Homesteaders and Exodusters

Homestead Act The Great Plains were also known as the Great American Desert because it was so flat, treeless, and dry. Pioneers were new settlers to the Great Plains. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to encourage people to start farms on the Great Plains. We needed more farms to feed our growing population. Many wanted to homestead because it provided a chance to have land, home, freedom, & prosperity.

How to qualify for Homesteading: Men over 21 (or women who were head of the family- single or widowed) Claim 160 acres of land for a small fee of $10. Farm the land and live there for 5 years. Before the Civil War, many traveled to their land claims by covered wagon. After the Civil War, more and more people moved west by train.

Sodbusters and Exodusters Sodbusters were homesteaders who had to bust up sod (grass and soil) to build their homes (no trees for building). Exodusters were freed slaves who moved to the Plains to get the same things sodbusters wanted: land, home, freedom, and prosperity. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_homested_1.html Sodbusters were homesteaders who had to bust up sod (grass and soil) to build their homes (no trees for building). Exodusters were freed slaves who moved to the Plains to get the same things sodbusters wanted: land, home, freedom, and prosperity.

What made life difficult? Harsh weather and natural disasters- floods, droughts, tornadoes, hailstorms, blizzards Insects- grasshoppers could eat an entire crop in a day Sod houses- snakes and dirty conditions

Technology New inventions and farming techniques made life better for the homesteaders. Steel plow- stronger, didn’t break like iron plows Windmills- pumped water from underground wells Barbed wire- fences were cheap and easy to build, kept cattle and wild animals from trampling crops Dry farming- dug long, narrow ditches to plant crops, reduces need for rain