Agricultural development in the West Flashcards
Describe the economic legacy of the Civil War on the West.
The end of the war opened the way for rapid economic exploitation and for the settlement of new land, assisted by the Homestead Act of 1862.
When was the Homestead Act and what did it accelerate?
1862, it accelerated the movement of settlers into the West.
What was completed in 1869?
The first transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific.
What was virtually complete by 1877?
The conquest and colonisation of Native American lands.
Describe what change was made in the open lands of the West.
The vast open lands were carved up by railroads, ranches, farms and mining towns.
What did the development of the West continue to be driven by?
Land-hungry settlers seeking homesteads. Vast tracts of land were brought under cultivation in the states west of the Mississippi, such as Nebraska.
Describe the Oklahoma Land Rush.
Congress granted 2 million acres of formerly Indian lands as free land for homesteads. Race for this territory began 1889.
How were the railroads key in this wave of settlement?
They transported the homesteaders westward, lent them money to acquire land, and then took cash crops such as wheat in return.
What did the US Census show in 1860?
There were 760,000 residents in the Western states of the Great Plains, the Mountain West and the Pacific West. By 1890, the total was more than 6 million.
Describe the drop in Native American population.
The population in 1860 was estimated at about 500,000; this figure had almost halved by 1890.
Describe how Steel was important.
- Steel ploughs (to get rich soil)
- Steel barbed wire fence (fenced off open space)
- Steel rails of railroads
- Steel bullets (to wipe out the bison)
Describe the climate in the west.
It was harsh and prone to natural disasters such as drought and grasshopper infestation. Many farms were on marginal, unproductive land.
Describe how the prices fluctuated.
- Sometimes wildly upwards, as in the sudden boom on wheat prices in the mid 1870s.
- Sometimes wildly downwards, as in the years of drought from 1887.
