The Homesteaders

Farming the Plains

 What were the
problems of farming
the Great Plains?
●Ploughing the Land
●Growing Crops

●Lack of Water

●Protecting the Crops

●Fire

●Insects

●Size of Landholding

●Farming Machinery

●Extremes of Weather
Ploughing. Before it can grow crops land
has to be ploughed. Until the
arrival of the homesteaders
in the 1860s however, the soil
on the Plains had never been
cut by a plough. The Prairie
grass that covered the Plains
had thick deep roots of up to
10cm.
These roots grew in dense
tangled clumps that were
difficult to cut. The first
homesteaders that arrived on
the Plains brought their iron
ploughs from the Eastern
USA. These could cut
through the previously
ploughed soft soils there, but
they broke when used on the
Great Plains.
 Growing Crops
The homesteaders planted the crops of maize and wheat that
they brought with them from the Eastern states. These were
suited to the mild and damp climate there. However these crops
did not grow well on the dry hot Plains. If the homesteaders
could not grow their crops, then their life on the Plains would be
impossible to sustain.

No crops meant no food for the homesteaders. Even if they

could grow enough to eke out a living, they could not grow a
surplus to sell. Without a surplus the homesteaders had no
income, and could not pay for supplies or machinery for their
farms.
 Lack of Water
Although Stephen Long’s 1827
description of the Great Plains as
‘The Great American Desert’ was
an exaggeration of their climate,
the Plains were not ideally suited
to agriculture. The annual rainfall
on the Plains averaged 38cms.
Rain usually fell during the hot
summer and the sun soon
evaporated the standing water.

Without water to irrigate their crops the homesteaders could not

succeed. There were no lakes or rivers to provide water for
irrigation. Digging a well was impractical as the work was
expensive and would often fail to find water anyway.
Crops were Trampled
The homesteaders needed to mark out
their claims to protect them from other
homesteaders. A homesteader could
not afford to lose any land because of a
disputed boundary.

Cattle and buffalo were also a problem.

The homesteaders often farmed near to
the vast cattle ranches, and the cows
would stray off the ranches and trample
the homesteaders’ crops. Buffalo were
simply roaming wild, still in large herds
until the 1870s.

The lack of trees on the Plains meant

that there was no material to build
adequate fences. Some homesteaders
tried to use the prickly Osage tree to
make hedges, but this was only a short
term solution.
 Fire!

The dry Plains were provided the perfect conditions for

fires to start. The long hot summers left the Prairie Grass
and the homesteaders’ crops bone dry. Accidental fires
started by a spark or a bit of broken glass lying on the
ground and reflecting the sun were a disaster for the
homesteaders.

Unless the fire could be stopped quickly by beating, it soon

spread. Without any water to put out the fire, the
homesteaders were forced to hide in their sod houses until
their crops were destroyed and the fire died.
Fighting a Fire by
Beating.
 Plagues
of
Insects

Plagues of grasshoppers visited the Plains in 1871, 1874 and

1875. The swarms contained millions of insects, and covered
hundreds of miles of the Plains at a time.

They devoured everything the homesteaders possessed. The

grasshoppers could eat a homesteader family’s entire crop in a
few hours, leaving them with nothing to eat or sell. The
grasshoppers ate boots, tools, clothes, even the wooden door
frame of the sod house.

After a visit from grasshoppers, the a homesteader could be left

penniless and without any means of survival.
Homesteads were
too small.....

The Homestead Act of 1862 gave the homesteaders 160 acres

of land each (a quarter square mile plot). Although this much
land was enough for a family in the fertile lands of California
and Oregon, it was insufficient on the Plains.

Homesteaders were unable to support their families with only

160 acres. The lower yields of crop caused by the harsh
climate and lack of water meant that many thousands of
homesteaders simply gave up their plots.
The Plains experienced
massive variations in
temperature as part of
their normal temperature.
Winters were long with
freezing temperatures
and snow. Summers were
extremely hot. This made
it difficult to grow most
crops in a normal year.

Extremes of
The Plains were also regularly
Weather struck by dust storms. The vast
open spaces of the Plains
encouraged high winds and
tornadoes. All of these could do
great damage to crops.
●Ploughing the Land
●Growing Crops

●Lack of Water

●Protecting the Crops

●Fire

●Insects

●Size of Landholding

●Farming Machinery

●Extremes of Weather