The Great Plains

STANDARD USII.2a

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TSW use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, and tables

for explaining how physical features and climate influenced

the movement of people westward.

Geography of the Great Plains

Physical features/climate of the Great Plains• Flatlands that rise gradually from

east to west• Land eroded by wind and water• Low rainfall• Frequent dust storms

Geography of the Great Plains

Geography of the Great Plains

Low rainfall - typically less than 20 inches a year - makes it a dry region with few trees. Water pumping windmills like the one on the farm shown are still common sights even on modern farms.

Geography of the Great Plains

• The Great Plains originally were covered with tall prairie grass. Today areas that are not planted with crops are usually covered with a variety of grassy plants.

Geography of the Great Plains•The Great Plains once supported enormous wild buffalo herds, which could survive in the dry conditions. •The arrival of settlers on the plains led to the destruction of much of the buffalo population after about 1870.

Geography of the Great Plains• High winds can stir up a dust

storm on the Great Plains, especially where there are drought conditions from periods of no rain. This scene is from Nebraska during the terrible drought of the 1930s when much of the area was called the Dust Bowl.

Settling the Great Plains: Inventions and Adaptations

Going West• In the decades after the Civil War, from

1865 until the early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of Americans moved into the area of the West called the Great Plains.

Before the Civil War, most people going to the West passed right over the Great Plains. They considered the area a treeless wasteland. Their goal was to get to the far West - California or Oregon.

The Great Plains

The Great Plains

• After the Civil War, the perception of the Great Plains changed. There were many new inventions, adaptations, and technological advances that made it possible to farm the land. People began to see it as not a treeless wasteland but a vast area to be settled.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

•Sod HousesTheir houses are made from sod - the top layer of soil and grass - cut and stacked to make the walls. Even the roof was often made of sod placed over wood beams. After a few years, if the farm was successful, the owners would build a house from wood boards shipped in by railroad.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Steel PlowsThe soil of the Great Plains is very thick and rich. Plows used on farms in the East, were usually made with a cast iron blade. Cast iron blades, would often clog up in the sticky rich soil of the Great Plains. Luckily, a blacksmith named John Deere had invented a plow blade with a very smooth, polished steel cutting blade. The new plow made it possible to farm the Great Plains because the blade could slice through the soil easily.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Water-Pumping WindmillsIn the summer there is not much rainfall on the Great Plains. The invention of an inexpensive water pumping windmill helped solve that problem. As the wind turns the blades of the windmill, a long rod that runs down the tower moves the handle of a pump up and down. The water flows into an open wooden box called a trough, or into a storage tank. That way there is always water available for people and animals.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

RailroadsThey were an important technological

advance that made it possible to settle the West. It could bring in supplies at an affordable price, and made it possible for farmers to ship their crops out to distant cities.

Transcontinental Railroad

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Wheat FarmingFarmers needed a crop that

could survive and grow in the dry, hot summers of the Great Plains. Wheat was the crop that best fit the climate conditions. Wheat is ground into flour to make bread, cereal, and other foods.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Dry FarmingFarmers of the Great Plains developed dry farming techniques to adapt to the low rainfall and conserve as much moisture in the soil as possible.For example, they planted seeds a little deeper than normal, so the plants would have a better chance to get moisture as they began growing.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Beef Cattle RaisingSome parts of the Great Plains were suited

to beef cattle raising. So that choice, too, was an adaptation to the conditions of the region. Texas became the center of cattle ranching, because the Texas Longhorn cattle were native to that area.

Inventions and adaptations for farming on the Great Plains

Barbed WireCattle ranchers and farmers alike found that

barbed wire, invented in 1874, was a vital product needed on the Great Plains. Wood for fences was hard to get and expensive, since there were few trees in the region. Barbed wire solved the problem of fencing large ranches and farms quickly and affordably.