Settlers from the eastern United States and from faraway European countries brought many different farming traditions to Kansas when the land was opened for settlement in 1854. These people also often brought seeds from their homes. Many farmers planted corn and experimented with planting oats, cotton, tobacco, and grape vineyards. These crops did not grow as well as wheat in Kansas.
Furthermore, the grasshopper plague of 1874 led to the decline of corn in Kansas. Mennonite settlers arriving from Russia were accustomed to growing wheat in a prairie climate. They were successful in farming wheat in Kansas, and encouraged other farmers to plant it. As wheat grew in popularity, technology advanced, making it possible to work larger areas in less
The availability of inexpensive land in the American West provided opportunity for many Americans to fulfill the American dream of individualism, economic opportunity and personal freedom. Immigrants, former slaves and other settlers moved across the country to become western farmers and ranchers to make a new life. One of the reasons why the west was a land of opportunity for the farmers and ranchers was the large quantity of cheap available land. This allowed for many Americans, both rich and poor, to buy land for farming and raising cattle. The Homestead Act of 1862 aided the process. The Homestead Act gave title to 160 acres of federal land to farmers who staked a claim and lived on the land for five years. Alternatively, a farmer could buy the land after six months for $1.25 an acre. Many blacks and immigrants joined the westward expansion, looking for a better life. Immigrants saw the land as opportunity because many could not own land in the countries where they were born. For example, in Nebraska, a fourth of the population was foreign born. These immigrants transformed...
In the 1830's the Plains Indians were sent to the Great American Deserts in the west because the white men did not think they deserved the land. Afterwards, they were able to live peacefully, and to follow their traditions and customs, but when the white men found out the land they were on were still good for agricultural, or even for railroad land they took it back. Thus, the white man movement westward quickly begun. This prospect to expand westward caused the government to become thoroughly involved in the lives of the Plains Indians. These intrusions by the white men had caused spoilage of the Plains Indians buffalo hunting styles, damaged their social and cultural lives, and hurt their overall lives. The lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the nineteenth century were greatly affected by the technological development and government actions.
Corn soon became the crop of choice to Iowa farmers. They found that it was more resistant to disease than the other crops they were growing, such as barley, oats, wheat, and apples. With this newfound “wonder crop”, Iowans found that farming had become the ideal way of life. Working on the farm involved all of the members of the family, which brought them together and made them stronger through hardships and great opportunities.
Egan notes, “No group of people took a more dramatic leap in lifestyle or prosperity, in such a short time, than wheat farmers on the Great Plains” (Egan 42). The revenue from selling wheat far exceeded the cost of producing the wheat, so the large profit attracted people to produce more and more wheat. On top of the high profit from wheat, the Great War caused the price of wheat to rise even more. The supply of wheat rose with the price, but Egan points to information to demonstrate that the rapid increase in production can lead to overproduction, which is damaging to the land. Also, the invention of the tractor also lead to overproduction of the land by creating the ability to dramatically cut the time it took to harvest acres. When the prices for wheat began to fall due to overproduction, this caused the farmers to produce even more output to be able to make the same earnings as when the prices were higher. The government also played a part in promoting the overproduction of the land. The Federal Bureau of Soils claimed that, “The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possessed. It is the one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up” (Egan 51). Egan points to factors such as a high profit margin, the Great War, tractors, increased outputs when wheat prices fell, and governmental claims that caused the people to overproduce the land of the Great Plains. Egan then gives examples of how the overproduction destroyed the land. Egan explains that the farmers saw their only way out was to plant more wheat. This overproduction tore up the grass of the Great Plains, thus making the land more susceptible to the severe dust storms of the Dust
plant life grow. Then the settlers grew crops, and to solve the issues of droughts and floods,
Colonization of the Americas gave rise to the finding of new crops. Crops such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton, these labor-intensive crops were in high demand. These crops required an enormous
Nine-year-old Catherine Hattrup lived through the largest and most powerful dust storm in American history: Black Sunday. Catherine and her family lived in Hodgeman County, Kansas. The Hattrup family and thousands of other settlers moved to the area in the early 1800s after the U.S. government had forced the Native Americans from their lands.The U.S. Government had offers of free or very inexpensive land. The settlers had removed the prairie grasses to make more room they did this by using axes, sharp-bladed plows, and even their hands to get rid of the grasses. This had been done to make acres of wheat farms. Plains farmers prospered until the early 1930s, when the Great Depression hit and a severe drought during the sweltering summer heat
