Settling the

Great Plains
 The Homestead Act
›  1862

›  Anyone 21 or older can claim

160 acres of land.

›  Requirements for ownership:

›  $18 filing fee
›  Must build home on land.
›  Make improvements to land.
›  Farm land for 5 years.
›  Must not have fought for
Confederate army.

›  Impact: 270 million acres, 10%

of US land claimed & settled.
Pacific Railway Act
›  1862

›  Give millions of acres of

land to railroad companies
to encourage them to
build railroads and
telegraph lines across
continent.

›  Railroad companies use

some land to build, sell rest
to settlers.
›  Run newspaper adds in the
East and in Europe.
›  Brings many settlers west.
Dawes Act ›  Passed in 1887

›  Broke up some of the

existing Indian
reservations.
›  Indians given small
individual parcels of
land.
›  Helps to break up “tribal”
mentality.
›  Rest of land is sold to
white settlers.

›  Impact:
›  Opens way for
Oklahoma Land Rush
 The Oklahoma Land Rush
›  April 22, 1889-1st rush

›  50,000 settler’s lay claim to

roughly 2 million acres of
land.
›  Land was previously
designated Indian
Territory.

›  7 total land rushes

between 1889-1895
›  Largest in 1893
›  100,000 people & 8
million acres.