The people in the west were hard working and do it yourself people that did everything by hand and with family and sometimes friends. For fuel because the didn’t have a lot of wood for fuel so they used cow chips as fuel and cow chips are dried cow poop. There wasn’t a lot of rain either so the farmers took up dry farming which was making a one foot hole in the ground and they planted crops and when they did they had to turn the soil so the water could get to the crops and they would have food. Would you move back to the cities where others were or would you stay in the plains? Why?
When the First Transcontinental Railroad was finished people that lived in the great plains could have lumber to make houses instead of living in a soddie or a dugout. Nine new states joined the Union. There were new jobs opening and they were train conductors, miners, industrial workers that helped make steel plated plows introduced by John Deere and tools and making barbed wire introduced by Joseph Glidden and steel drivers for train tracks. If you could have any one of those four jobs which one would you have and why?
The west opened up when people wanted to get away from it all and they got 160 acres of land in the Homestead Act, they had to live there for five years or they had to pay for it hundreds of dollars because it was $12.25 an acre. Before they had trains the ranchers would have to go on cattle drives that took almost a year to get to the place they were selling the cattle at and when the railroads came cattle drives were barely done anymore because now the ranchers could get their cattle to the market in two or three days. If you could get 100 acres of land but you had to live there for five years would you? Why?
If I had 160 acres of land I would farm the land for five years because the 160 acres would be free. I would also take the deal because I could farm the land and sell my crops to make a living for the five years until I got the land for free. Then I would be able to build more things now that the land would be mine.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a chance to have 160 acres and farm it for free I would. I would farm it because thats a lot of land and most people don't have alot of money and I could also have a family farm.
ReplyDeleteIf I had any job in the west I would probably be a miner because I've been to Colorado to mine and I really like mining. To just be up in the mountains every day would be amazing and finding gold,silver,or other jem's would be so cool. It would also be fun to be in that kind of atmosphere every day.
ReplyDelete