The Homestead Act

The Homestead Act allowed settlers to get land mostly by living on it and improving it. Over 1/2 million families who couldn't afford to buy land before took advantage of the Act in the following 40 years.

Public land went from being sold for revenue to being sold to fill up the empty space and to stimulate the family farm ("the backbone of democracy").

Fraud

The Homestead Act turned out to be a hoax, for 160 acres was not nearly enough on the Great Plains. 2 out of 3 farmers had to give up their land because of drought

Ten times more of the public land ended up in the arms of "land-grabbing promoters" than read farmers. Corporations often used dummy homesteads to grab the best.

The Great American Desert

The myth of the Great American Desert was shattered. Many farmers assumed that the ground would be sterile, when in reality it was just sod pounded down by the buffalo herds. Many "sodbusters" poured onto the prairies, making homes from the sod itself because of the the lack of lumber.

The 100th Meridian

In the 1870s, settlers pushed past the 100th meridian into the more arid area to the west. Geologist John Wesley Powell warned in 1874 that beyond the 100th meridian, so little rain fell that agriculture was impossible without massive irrigation.

However, he was ignored and farmers plowed through the land to the west of the line. A 6 year drought broke out in the 1880s, further damaging the region.

Adapting

After the drought, the technique of "dry farming" appeared, a method of shallow cultivation (which later contributed to the Dust Bowl).

Tougher strains of wheat were imported from Russia and drought resistant grains were grown.

Barbed wire was perfected in 1874 by Joseph F. Glidden, solving the problem posed by building fences on the treeless prairies.

Federally financed irrigation projects caused the Great American Desert to bloom. Dams tamed the Missouri, Colorado, and Columbia Rivers, and over 4.5 million acres were irrigated in 17 Western states.

New States

From the 1870s-1890s the West had a huge growth in population. A parade of new states joined the Union. Colorado, product of Pike's Peak Gold Rush, was welcomed as the "Centennial State." In 1889-1890 a Republican Congress looking for support admitted South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. Mormons banned polygamy in 1890 and Utah was admitted as a state in 1896.

Oklahoma

The federal government made land formerly occupied by Indians in the Oklahoma Territory ("the Beautiful Land") available to settlers. Hundreds of "sooners" had already entered the territory and had to be evicted repeatedly by federal troops. On April 22, 1889, on the legal opening, 50,000 "boomers" waited on the border. At noon a horde of "eighty-niners" poured in. By the end of the year, Oklahoma had 60,000 inhabitants and it became a territory. In 1907 was admitted as a state.