American West 4 - THE HOMESTEADERS

American West 4 - THE HOMESTEADERS

1. so many people wanted to become homesteaders and settle on the Plains

   • Homestead Act 1862 – families were given 160 acres of land for free, providing that they lived on it and farmed it for five years
   • Timber Culture Act 1873 – settlers were given a further 160 acres of free land if they agreed to plant 40 acres of their land with trees
   • Desert Land Act 1877 – settlers who wanted more land could buy 640 acres of land cheaply in areas where lack of rainfall was a problem
   • End of the US Civil War – thousands of demobilised soldiers and their families wanted to rebuild their lives. Freed black slaves were also looking for a new life. Many ex-slaves and ex-soldiers became homesteaders, cowboys and railroad builders
   • Building of the Railroads – it was easy for homesteaders to get onto the Plains and land could be bought cheaply from railroad companies which were selling land either side of the railroad
   • Pull Factors
     • The offer of free land
     • The chance of a new start
     • Advertising by the railroad companies
     • Leets home from those who had already gone west, and who were successfully farming, encouraged people to move onto the Plains themselves
   • Push Factors
     • Many were looking to escape poverty and unemployment
     • Looking for good farming land
     • Some moved to the Plains to escape religious persecution
     • Ex-soldiers from the US Civil War saw lack of opportunity when the returned home
   • Enabling factors
     • Later homesteaders could travel by railroad
     • The Indians were cleared from these lands, defeated by the US army and confined to reservations or pushed further west

2. surviving on the Plains

   • Water Shortages
     • Water was scarce. It was difficult to grow crops without water and homesteaders couldn’t keep themselves clean
       • Windmills were used to pump water from underground. Methods of dry farming were also used.
   • Weather Extremes
     • There was draught in the summer and cold in the winter. Fierce winds blew. This could destroy crops.
       • Dry farming techniques were used to overcome problems of draught
   • Fuel
     • There was no wood to burn as fuel for heating and cooking.
       • Buffalo dung and cow dung were used as fuels.
   • Dirt and Disease
     • It was easy for disease to develop and illness was common among homesteaders
       • Women used natural medical remedies to treat disease
   • Building Materials
     • There was a lack of wood and only a few could afford wood to build their homes
       • Blocks of earth were cut and used as building bricks to build ‘sod’ houses
   • Natural Hazards
     • Prairie fires started in the summer. There were plagues of grasshoppers that could destroy crops.
       • No solution! They had to endure

3. female homesteaders

   • Making and washing clothes
   • Preparing food for their family
   • Making household items, such as soap and candles
   • No social life, because of the long distances between farmhouses
   • Mental health problems, due to the lack of a social life and the heavy workload
   • Coming into contact with hostile Indians

4. Which factors determined whether a homesteader would be successful

   • Exact location of their land – some parts of the Plains were more fertile than others
   • Adaptability – The Great Plains required them to adapt their farming techniques. Homesteaders who failed to adapt did not succeed
   • Weather – severe droughts of the 1870s and 1880s forced thousands of homesteaders into bankruptcy
   • Hard work and determination – those who survived were helped by a number of inventions and developments in homesteading