Homesteaders and Exodusters

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Homesteaders and Exodusters
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Homestead Act

• The Great Plains were also known as the Great
  American Desert because it was so flat, treeless,
  and dry.
• Pioneers were new settlers to the Great Plains.
• In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead
  Act to encourage people to start farms on the
  Great Plains.
• We needed more farms to feed our growing
  population.
• Many wanted to homestead because it provided a
  chance to have land, home, freedom, prosperity.

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How to qualify for Homesteading

• Men over 21 (or women who were head of the
  family- single or widowed)
• Claim 160 acres of land for a small fee of 10.
• Farm the land and live there for 5 years.
• Before the Civil War, many traveled to their land
  claims by covered wagon. After the Civil War,
  more and more people moved west by train.

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Sodbusters and Exodusters

• Sodbusters were homesteaders who had to bust up
  sod (grass and soil) to build their homes (no
  trees for building).
• Exodusters were freed slaves who moved to the
  Plains to get the same things sodbusters wanted
  land, home, freedom, and prosperity.

• Sodbusters were homesteaders who had to bust up
  sod (grass and soil) to build their homes (no
  trees for building).
• Exodusters were freed slaves who moved to the
  Plains to get the same things sodbusters wanted
  land, home, freedom, and prosperity.
• http//www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_h
  omested_1.html

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What made life difficult?

• Harsh weather and natural disasters- floods,
  droughts, tornadoes, hailstorms, blizzards
• Insects- grasshoppers could eat an entire crop in
  a day
• Sod houses- snakes and dirty conditions

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Technology

• New inventions and farming techniques made life
  better for the homesteaders.
• Steel plow- stronger, didnt break like iron
  plows
• Windmills- pumped water from underground wells
• Barbed wire- fences were cheap and easy to build,
  kept cattle and wild animals from trampling crops
• Dry farming- dug long, narrow ditches to plant
  crops, reduces need for rain