Problems faced by Homesteaders

• Low rainfall

  Too dry for crops. Not enough water for livestock. Frequent droughts. No rivers to transport people and products across the Plains
• Few trees

  No timber for building houses. No timber for making fences. No wood to burn for cooking or heating
• Climate extremes 


  Crops shrivelled in the summer heat. Hailstorms and fires (from lightning) destroyed crops. Very difficult living conditions in the summer and winter
• Extra info

  Water could be 300 feet down, wells that deep were expensive to dig, and it was hard to wind up enough water for people, animals and crop.

  Settlers burned buffalo ‘chips’: buffalo dung that had dried in the sun, burned quickly so lots was needed.

  No trees for wood, settlers made houses out of ‘sods’ of earth: sod houses were warm and fire proof but were always dirty, infested with insects and started to turn into mud.

  Families were often miles away from any other settlers making Great Plains very lonely