1. CHAP 13 SECTION 2- - CHANGES ON WESTERN FRONTIER Settling on the Great Plains

2. Settlers Hardships: natural disasters, outlaws & Native Americans.
Hardships: natural disasters, outlaws & Native Americans.
1850: 1% on nation’s population lived west of the Mississippi River. By 1900, grew to 30%.
Dugouts & Soddies
Trees scarce- dugout homes built into ravines & hills.
Homes also made of prairie turf- sod home also known as a : soddy.

3. Women
Raised families & animals. Worked in fields alongside men.
Did many chores. Sewing…cooking, cleaning
Doctored families & others,,

4. New Inventions help with Farming:
1837: John Deere invented steel plow- sliced heavy prairie soil.
1847: Cyrus McCormick mass produced mechanical reaper- sped up harvesting.
1869: Spring-tooth harrow- prepared soil.
1874: Grain drill-plant seed;& used barbed wire for fencing.

5. Morrill Land Grant Acts (1862 & 1890): agricultural colleges.
Hatch Act of 1887: agricultural experiment stations- grains from arid soil & dry farming techniques.
Eastern Plains become the - “breadbasket” of the nation.

6. Farmers & Debt
Farmers borrow money to buy equipment. Crop prices determined if could repay loan or not.
Late 1870s: Bonanza farms- large single crop farms. Farmers mortgaged land to buy more property.
: Drought caused bonanza farms to go under. Smaller farms survived.

7. Railroads
: government grants 170 million acres to lay tracks in the West.
1867: Central Pacific works east & Union Pacific goes west in race to lay track. Met at Promontory, Utah May 10, First transcontinental track joined with a golden spike.
Railroads sold extra land to farmers. Many immigrants came.

8. Government Encourages Western settlement
Homestead Act of 1862:  opened up settlement in the western United States, allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land.….. Families HAD to stay on the land for 5 years!
Plots of land not equal- some better for farming than others.
Government strengthened legislation to attract more settlers.

9. Thousands of African Americans settle in Kansas.
1889: Oklahoma Land Rush:
Some took possession of land before government declared it open. Settlers came sooner than they were supposed to- Oklahoma became known as the “Sooner” state.

10. Frontier 
Yellow Stone Park created: Congress set aside land near Yellowstone River. General Washburn surveyed it & asked that it be protected from settlement.
1879: Railroad forced to give up Western land holdings.
1880: More than 19 million acres of government-owned land bought.

11. Pressures
Farmers pressured by railroads- charged higher fees to ship grain. Farmers felt taken advantage. Farmers, tried to stay out of debt, grew more grain on as much land as they could obtain. Farmers plight brought them together for own cause.

12. Added Info from Section 3
The Populist Political Party forms from farmers and rural folks…
• Populism—movement of the people; Populist Party wants reforms:
• Economic Reforms : increase money supply, graduated income tax, federal loans

13. VlAs with die rolls… OK Land Rush….
Railroads:

14. Wrap Up for Chapter 13 MUB GRADE!
Using all of your chapter 13 Notes….create a full page Paragraph “Summary News Report” on any 2 MAJOR events that happened in the as we settle the Old West. Use 3 to5 Specific details in your report. Include a headline for Each! Include mention of one real person who is connected to each of your two news articles …
Possible Topics : Battle of Little Big Horn,