Homesteading and Public Lands Ranching

Unrealistic / Idealistic Recountings of Homesteader’s Experiences/Motives…

• Agrarian Dream / self-sufficiency

• The Ingles Family, Little House on the Prairie

• Simple, peaceful, life

Realistic Development / Colonization / Motivations in the Great Plains

• Gov nationalistic aims

• Gov economic interests

• pseudoscientific beliefs

• little to no advanced planning

• decimated bison population (30-60 mil → 1000)

• Americans can’t tame “wild west”, high turnover rate

• Hard, infertile land = greater acerage per person to make ends meet

• Fluctating Economic Cycles, farmers face debt, lose lands

• hard life

What are 3 Government Promoted Ideologies to encourage homesteading? Give an ex of each.

1. Land Ownership = liberty

   1. Ex: “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men” - Republic party campaign slogan

2. Religious & Patriotic Motivation

   1. Ex: “Rain follows the plow” - Charles Dana Wilber

   2. Human responsibility is to improve nature

3. Pseudoscience

   1. Ex: Campbell Method, false info from private/public entities

“The Great Plains and the Buffalo Commons” Reading by Popper & Popper

What are "boom & bust” cycles What were the causes?

• 3 major boom & bust cycles

• Booms: caused by Government subsidizing great plains land, causing Americans to move west & overwhelm the land

• Bust: overfarming causes bust, which leads to depopulation

“The Great Plains and the Buffalo Commons” Reading by Popper & Popper

What were the causes of the 1st Boom & Bust Cycle? When was it?

• 1862

• Boom Cause: 1862 Homestead Act

• Bust Cause: hard winters, failed homesteading

“The Great Plains and the Buffalo Commons” Reading by Popper & Popper

What were the causes of the 2nd Boom & Bust Cycle? When was it?

• early 1900s

• Boom Cause: addition of homesteading laws(640 acres of free land)

• Bust Cause: plains locusts, 1929 Great Depression, 1930s Dust Bowl, prohibition of homesteading

“The Great Plains and the Buffalo Commons” Reading by Popper & Popper

What were the causes of the 3rd Boom & Bust Cycle? When was it?

• 1980s (1987 - Popper)

• Boom Cause: New Deal subsidies, fencepost-to-fencepost cultivation, energy crisis(ppl wanted oil/coal in plains)

• Bust Cause: heavy toll on environment, economy, & homesteaders

“The Great Plains and the Buffalo Commons” Reading by Popper & Popper

What is the Buffalo Commons?

A proposal on how to use the Great Plains, was an alternative to the boom & bust cycles

• Use Plains to repopulate buffalo (native) over cattle(invasive)

• Promote environmental protection & ecotourism instead of resource-extraction

Homestead Act of 1862

• $10 for 160 acres of land

• Must keep residence for 5 years to keep it

Cattle Kingdom - When was it? What were the consequences?

• 1867 - 1887

• cattle were bought low, sold high

• overpopulation of cattle in the plains by 1885 (26 million)