Editing Great Plains (section)

==European settlement==
Beginning in 1821, the [[Santa Fe Trail]] ran from the Missouri River to New Mexico, skirting north of [[Comancheria]]. Beginning in the 1830s, the [[Oregon Trail]] led from the Missouri River across the Great Plains.

Much of the Great Plains became open range where cattle roamed free, hosting ranching operations where anyone was free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals, and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. Between 1866 and 1895, cowboys herded 10&nbsp;million cattle north to rail heads such as [[Dodge City, Kansas]]<ref>Robert R. Dykstra, ''Cattle Towns: A Social History of the Kansas Cattle Trading Centers'' (1968)</ref> and [[Ogallala, Nebraska]]; from there, cattle were shipped east.<ref>John Rossel, "The Chisholm Trail", ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1936) Vol. 5, No. 1 pp 3–14 [https://web.archive.org/web/20021116123121/http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1936/36_1_rossel.htm online edition]</ref>

Passage of the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas-Nebraska Act]] in 1854 opened both territories to White settlement. The [[Homestead Acts]] of 1862 further encouraged settlement and agricultural development in the Great Plains; the population of Nebraska, for instance, increased from under 30,000 in 1860 to over one million in 1890.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-29 |title=Historical Population Change Data (1910-2020) |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429012609/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html |archive-date=April 29, 2021 }}</ref> A homesteader was permitted to claim up to {{cvt|160|acre}} of land for only a small filing fee, provided that he or she lived on the land for a period of five years and cultivated it. The provisions were expanded under the [[Kinkaid Act]] of 1904 to include a homestead of an entire section. Hundreds of thousands of people claimed such homesteads, sometimes building houses out of the very turf of the land. Many of them were not skilled farmers, and failures were frequent. The Canadian ''[[Dominion Lands Act]]'' of 1871 served a similar function for establishing homesteads on the prairies in Canada.<ref>Ian Frazier, ''Great Plains'' (2001) p. 72</ref>

===Railroads===
{{Further|Railroad land grants in the United States#Settlement of the Great Plains}}
After 1870, the new railroads across the Plains brought hunters who killed off almost all the [[American bison|bison]] for their hides. The railroads offered attractive packages of land and transportation to American farmers, who rushed to settle the land. They also took advantage of the homestead laws to obtain farms. Land speculators and local boosters identified many potential towns, and those reached by the railroad had a chance, while the others became ghost towns. Towns flourished if they were favored by proximity to the railroad.<ref>Gilbert Fite. ‘’The Farmers’ Frontier, 1865-1900’’ (1966) pp 34–136.</ref>

The population of Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas experienced significant growth during the 1870s. The total population in these states grew from 1.0 million in 1870 to 2.4 million in 1880, more than doubling in just 10 years. The number of farms in the region tripled, increasing from 99,000 in 1870 to 302,000 in 1880. The improved acreage (land under cultivation) quintupled, rising from 5.0 million acres to 24.6 million acres during the same period. the new settlers mostly purchased land on generous terms from transcontinental railroads that were given land grants by Washington. They focused on wheat and cattle. This rapid population influx and agricultural expansion was a hallmark of the settlement and development of the Great Plains in the late 19th century, as the region attracted waves of new settlers from Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia, as well as farmers who sold land in older states to move to larger farms.<ref>Gilbert C. Fite, "Great Plains farming: A century of change and adjustment". ''Agricultural History'' 51.1 (1977): 244-256.</ref><ref>David J. Wishart, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains''. (University of Nebraska Press, 2004) pp. 35–39, 56, 217–25, 807–808.</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="165px">
File:Homesteader NE 1866.png|[[Homestead Acts|Homesteaders]] in central [[Nebraska]] in 1866
File:Johnson 1920 HighPlains.jpg|The Great Plains before the native grasses were plowed under, [[Haskell County, Kansas]], 1897, showing a man near a [[buffalo wallow]]
File:Cowboy1902.jpg|Cattle herd and cowboy, c. 1902
File:"Wheat field on Dutch flats near Mitchell, Nebr. Farm of T.C. Shawver." - NARA - 294480.tif|Wheat field on Dutch flats near [[Mitchell, Nebraska]], 1910
</gallery>

