Changing Times

• What period did new technologies and methods for farming come out?

  1876-1895. They had a significant impact on farming the Plains. By the 1890s the problems facing farmers in the West had become manageable
• What was a new farming method?

  Dry farming- it aimed to conserve the amount of water trapped in the soil e.g. by ploughing the soil immediately after it rained. Agricultural experts promoted dry farming as the best farming method for homesteaders to use in growing wheat. Dry farming was the main method responsible for turning the Plains into America's main wheat-producing region
• How did wind pumps make farming on the Plains easier?

  They solved the problem of finding enough water: now farmers could access water 100s of metres underground. Successful wind pumps in the West started with development of 'self-regulating' windmill: turned automatically as wind changed direction. Invented in 1854 but took yrs of development to become widespread. High steel towers, efficient gear mechanisms, large steel blades needed to generate enough power to pump water up from the ground. By 1880s powerful wind pumps had been developed that did not need constant repairing and oiling
• How did barbed wire make farming on the Plains easier?

  It had a significant influence on farming in the West as there was no wood for fences when it was introduced in 1874. However at first it was relatively expensive and broke too easily, some types had long barbs that wounded cattle. By the 1880s a coating had been applied to the wire to make it stronger and new techniques made it much cheaper. As well as being used by farmers, the cattle industry used barbed wire to fence off land and railroads used it to fence off tracks
• What happened to the cattle industry through the 1870s?

  So much money went into cattle ranching that the open range became overstocked
• What were the consequences of overstocking the open range?

  As cattlemen made more money they bought and bred more cattle which meant there were too many cattle which led to overgrazing (there was too little grass especially in the 1883 drought) and prices dropping because there was an oversupply of beef which led to lower prices and less profit (some cattlemen sold up, others became bankrupt). The winter of 1886-87: there were freezing temperatures and deep snow which meant at least 15% of cattle died and more cattlemen went bankrupt
• What happened after the end of the open range?

  After the winter of 1886 (The Great Die Up) the cattle ranchers who were still in business moved to smaller ranches with fenced-in pastures as smaller herds were easier to manage and could be brought under shelter in bad winter weather, smaller herds in fenced-in pastures were easier to guard against cattle rustlers. Ranchers brought in high quality breeds that produced better meat- these animals were kept separate so their calves would be high quality too.
• How did the cattle industry begin to recover after the beef bonanza?

  Smaller numbers of cattle reduced the supply of beef which helped to raise prices again. Higher quality beef could also be sold at higher prices which meant the cattle industry could start to recover. Homesteaders often moved into farm areas that had been used for open-range ranching which led to demands for surviving cattle ranches to fence their land to stop their cattle from eating homestead crops
• What were the consequences of the changes in the cattle industry for cowboys?


  Many cowboys lost their lives trying to find cattle in the deep snowdrifts of the open range in the winter of 1886-87. Cowboys now had much less adventurous lives: branding, de-horning and dipping cattle, looking after horses and calves, mending barbed wire fences, repairing buildings, inspecting grass in the fenced-off fields and harvesting hay used to feed the herd during winter. Often lived in bunkhouses which were not very comfortable with leaking roofs, thin walls, many lice. There were schedules and rules
• Why were there less cowboys after the Great Die Up?

  Smaller ranches only employed a few cowboys so cowboy numbers dropped
• How many Oklahoma Land Rushes were there?


  7 in total. The first was in 1889 when 2 million acres were opened for settlement and the last was in 1895 when 88,000 acres were opened for settlement. The largest Oklahoma Land Rush, the Cherokee Strip Land Rush, was in 1893 when 8 million acres were opened for settlement
• What were the consequences of the Exoduster Movement 1879: problems with farming?

  Other settlers had already taken the best land, most Exodusters had no money for setting up farming, most Exoduster homesteaders found it very difficult to survive
• What were the consequences of the Exoduster Movement 1879: responses to Exodusters?

  Southern whites strongly opposed the migration, whites in Kansas did not think Exodusters should be helped, Kansas governor set up some help for migrants including some money to get started
• What were the consequences of the Exoduster Movement 1879: consequences?

  By 1880 mass migration ended because there were too many problems, by 1880 43,000 black Americans settled in Kansas, Exodusters typically stayed poorer than white migrants and and fewer rights
• How did the Civil War lead to the Exoduster Movement 1879?

  After slavery was abolished during the Civil War black Americans in the southern states were supposed to become economically, socially and politically equal to whites but many white southerners prevented this. They kept their former slaves economically dependent on them and intimidated them with violence
• What was the Exoduster Movement 1879?

  In 1879 a rumour spread that the Federal government had given the whole state of Kansas to ex-slaves which wasn't true but it was important in triggering the movement of 40,000 black Americans from the southern states to Kansas and other western states.
• Why did black Americans take part in the Exodus Movement 1879?

  The bible story of Exodus- an escape from slavery, continued oppression in the southern states, Benjamin Singleton promoted Kansas and helped migrants, Kansas' reputation in the fight against slavery, the Homestead Act 1862 and the promise of free land
• What was the Oklahoma Land Rush?

  Indian Territory had different sections for different tribes, in the middle was a section that wasn't allocated to any one tribe. Indian Territory was not open to white settlement and the US Army repeatedly had to move white settlers off the middle section, then in 1889 the US government opened up the middle section for white settlement. At midday on 22 April 1889, 1000s of white settlers rushed over the boundary to claim their 160-acre section: a land rush