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There are 3 main reasons why people moved west during the 1800s. First it was because of cheap land. In 1862 U.S. Government passed the Homestead Act anyone 160 acres of land who promised to work and improve on the land which gave. Yet life was not easy on the Great Plains;2 out of 3 Homesteaders gave up and returned to the East. There were many problems for farming. There was no water for rain was scarce, no Fencing, no housing. Some solutions that helped were:

-Housing - sod houses

-Fencing - barbed wire [invented in the 1870s]

-Water - Dry Farming (deep wells) - Irrigation projects

A second reason was for mining. People are searching for gold, silver, and other metals And because of this, boom towns sprang to life with the discovery of metals but after everything is mined out, it becomes a Ghost Town for they were abandoned and left for dead. Businesses made money in mining and could afford more tools and machinery

A third reason was for cattle ranching. By 1865 over 5 million cattle wandering through Texas. cowboys would herd the cattle to railroads in Kansas and Nebraska. The cattle would then be shipped to Chicago. Chicago becomes the center of the meat industry.

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12y ago

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