settling on the Great plains
There were many groups of settlers on the great Plains. These settlers hoped they would be successful farms on the Great Plains. Farming families moved to farmlands that weren't expensive because farming was becoming scarce. Unmarried women moved to the Great Plains because the Homestead Act granted land to them. The Exodusters moved because of the promise of land also. Immigrants were attracted to the Great Plains because they got land grants from the Homestead Act, too. These immigrants included Norwegians, Swedes, Danish people, and Czech people. They took this as an opportunity to form small communities.
Homestead Act
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Morril Act
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Sod-busters- the name given both to the Plains farmers and the plows they used to break up the region's tough sod.
Dry farming- the method that shifted from the focus of water-dependent crops to hardier crops.
Dry farming- the method that shifted from the focus of water-dependent crops to hardier crops.
communities
One of the first communities was a pioneer community with a church and a school. Churches were often where the communities got together. Towns would raise money establish school by putting on plays or dinners. People would build and run the schools themselves. Pioneer schools were very small, often one room. To heat the school room, they had a stove in the center of the room. There weren't any light s in the room, only the sunlight from the window. kids of all gates learned the same things. Some children didn't go to school the whole year because they had to help out with farm work. The teachers were young women who didn't get a lot of money.
important people
Exodusters were a large group of southerns African Americans who settled in the west in the late 1800s.
John Solomon Lewis was a sharecropping exodusters who explained his reasons for moving his family to the west.
Cyrus McCormick was a businessman who made a lot of money Designing, building, and selling farm equipment.
Gro Svendsen was a settler who explained the difficulty of the Plains life. He said building a house was one of the first challenges of settling on the Plains.
May Avery was a pioneer who had explained the problems of Great Plains life. She said "the roof leaked something awful and inside we killed a snake or two.. and several centipedes."
Esther Clark explained her mother's life as a pioneer. She said "it took courage to live twenty- four hours at a time, month in and out, on the lonely and lovely prairie."
John Solomon Lewis was a sharecropping exodusters who explained his reasons for moving his family to the west.
Cyrus McCormick was a businessman who made a lot of money Designing, building, and selling farm equipment.
Gro Svendsen was a settler who explained the difficulty of the Plains life. He said building a house was one of the first challenges of settling on the Plains.
May Avery was a pioneer who had explained the problems of Great Plains life. She said "the roof leaked something awful and inside we killed a snake or two.. and several centipedes."
Esther Clark explained her mother's life as a pioneer. She said "it took courage to live twenty- four hours at a time, month in and out, on the lonely and lovely prairie."
Daily life
Daily life on the Plains was hard. The first challenge was to build a house. Many houses were built from sod cut out of the ground. Once the houses were built, the chores were what made families busy most of the time. They had to make their own clothes and hand wash and dry them. They made soap from lye, grew their vegetables for dinner, and raised chickens or made butter to make money. They raised livestock and plowed and planted for hours in the fields. Children helped with many tasks around the farm. Families