Farming in the West

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The Homestead Act•1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act – 160 acres of land for anyone who would live on land for five years.

•Because of this thousands of homesteaders acquired free land from the government.

•Only 33% lasted five years.

•Most of the land ended up in the hands of big companies who took it illegally.

Railroads and farming

•The Homestead Act did a lot to promote farming in the West, but the rail road did more!

•Land that the railroads had gained during the building phase when the government gave them subsidies was passed on.

•180 million acres was given to people who were from all over in order to encourage farming.

•They did this to promote the business of their own rail lines for future shipping.

Farming the Plains•The first farmers staked out the best land with trees and lakes.

•Later farmers were not so lucky. They got poorer treeless prairie.

•Both group had to contend with thick sod.

Using John Deere’s steel plow to break the soil and seed drills to plant with they got the job done.

Who were these people? Farm families

usually which included a father who did the farming, children who did the chores to help out and a mother who kept house, sewed, planted, harvested, preserved foods, made basics like candles, and soap.

Exodusters were African-Americans, many former slaves, looking to make their own lives as farmers or working in towns as hired hands.

Who were these people?

Spanish speaking farmers mostly from Mexico. Many had been there before the Mexican-American War and had never moved. Large landowners known as ricos felt they had the right to keep their land when white settlers began moving in.

Who were these people?

Land Rush

•1880’s Oklahoma was opened to homesteaders

•1889 100,000 boomers came to grab up 2,000,000 acres of land

•At noon everyone charged onto the land but sooners had already sneaked in and claimed the best land.

Farmers helping Farmers•Big farmers did well in the West, but small farmers suffered.

•When there came to be a surplus of grain small farmers had to keep borrowing to keep going and fell deeper into debt.

•To help farmers formed granges where there would be lectures, sewing bees, and fun events for the whole family. They also fought for fairness with railroad rates.

•They also formed cooperatives in which the pooled their money together to get a better price for seed, and other big purchases.

•1892 favored the Populist Party because the pushed for social reform.

Populists in the 1890’s

Populists to use gold and silver as the basis for our money system and they wanted more money to be in the people’s hands! Sounds great right? Not so much. This causes inflation! In 1896 Democrat William Jennings Bryan looses to Republican William McKinley, because Bryan is favored by the Populists and everybody but the farmers thought Populists would ruin the economy. The Populist Party soon dies after this election.