Homesteaders Flashcards
What is a ‘Sod House’ made of?
The dirt and Earth that was around them and they had access too.
What was the plough called that made it easier for the Homesteaders to dig into the soil?
The Sod-Buster
Where did the homesteaders come from?
Most of the migrants came from the eastern states such a Illinois and Wisconsin.
What sped up the migration westward?
The building of the railway in the 1860s.
How did most of the homesteaders travel west?
Via the railroad.
Why was the railroad helpful in the development of the plains?
The women and children helped to create a stable and orderly society at a time when the only other strong influence was the cattlemen and Cowboys.
What was Manifest Destiny?
White American people were destined to occupy and govern all territories of North America.
Encouraged the migration of settlers.
Why were the railway companies anxious to attract settlers?
They needed to sell the land that the government had given to them to help finance the building of the railway.
They also needed people to travel on the railways and produce good that they could carry.
How did the railway companies lure settlers?
With offers of credit, term loans at low rates of interest and delayed repayment packages in order to allow them time to become established.
Why did the railway companies give out free ‘exploration’ tickets?
To enable prior inspection of land, free transport to the nearest railway town to their purchased land and accommodation along the way.
What did the Santa Fe railroad do in 1875 to attract people to travel west?
Invited 225 newspaper editors from the USA and abroad to visit the West at the companies expense.
What happened in 1882 to attract visitors?
Half a million promotional posters were translated into Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian.
What was a major attraction that the US government handed over to attract people to move west?
Made free land available to farmers.
What was the 1862 Homestead act?
The land was divided into units of 160 acres.
Settlers were able to claim a section for free. as long as they had lived on it and worked it for 5 years.
160 acres wasn’t enough land to make a successful farm so the timber and culture act was brought in!
What was the Timber and Culture act?
You had to plant at least 40 acres of trees.