First the northern plains were hit by the dry spell, but by July the southern plains were in the drought. Because of the late planting and early frost, much of the wheat was damaged when the spring winds of 1932 began to blow. The region was blasted by a horrible dirt storm, which killed almost all the wheat. Although the dirt storms were fewer in 1934, it was the year, which brought the Dust Bowl national attention. A severe storm blew dirt from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. In spite of the terrific storm in the year 1934 there was a satisfying break from the blowing dirt and tornadoes of the previous year. But nature had another trick up her sleeve, the year was extremely hot with new records being made. Before the year had run its course, hundreds of people in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas had died from the heat. The weather in the Dust Bowl again made the national headlines. A description of this storm of coming was made by a farmer:" The storm causes a tremendous amount of damage and suffering mentally and physically some of the conditions were animals dying from dust in the lungs and people developing dust pneumonia.” A giant dust storm engulfs Oklahoma. These storms destroyed vast areas of the Great Plains farmland. The methods of fighting the dust were as many and varied as were the means of finding a way to get something to eat. Canned foods had became the only way anybody could eat. Every possible crack was plugged, sheets were placed over windows and blankets were hung behind doors. Often the places were so tightly plugged against the dust that the houses became extremely hot and stuffy. Men, women and children stayed in their houses and tied handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths. When they dared to leave, they added goggles to protect their eyes. Houses were shut tight, cloth was wedged in the cracks of the doors and windows but still the fine silt forced its way into houses, schools
Settlers in the New England colonies had a harder time growing crops in their area due to the kind of soil. The harsh and bitterly cold winters also made it difficult. However, due to their location on the coast they were able to fish, which was essentially a staple in their economy. The middle colonies were known as the “breadbasket” because their main crops were wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn. The southern colonies were known for growing indigo, cotton, and rice, but their primary crop was unquestionably tobacco. Tobacco was in such high demand, not only in Europe but in the colonies as well, that it became known as a cash crop and was the main source of their
Forensic entomology is the learning of all types of insects and how they connect with criminal investigation. Forensic entomology can tell us how long since the offspring’s death which is known as postmortem interval (PMI) and whether the body has been relocated since putting one foot in the grave, and what injuries it may have suffered. At the start of decomposition, insects launch a new community by hatching eggs on the remains; the eggs will emerge into cankers (larvae) that will graze upon the human organs and tissues. A Forensic entomologists can figure out what specific bugs are presently in the body and gauge how long the body has been left unprotected by investigating how far along the cankers have come; although, what is found isn’t
In 1810, when Daniel Boone was seventy-six years old, he went and visited Kentucky and he said he could even tell that it was his state(Wharton pg 39)! There has been so much change when Daniel Boone first founded the state of Kentucky and thirty years later when he went back to it. Back then the Kentucky did not even have “bluegrass” in the environment when Boone first settled there, he said that the savanna-woodlands were used for a different purpose as shaded pastures carpeted by an introduced species known as bluegrass ( Patrick). So the people that settled there after Boone, they planted this special seed to make it a bluegrass. The type and scope of ecological change shifted dramatically when Europeans landed on the Atlantic seaboard. Their arrival on the North American coast, touched off changes that decimated local Native cultures and altered local environmental conditions long before the first European ventured into the region that became known as the Bluegrass. The next wave of transformation began during the 1770s when white settlers and enslaved African Americans introduced domesticated plant and animal species, new ideas about proper land use,
New technologies not only allowed farming to become more efficient, but made the process of shipping crops west much easier. The most important innovation in farming itself was the horse-drawn combine, which required many horses to operate, but allowed wheat, a popular crop to grow in the west, to be harvested en masse. (Document D) However, railroads were also incredibly important for farmers, as they allowed Wheat, cotton, and corn to be transported across the country
The blight caused a catastrophic effect on the Irish peasantry. The blight is a combination of parasitic fungus and bird droppings imported as fertilizer (Kelley 136). Furthermore, the farmers did not know what a problem this fertilizer would cause, which ended up ruining all of the Irish crops. The parasitic fungus, also known as phytophthora, is a destructive spreading fungus causing a brownish rot in plants. In addition, the blight first infected Irish potato crops in September of 1845 (Kelley 136). The blight caused the potato to rot in the ground, making it inedible (Kinealy, The Great Irish Famine 34). In addition, spreading the fertilizer all over the land not only ruined the crop, but the crop field as well. Consequently, the crop fields were in no condition to produce new crops for many years because the land was ruined. There were “recurrent infestations of the blight, which led to the failure of the potato crop in three seasons out of four” (Kelley 136). The blight traveled to Ireland from North America and Cont...
The Pawnee way of life was a big contrast from the other tribes on the Great Plains. While a majority of the tribes in the Great Plains were hunters, the Pawnee were very agricultural. They had set villages where they cultivated crops. The Pawnee’s culture and rituals were based on growing and harvesting corn. The most popular forms of corn grown were blue and white corn. Plants grown were beans, squash, watermelon, and corn. Some crops that grew in the forest were wild cucumbers, wild onions, lambs quarter, Indian potato, wild plums...
Throughout the history of the human race there have been a great number of crops that were discovered, planted, and over time domesticated. Wheat in the Middle East, rice in Asia, and rye in Eastern Europe are all some of today’s staple crops that feed millions every day. Crops like these make up over 50% of the world’s total food supply. However, the third most eaten crop in the world is maize, or corn, which provides 21% of human nutrition. Today maize feeds millions across the world, but its history is different from the others.