wheat Belt began at the eastern
edge of the Great Plains and included
much of the Dakotas and the western
parts of Nebraska and Kansas.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
• Some wheat farms, called bonanza farms,
were much larger than single-family farms
and covered up to 50,000 acres. 
• These farms often brought the owners
large profits. 
• Several events caused Great Plains
farmers to fall on hard times. 
• In the 1890s, a glut of wheat caused
prices to drop.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
• Some farmers lost their land because
they could not repay bank loans they
had taken out. 
• A prolonged drought that began in the
1880s forced many farmers to return
to the East.
(pages 294–295)
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The Wheat Belt (cont.)
Why did much of the Great Plains region
become the Wheat Belt?
Wheat withstood drought better than other
crops, so it became the most important crop
on the Great Plains. Wheat farmers from
Minnesota and other Midwestern states
moved to the Great Plains in large numbers
to take advantage of the inexpensive land
(pages 294–295)
and the new
farming
technology.
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Closing the Frontier
• In 1890 the Census Bureau reported that
the frontier was closing. 
• This news concerned those who believed
that land at the frontier provided a place
for Americans to make a fresh start. 
• Many settlers in the Great Plains did
make a fresh start. 
• They adapted to the environment by
getting water from deep wells and getting
supplies and building materials that the
(page 295)
railroads had shipped.
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Closing the Frontier (cont.)
Why was the Census Bureau’s report of
1890 disturbing to some people?
The news that the frontier was closing
concerned those who believed that the
frontier offered a place for Americans to
make a fresh start.
(page 295)
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Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
A 1. method of acquiring a piece of
U.S. public land by living on
and cultivating it
A. homestead
C 2. a name given to Great Plains
__
C. sodbuster
farmers
D
__ 3. a large, highly-profitable
wheat farm
B
__ 4. a way of farming dry land in
which seeds are planted deep
in the ground where there is
some moisture
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B. dry farming
D. bonanza farm
Checking for Understanding (cont.)
Explain why the Great Plains was not
suitable for homesteading.
Geography and climate made the Great
Plains not suitable for homesteading.
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Reviewing Themes
Science and Technology How did the
need for new farming techniques on the
Great Plains result in technological
innovations in agriculture?
Mechanical reapers, binders, and
threshing machines were all created
to help farmers harvest large tracts
of farmland quickly.
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Critical Thinking
Analyzing What factors contributed
to the making of the Wheat Belt in the
Great Plains and then to troubled times
for wheat farmers in the 1890s?
The Homestead Act and new farming
techniques and equipment helped
develop the Wheat Belt. Good harvests
and world competition caused
a glut that caused prices to drop.
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Analyzing Visuals
Examining Photographs Study the
photograph on page 293 of your
textbook of farmers using binding
machines in western Wisconsin. Based
on the terrain and the type of work they
needed to do, what other types of
technology would have helped farmers
on the Plains?
Possible answer: Windmills would have
helped by supplying power and irrigation.
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Close
Study commercial farming in the Plains.