Download Mondays notes 9

The men and women who settled the West influenced the environment in many
ways.
1. Farming the Great Plains was very difficult.
 Hailstorms are common on the Great Plains, large hail storms
can destroy crops.
 Grasses of the Great Plains often grew over 3 feet tall. The
roots of these grasses grew even deeper down into the soil in
an effort to reach water deep in the ground.
 Parts of the Great Plains experience tornadoes because of the
absence of mountains to act as a barrier. Much of the region is
part of what people call “tornado alley”.
Technology helped pioneers turn the “Great American Desert” into one of the
world’s richest farming regions.
1. Steel plows
2. Windmills Most of the water in the Great Plains is deep
underground. New types of windmills were designed to pump
water up to the surface. The steady winds on the Great Plains
made wind mills a useful power source for farmers.
3. Barbed wire Farmers needed fences to keep animals away from
their crops. In a region with little wood, however, Greta Plains
Farmers had a hard time finding material to build fences. Joseph
Glidden solved this problem by inventing barbed wire in 1874.
These fences were cheap and easy to build.
4. Dry farming The dry Great Plains climate forced farmers to find
new ways to grow their crops. Farmers adapted to the lack of rain
by developing a method called dry farming. This method uses
moisture stored in the soil, rather than rainfall. Dry farming
allowed Great Plains farmers to grow wheat and other crops.