Boom and Bust in the Cattle Kingdom Overstocking and a spell of bad weather eventually put an end to the cattle boom. The cattle boom lasted from the 1860s to the 1880s. In 1886 and 1887, a cycle of scorching summers and frigid winters killed millions of cattle.  An economic depression caused a drop in demand for beef.  Giant cattle ranches slowly gave way to smaller ranches that grew their own feed. Large roundups and long cattle drives vanished.

Homesteading Would-be settlers could get a homestead from the government or land from railroad companies. During the Civil War, Congress passed the Homestead Act of It offered a 160-acre plot to anyone who resided on the land for five years. Of the thousands that became homesteaders on the Great Plains only one in three homesteaders lasted the required five years. Railroads recruited thousands of people from the eastern U.S., Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia to settle on the Great Plains.

A Hard Life on the Plains New techniques and inventions helped settlers adapt to the difficult life on the Plains.

A Hard Life on the Plains New techniques and inventions helped settlers adapt to the difficult life on the Plains. Whole families worked on the farms. Men labored from dawn to dusk. Children tended animals and helped with other chores. Women helped plant and harvest; they educated children, nursed the sick, sewed clothing, preserved food, and made basic items like soap and candles.

A Last Rush for Land A rush for land in Oklahoma in 1889 signaled the closing of the western frontier. In April 1889, nearly 100,000 people gathered at a line near present-day Oklahoma City. These people called “boomers” had come to claim some of the 2 million acres of free homesteads in former Indian Territory. A few people, known a sooners, had already snuck onto the land; they jumped from hiding and grabbed the best land. In 1890, the U.S. no longer had land available for homesteading.

Farmers Organize Facing an economic crisis, farmers formed groups like the National Grange and the Populist Party. As farmers became more efficient, prices fell due to surpluses. Small farmers lost their land. Some communities began to form granges. In the 1870s and 1880s, Grangers elected state officials who passed laws to limit the rates of railroads and warehouses. A group called the Farmers’ Alliance organized in the 1870s to help farmers. In 1892, unhappy farmers joined with labor unions to form the Populist Party. The party demanded public ownership of railroads and warehouses to control rates, a tax on income to replace property taxes, an eight-hour workday, and other reforms.

Farmers Organize Facing an economic crisis, farmers formed groups like the National Grange and the Populist Party. The Populists supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the election of Bryan, known as the “Great Commoner” won the votes of farmers in the South and West for supporting the use of silver to raise prices. Bankers and business owners claimed rising prices would ruin the economy. They backed Republican William McKinley and his gold- alone policy. McKinley won.

INDEPENDENT WORK 1.Read pages in the History textbook. 1.Take more detailed notes based on the “big idea” concepts just introduced.