homesteaders - solutions

8/15/2019 Homesteaders - Solutions

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The Homesteaders Solutions

to their Farming Problems


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Problems - Recap

Ploughing the LandGrowing CropsLack of Water

FireCrops getting TrampledPlagues of InsectsSize of the LandholdingMachineryExtremes of Weather


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To begin with the homesteaders had to doalmost everything by hand. The work wasphysically hard and never ending. Thehomesteaders were too poor to afford themachinery that could help them farm.

Even if they could afford new machinery,there was little technology in the 1860sand 1870s that could work on the Plains.

Broken machines and implements werealso a problem at first. Replacement partswere expensive and difficult to obtainfrom often distant towns or suppliers in

the East.

Tools


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To cut through the soil of thePlains the homesteadersneeded a much strongerplough. In 1830 an Illinoisblacksmith named John Deere

had made a steel plough for oneof his neighbours, in order tosolve the same problem thehomesteaders faced. This Sodbuster plough was

soon adopted by thehomesteaders and provided

them with the means toplough their land. Steel is amuch stronger metal thaniron, so the plough did notbreak.


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The homesteaders neededa way to trap the rainfall inthe soil before it was lost.

They used a method knownas Dry Farming. Everytime it rained or snowed,the homesteaders

ploughed their land.

This left a thin layer ofsoil on top of the newlyfallen rain which wastrapped underneath.The water was thenavailable for use whenthe new crop was

planted in the spring.

Dry Farming


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In 1874 DanielHalliday perfectedwind pumptechnology suitable

for the Plains. Awell was dug with ahigh powered drillto reach the water.This could beanything from 30 to

120 feet.

A windmill was thenbuilt above the wellto pump a constantsupply of water for

the homesteader.Although tooexpensive at first,the price fell to $25by 1890.

His windmill had four woodenblades that pivoted and wouldself adjust according to windspeed. It had a tail which causedit to turn into the wind.


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Wind Mills on the Plains


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Better Crops andMethods

The homesteaders needed torecognise that they could notgrow crops that were unsuitedto the climate of the Plains.They needed crops that couldcope with the extremes oftemperature and the lack ofrainfall.

In 1874, Mennonites fromRussia started to move ontothe Plains. They brought theircrops such as Turkey RedWheat with them.

"Kansas will be to America what thecountry of the Black Sea . . . is now toEurope -- her wheat field."--Topeka Commonwealth, October 15,

1874

Mennonites, like the Amishand Hutterites, are a hard-working, God-fearingChristian community.


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Russian-German farmershelped turn Kansas into

the nation's breadbasket.

Unlike most other farmersnew to Kansas, they wereexperienced at prairie-

style agriculture.

Mennonites often arecredited with introducingTurkey red wheat to

Kansas. This hardy wintervariety flourished on thePlains.


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This wheat grew in the harshconditions of Russia, a very

similar climate to that of thePlains. Although the hardTurkey Red Wheat could not beground by American mills atfirst, by the 1880s mills werebuilt that could cope with it.

The homesteaders at last had acrop that would growsuccessfully in the climate ofthe Plains.


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In 1874 Joseph Gliddeninvented Barbed Wire.This was a cheap andsimple method for thehomesteaders to fencetheir land.

Barbed wire allowedhomesteaders to overcome theshortage of trees on the Plains.They were able to clearly markthe boundary of their claim, andto keep stray cattle and buffalooff.


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Barbed wire did cause conflict with the ranch owners however as itoften cut off precious water supplies from their cows.

This well known photographwas staged by

photographer Solomon D.Butcher to illustrate thetensions between farmersand ranchers created by theappearance of homesteadson the range. It is unlikely,however, that these

pantomime desperadoeswere likely to do much

damage with their woodenwire cutters, a detail lost onmany historians over theyears who published this

photograph as the realMcCoy.


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Fire Prevention The only solution to the problem of fires was to becareful. Some homesteaders tried to stop firesfrom spreading by leaving gaps in their crops.

However the shortage of land made this a measurethat was impossible for most to contemplate. Evenif a break was left, the high winds of the Plainsspread the fire quickly, even across gaps.

Until the development of major towns with a roadnetwork and an infrastructure including a fire

service in the 20th century, this remained a majorproblem.


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There was no solution to the problems ofgrasshoppers and other insects until theearly years of the 1900s.

After 1900, chemical companies started tomass produce effective pesticides to kill theflies that lived on the Plains. Homesteaderscould pick the insect larvae off their crops,but this was ineffective against a plagueswarm.

Until these were available however, thehomesteaders lived in fear of a plague ofgrasshoppers, as they knew the effect itwould have and knew they were powerlessto protect their crops.

DDT was notdeveloped as apesticide until the

1930s

Health risks led to itbeing banned in the1970s


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Increasing Landholding SizeThe government eventually recognised theproblem. In 1873 it passed the Timber Culture Act.This gave homesteaders another 160 acres ofland. To get this extra land the homesteaders hadto plant 40 acres of trees.

In 1877 the homesteaders were offered more landin the Desert Land Act. This allowed them to claim640 acres of marginal land where it was available.They had to irrigate it and after three years couldbuy it for $1 an acre.

So by 1877 homesteaders could own up to 960acres of land. This was enough for most to surviveon the Plains.


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You cant beat the weather!


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Dust Storm on the Texas Plains, 1935


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Until they could grow trees of a significant size, thehomesteaders had no defence against the weather on thePlains. The storms just had to be ridden out in the sod house,hoping that the crops would not be destroyed.


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The homesteaders were initially fooled by a series of unusually wet and mildyears in the 1860s on the Plains. Many claimed that the climate had beenchanged by their presence. However the extreme weather returned in the 1870sand remained a problem from then on.


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The Coming of the Railroad

The railroads spread across the Plains during the 1870s and1880s. They acted as cheap and fast transport from theEastern states to the Plains. This enabled suppliers of tools,spare parts and machinery to send their goods to thehomesteaders for relatively low prices. The spread of towns

encouraged by the railroads allowed the homesteaders to gethold of the parts and machines they wanted.


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New machines such asreapers, binders andthreshers made farming thePlains much easier.

Homesteaders could farmmore land and harvest morecrops. The price of this newmachinery was relativelylow and affordable for thehomesteaders.

1830s Reaper

1850s

Reaper-Mower

1930sHarvester-Thresher

1920s

Tractor-Binder

1880sHarvester-

Binder

1860sSelf-Rake

Reaper

Hand-heldScythes


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Recap

1.Ploughing the Land2.Growing Crops3.Lack of Water4.Fire5.Crops getting

Trampled6.Plagues of Insects7.Size of the

Landholding8.Machinery9.Extremes of Weather

1.Deeres Steel PloughSodbuster

2.Turkey Red Wheat3.Dry Farming & Wind

Pumps4.Being careful5.Barbed wire fences6.No solution7.Government Acts,

Railroads8.Mechanised tools9.No Solution

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