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.