Chapter 10 Sodbusters

Sod

Heavy tangle of grass roots and dirt

Sodbusters

Settlers who went out to the prairies and prepped the land for farming

Subsistence Farming

producing just enough food to feed your family and trade with neighbors

Diversified Farming

produce a variety of crops and livestock

Homestead Act

1862 law which provided up to 160 acres of land to settlers who would live on it, built a house, and farm it for 5 years.

Market

An area of economic activity in which people buy and sell good and services

Land Speculator

Someone who buys and sells land, hoping to make a profit

The Grange

A nationwide farmers' association to share concerns, learn about new farming techniques, and enjoy each other's company, it was open to men and women.

Cooperative

An organization formed to help its members buy or sell products as a large group in order to get better prices

Regulate

To control or adjust something in order to change how it works

Grasshoppers

Bug that blocked the sun and destroyed crops in the 1870s

Oliver Kelley

Founded the Grange (also known as the Patrons of Husbandry)

James J. Hill

known as "The Empire Builder" he owned a railroad company as well as coal mines, iron mines, waterpower facilities, and Great Lakes steamships

John Tainter

helped set up a farm by breaking the sod

Sarah Tainter

helped set up a farm by managing the household

Louis Fertile

land speculator who made a large profit by buying and selling land

Wheat

the first export crop to affect the state's economy

Soddies

a house built of strips of sod, laid like brickwork, and used by settlers on the plains and prairie, when timber was scarce.

Children's Blizzard

came on a warm January day in 1888. Many victims were kids on their way home from school.

Great Northern Railroad

Railroad that ran from Duluth to Washington State. It was the creation of James J. Hill. It was finished in 1893.

John Deere

American blacksmith that was responsible for inventing the steel plow. This new plow was much stronger than the old iron version, making tilling faster.

Railroads

made land more accessible, carried people and goods westward

Ways to get a Homestead

1. Homestead Act
2. Buy it from a railroad company
3. Take advantage of programs that offered free land to soldiers
4. Settle on it without permission and eventually buy it
5. Buy it from a land speculator

Reasons Grangers campaigned for railroad regulations

Railroads were increasing shipping and storage prices, cheating farmers telling them their goods weren't as valuable as they really were

Impact of railroads in Minnesota

Travel was faster, mail was faster, residents could buy and sell good further away, and new settlers arrived

Jobs the father would do on the farm

Work in fields, plow, plant, harvest, repair buildings, care for animals, well digger, logger, lawyer and vet.

Jobs the mother would do on the farm

Tend to the children, cook three meals a day, laundry, housecleaning, make clothing, make soap, and preserve food

Jobs children would do on the farm

Carry firewood, bring water from the well, weed the garden, gather eggs, bring cows in for milking, and helping in the field

King Wheat

a nickname given to the first export crop to affect Minnesota's economy. This crop changed the landscape of Minnesota.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wrote "Little House" books about her life on the prairie

Market Farming

One crop farming, depleted soil's nutrients
hard to earn $ when prices fell,
produced more than they could sell

Hosiah Posey Lyght

One of the few African Americans to get a homestead in MN near Lutsen.