Editing Great Plains (section)

==20th century==

===Progressive Era===
{{Further|Progressive Era}}
The Progressive movement was a reform movement that took place in all parts of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement sought to address social, political, and economic problems that had arisen as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Progressives believed that the government could play a role in solving these problems by regulating businesses, protecting workers, and providing social welfare programs.<ref>Lewis L. Gould, ''America in the Progressive Era, 1890–1914'' (2000).</ref><ref>Robert W Cherny, "The Great Plains" in Michael Kazin, ed. ''The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History'' (2011) pp. 275–276.</ref>

The Plains states were a hotbed of Progressive activity. Many of the reforms that were enacted at the national level were first implemented in the Plains states.<ref>R. Douglas Hurt, ''The big empty: the Great Plains in the twentieth century'' (University of Arizona Press, 2011) [https://books.google.com/books?id=U5kwEAAAQBAJ&dq=progressive+reform+%22great+Plains%22&pg=PR7 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814011515/https://books.google.com/books?id=U5kwEAAAQBAJ&dq=progressive+reform+%22great+Plains%22&pg=PR7 |date=August 14, 2023 }}, pp 12–17.</ref> For example, the initiative and referendum process, which allows voters to directly enact laws, was first adopted in South Dakota in 1898. The direct primary, which allows voters to choose their party's candidates in primary elections, was first adopted in Wisconsin in 1903.<ref>Jon K. Lauck et al. ''The Plains Political Tradition: Essays on South Dakota Political Culture '' (South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2018).</ref><ref>Robert W. Cherny, ''Populism, Progressivism, and the Transformation of Nebraska Politics, 1885–1915'' (1981).</ref>

Progressive reformers in the Great Plains focused on high priority issues, especially:<ref>John D. Buenker, and Edward R. Kantowicz, eds. ''Historical dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890–1920'' (Greenwood, 1988). covers each state. [https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000buen online]</ref><ref>David J. Wishart, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'' (2004) pp.649-650.</ref>
*Regulation of railroads and public utilities
*Prohibition<ref>Patrick G. O'Brien, "Prohibition and the Kansas Progressive Example". ''Great Plains Quarterly'' (1987): 219-231.</ref>
*Employer liability and workers' compensation
*Protections for consumers
*State-owned enterprises
*Woman suffrage

Progressives in the Great Plains were more likely to support direct democracy, woman suffrage, and Prohibition than their counterparts elsewhere. They were also more likely to favor state-owned enterprises, especially those devoted to economic development. Plains progressivism was more radical than progressivism in eastern states, with a greater focus on direct democracy, woman suffrage, and Prohibition. Plains progressives were more isolationist regarding foreign policy, largely in response to the large German and Scandinavian elements. Socialists were more active than elsewhere, Progressive reforms had a significant long-term impact on the region. They helped to improve the lives of workers, farmers, and consumers. They also helped to make the Plains states more democratic and responsive to the needs of their citizens.<ref>William D. Rowley, "The West as Laboratory and Mirror of Reform" in Gerald D Nash and Richard W Etulain, eds, ''The 20th century West: historical interpretations'' (1989) 339-359</ref>

===Dust Bowl and water resources===
[[File: High plains fresh groundwater usage 2000.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Withdrawal rates from the [[Ogallala Aquifer]]]]
The region roughly centered on the [[Oklahoma Panhandle]] was known as the [[Dust Bowl]] during the late 1920s and early 1930s, including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the [[Texas Panhandle]], and extreme northeastern New Mexico. The effects of an extended drought, inappropriate cultivation, and financial crises of the [[Great Depression]] forced many farmers off the land throughout the Great Plains.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

From the 1950s on, many areas of the Great Plains have become productive crop-growing areas because of extensive irrigation on large land-holdings. The United States is a major exporter of agricultural products. The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the [[Ogallala Aquifer]], a huge underground layer of water-bearing strata. [[Center pivot irrigation]] is used extensively in drier sections of the Great Plains, resulting in [[Overdrafting|aquifer depletion]] at a rate that is greater than the ground's ability to recharge.<ref>Bobby A. Stewart and Terry A. Howell, ''Encyclopedia of water science'' (2003) p. 43</ref>

====Population decline====
{{main|Depopulation of the Great Plains}}
The rural Plains have lost a third of their population since 1920. Several hundred thousand square miles of the Great Plains have fewer than {{convert|6|PD/sqmi}}, the density standard that [[Frederick Jackson Turner]] used to declare the American frontier "closed" in 1893. Many have fewer than {{convert|2|PD/sqmi}}. According to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns in Kansas alone. This problem is often exacerbated by the consolidation of farms and the difficulty of attracting modern industry to the region. In addition, the smaller school-age population has forced the consolidation of school districts and the closure of high schools in some communities. The continuing population loss has led some to suggest that the current use of the drier parts of the Great Plains is not sustainable,<ref>Amanda Rees, ''The Great Plains region'' (2004) p. xvi</ref> and there has been a proposal to return approximately {{cvt|139000|sqmi}} of these drier parts to native prairie land as a [[Buffalo Commons]].