Section 4 – pg 469 Farming in the West Chapter 14 Section 4 – pg 469 Farming in the West

Pg 469 Homesteading By 1900, half a million farmers had settled on the Great Plains Drawn by the offer of free land

Homestead Act Pg 469 During the Civil War, Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862 Offered a 160-acre plot to anyone who lived on the land for 5 years Wanted to give the poor a chance to own farms Thousands became homesteaders (settlers who acquired free land from the gov’t

Few people had the money to move west and start a farm Pg 469 Few people had the money to move west and start a farm Land companies took over large areas illegally Plains were dry and 160 acre was not enough to make a profit One 1 in 3 lasted the required 5 years

Railroads Promote Farming Pg 469 Railroads Promote Farming Railroads promoted farming Farms meant more shipping Railroads gave away a lot of land given to them by the gov’t Recruited thousands of people from the eastern US, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia to settle the Great Plains

Hard Life on the Plains Life on the Great Plains was not easy Pg 470 Water was scarce Crops were hard to grow Farmers often struggled to make ends meet

Busting Sod Pg 470 The first farmers on the Plains chose sites near water and trees Latter farmers had to choose from land farther west, which was dryer The soil in the Plains was fertile Covered in thick sod (a surface layer of earth in which the roots of grass tangle with soil) With little raid, sod often baked into a hardened mass Settlers would cut this into bricks to build walls

New Farming Methods Farmers broke through the tough sod with plows Pg 470 New Farming Methods Farmers broke through the tough sod with plows The sod often would crack plows made of wood or iron 1877 John Deere of Illinois invented a sodbusting plow made of steel Steel plowers were stronger and lighter

Plains farmers (sodbusters) used drills to plant crops Pg 470 Plains farmers (sodbusters) used drills to plant crops Drills buried seeds deep in the ground where there was moisture Used reapers to harvest crops and threshers to beat off the hard coverings of grains

Water lay hundreds of feet below the ground Pg 470 Water lay hundreds of feet below the ground Used windmills to pump water out Put up fences to keep cattle from trampling crops Used barbwire b/c they had no wood Invented by Joseph Glidden in 1874

Farm Families Whole families worked on the farms Pg 471 Men: worked from dusk til dawn Children: tended to the animals and helped with chores Women: kept up the house, helped plant and harvest, sewed clothing, preserved food, educated the children made house items like candles and soup

Exodusters Pg 471 Thousands of African Americans moved into the Plains By the early 1800s, abt 70,000 AAs settled in Kansas Known as Exodusters b/c they believed they were like the Jews fleeing slavery in Egypt Biblical story from Exodus Some took up farming and others moved into towns Men worked as hired hands and women worked as laundresses

The Spanish Southwest Pg 471 In the Southwest along the border with Mexico there was Spanish-speaking farmers and sheepherders Many settled there during the Mexican-American War when the US acquired the territory Railroads brought more immigrants Many came to help build new lines Some of the older Hispanic residents were large landowners (ricos) Fought to keep their lands, deeded under Spanish or Mexican law

Pg 472 A Last Rush for Land By the 1880s, few areas of the Plains remained free to settlers The federal gov’t agreed to open Oklahoma to homesteaders

Pg 472 Boomers and Sooners April 1889 – nearly 100,000 ppl gathered at a line near present day Oklahoma City “Boomers” Come to claim some of the 2 million acres of free homesteads in what was once Indian Territory At noon a volley of gunfire signaled the start pf the Oklahoma Land Rush Some ppl had already snuck onto the land and hid until the gunfire then claimed the best land – called “sooners”

Pg 472 The Frontier Closes In the 1890, the national census reported that the US no longer had land available for homesteading There was no longer a west frontier

Pg 472 Farmers Organize Wheat and grain from Plains farm fed the growing cities of America and Europe A few big farmers prospered Small farmers face economic crisis and organized to end it

Pg 472 Crisis on the Farm The more grain farmers hauled to market, the lower grain prices fell Farmers were producing a surplus of crops Small farmers were hit the hardest by low grain prices Many had borrowed money for land and machinery Many could not repay their debts and lost their land Same thing happened in the South as cotton prices fell

Cooperatives and Political Parties Pg 472 Cooperatives and Political Parties Many farmers lived in poverty and isolation Some communities formed granges – groups of farmers who met for lectures, sewing bees, and other events 1867: National Grange is formed Started as a social and educational movement became an economic protest In the 1870s and 1880s, Grangers demanded the same low rates from railroads and warehouses as were given to big farmers Elected state officials who passed laws limiting rates

Farmers’ Alliance was organized in the late 1870s to help farmers Set up farm cooperatives – groups of farmers who pool their money to make large purchases of tools, seed, and other supplies at a discount In the South, both whites and blacks joined 1892 – unhappy farmers joined w/ members of labor unions to form the Populist Party Pushed for social reforms Demanded public ownership of railroads and warehouses to control rates, a tax on income to replace property taxes, an 8 – hour workday, and other reforms Pg 472

Populists wanted to use silver in addition to gold as a basis of money Pg 473 Populists wanted to use silver in addition to gold as a basis of money Hoped this would cause inflation and this would help farmers pay off their debts and prevent foreclosures

Pg 473 The Election of 1896 In the election of 1896 the Populist Party supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan, known as the “Great Commoner” Farmers supported him b/c he wanted to use silver as money Bankers and business owners claimed rising prices would ruin the economy They supported Republican William McKinley and his gold-alone standard McKinely won and for the first time in decades the Republicans took both the White House and Congress The Populist Party faded