Western Settlement (1877-1890)

Question 1

The Impact of Railways

Answer 1

• Transcontinental lines by 1890 other than Pacific Railway, e.g. ->
• Northern Pacific: 1883, from Minnesota to Oregon
• Southern Pacific: 1883, linked New Orleans to San Francisco
• 1900: West accounted for nearly half the national total
• States helped financially by advancing $200 million, land grants totalling 19 million hectares
• Ensured that a flood of people and goods moved in and an abundance of raw materials moved out
• Stimulated growth of steel, iron and lumber

Question 2

Life for Homesteader Settlers on the Great Plain

Answer 2

• Nearest neighbours were often miles away, problem for women going into labour
• Dealt with tornadoes, droughts, hailstorms, blizzards and pests
• Swarms of locusts sometimes covered the ground 15cm deep
• If land was relatively cheap; horses, livestock, wagons fertilisers were not
• Freight charges and interest rates on loans were often cripplingly high

Question 3

Agriculture New Inventions

Answer 3

• ‘Dry farming’ methods enabled farmers to grow particular types of corn and wheat even when there was scant rainfall
• American factories turned out an increasing quantity of farm machinery ->
• Reapers, threshing machines, binders and combine harvesters
  1873: Joseph Glidden produced the first effective barbed wire making it possible to fence land cheaply
• Deep drilled wells/steel windmills provided water

Question 4

Agriculture, Increased Wheat Production, Productivity & Exports

Answer 4

• American wheat production increased from 211 million bushels, 1867 to 599 million bushels in 1890
• 1840: took 35 hours of labour to produced 15 bushels, by 1900 only took 15 hours
• American wheat exports rose from 6 million bushels in 1867 to 102 million by 1900

Question 5

Agriculture Boom & Bust Cycle

Answer 5

• This cycle became heavily dependent on exports and the fluctuating price of wheat
• Western farmers were unable to determine the price of things they bought and sold
• Most suffered in the 1870s as cereal prices tumbled
• 1867: corn sold for 70 cents a bushel
• 1873: fell to 31 cents a bushel