===First American settlements===
{{see also|Cattle drives in the United States}}

[[File:Alfred Jacob Miller - Fort Laramie - Walters 37194049.jpg|thumb|right|Fort William, the first Fort Laramie, as it looked prior to 1840. Painting from memory by Alfred Jacob Miller]]The first White settlements in the Great Plains were forts, particularly along the Santa Fe Trail, and trading posts. Some of the first built were: {{div col}}
*[[Fort Lisa (North Dakota)|Fort Lisa]] (1809), North Dakota
*[[Red River Colony]] or Selkirk Settlement (1811), Manitoba
*[[Fort Lisa (Nebraska)|Fort Lisa]] (1812), Nebraska
*[[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)]] (1819), Nebraska
*[[Fontenelle's Post]] (1822), Nebraska
*[[Cabanne's Trading Post]] (1822), Nebraska
*[[Fort Kiowa]] (1822), South Dakota
*[[Fort Laramie National Historic Site|Fort Laramie]] (1834), Texas
*[[Fort Parker Massacre|Fort Parker]] (1834), Texas
*[[New Braunfels, Texas|Zinkenburg]] (1845), Texas
*[[Fort Kearney]] (1848), Nebraska
*[[Fort Martin Scott]] (1848), Texas
*[[Fort Croghan]] (1849), Texas
*[[Fort Gates]] (1849), Texas
*[[Fort Graham]] (1849), Texas
*[[History of Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]] (1849), Texas
*[[Fort Belknap (Texas)|Fort Belknap]] (1851), Texas
*[[Fort Mason]] (1851), Texas
*[[Fort Chadbourne]] (1852), Texas
*[[Fort McKavett State Historic Site|Fort McKavett]] (1852), Texas
*[[Fort Phantom Hill]] (1852), Texas
*[[Coleman, Texas|Camp Colorado]] (1855), Texas
*[[Fort McPherson, Nebraska|Fort McPherson]] (1863), Nebraska
*[[Fort Mitchell, Nebraska|Fort Mitchell]] (1864), Nebraska
*[[Fort Concho]] (1867), Texas
*[[Fort Griffin]] (1867), Texas
*[[Fort Richardson (Texas)|Fort Richardson]] (1867), Texas
*[[Fort Sidney]] (1867), Nebraska
*[[Fort Omaha]] (1868), Nebraska
*[[Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park|Fort Hartsuff]] (1874), Nebraska
*[[Fort Sill]] (1869), Oklahoma
*[[Fort Robinson]] (1874), Nebraska
*[[Camp Sheridan (Nebraska)|Camp Sheridan]] (1874), Nebraska
*[[Fort Niobrara]] (1880), Nebraska
*[[Fort Elliott]] (1875), Texas
{{div col end}}

===Social life===
[[File:Grange1873.jpg|thumb|upright|Grange in session, 1873]]

The railroads opened up the Great Plains for settlement, making it possible to ship wheat and other crops at low cost to the urban markets in the East and overseas. Homestead land was free for American settlers. Railroads sold their land at cheap rates to immigrants in the expectation that they would generate traffic as soon as farms were established. Immigrants poured in, especially from Germany and Scandinavia. On the plains, very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch by themselves; they understood the need for a hard-working wife and numerous children to handle the many responsibilities.<ref>Deborah Fink, ''Agrarian Women: Wives and Mothers in Rural Nebraska, 1880–1940'' (1992).</ref> During the early years of settlement, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After approximately one generation, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New technology encouraged women to turn to domestic roles, including sewing and washing machines. Media and government extension agents promoted the "scientific housekeeping" movement, along with county fairs which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women regarding farm book keeping, and home economics courses in the schools.<ref>Chad Montrie, "'Men Alone Cannot Settle a Country:' Domesticating Nature in the Kansas-Nebraska Grasslands", ''Great Plains Quarterly'', Fall 2005, Vol. 25 Issue 4, pp. 245–258. [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/159 Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908070900/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/159/ |date=September 8, 2014 }}</ref>

The eastern image of farm life in the prairies emphasized the isolation of the lonely farmer and wife, yet plains residents created busy social lives for themselves. They often sponsored activities which combined work, food, and entertainment, such as [[barn raising]]s, corn huskings, quilting bees,<ref>Karl Ronning, "Quilting in Webster County, Nebraska, 1880–1920", ''Uncoverings'', 1992, Vol. 13, pp. 169–191.</ref> [[The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|Grange]] meetings, church activities and school functions. Women organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as extended visits among families.<ref>Nathan B. Sanderson, "More Than a Potluck", ''Nebraska History'', Fall 2008, Vol. 89 Issue 3, pp. 120–131.</ref>