Settling the Great Plains

1
Settling the Great Plains
2
Federal land grants and completion of the
Transcontinental Railroad made settlement of the
Great Plains possible.
3
Land Grants

• From 1850 to 1871, the federal government gave
  huge land grants to railroads.
• The Homestead Act and other legislation gave land
  grants to settlers.
• Exodusters were African-Americans who moved west
  after Reconstruction.

4
Preservation

• When land began to be gobbled up too fast by
  speculators, state governments, and RR agents,
  the government took action to protect the
  wilderness.
• In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was created.

5
Hardships of Prairie Life

• Settlers continued to move west despite terrible
  hardships of prairie life.
• They were forced to build homes from sod because
  trees were scarce.
• Weather on the Plains was brutal, and families
  had to be self-sufficient.
• Land was difficult to plow, so farmers went into
  debt to buy steel plows, barbed wire, reapers,
  and grain drills.

6
Further Changes

• In 1862 and 1890, the government passed the
  Morrill Land Grant Acts to help finance
  agricultural colleges.
• Plains farmers continued to slip into debt and
  Bonanza farms arose from this debt as farmers
  acquired more and more land to pay debts.
• Farmers continued to pull together for survival
  on the Plains.