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9 Cards in this Set
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The dry plains were ample conditions for wild fires. They could be sparked by a bit of broken glass reflecting the sun. It would soon spread if it couldnt be stopped by being beaten and the homesteaders would have to hide in their sod houses. |
The homesteaders had to be careful. Gaps were left in the crops but the shortage of land made this hard to contemplate. The high winds would also spread the fire even with gaps. In the 20th century a fire service was created in towns. |
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Crops from the East were planted but these were suited to the mild and damp climate there. No crops meant no food and even of some grew, there wouldnt be enough to sell so they couldnt buy machinery for their farm. |
In 1874 Russians started to move over and brought crops like Turkey Red Wheat. By the 1880s mills were built to cope with the crops so they could be ground. |
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Stephen Longs 1827 description of the Plains was over the top rain usually fell in the summer and would be evaporated by the heat. There was no water to irrigate the crops they couldnt grow. |
The homesteaders need a way to trap the rainfall. They 'dry farmed' so that evrytime it rained or snowed they would plough the land so that a thin layer of soil would trap the rain underneath. It was then available for the new crop in the spring. In 1874, Daniel Halliday created a wind pump to drill for water. |
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Land had to be ploghed however the ground had never been broken. Prairie gras had thick roots of up to 10cm and they tangled so they were hard to cut. Iron ploughs didnt work as they broke too easily. |
In 1830 the blacksmith John Deere made a steel plough for a neighbour. The Sodbuster was soon adopted and didn't break as steel in stronger. |
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The homesteaders had to do nearly everything by hand. They were too poor to afford machinery to help them and there was little technology in the 1860s-70s that would work on the Plains. Replacement parts for broken machines were expensive and hard to get from distant towns and suppliers in the East |
The new railroads built in the 70s-80s acted as cheap and fast transport across the plains. This enabled machinery and tools to be transported at relatively low prices. New machines such as reapers, binders and threshers made farming easier and they were affordable. |
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Massive variations in temperature were experienced as winters were long and cold and summers were extremely hot. |
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