Learning Target: I will be able to evaluate the long-term impact of human migration and settlement to the American west after the Civil War.
Human Population: Spatial Patterns and Movements
SS.G.3.6-8.LC: Explain how environmental characteristics impact human migration and settlement.
SS.G3.6-8.MdC: Explain how changes in transportation and communication influence the spatial connections among human settlements and affect the spread of ideas and culture.
SS.G3.6-8.MC: Evaluate the influences of long-term human-induced environmental change on spatial patterns of conflict and cooperation.
Homestead Act - laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead.
Acre - a unit of land area equal to 4,840 square yards
Township Grid - a rectangular grid of six square mile units used by the U.S. to survey and map land, particularly in western states
migration - movement from one part of something to another.
Sodbuster - a farmer or farm worker who plows the land.
Sodhouse - home made of grassy topsoil during frontier settlement of the Great Plains.
What makes a home comfortable? What does every home need?
Homestead Act set up a program where 160 acres were given or sold to Americans
The land was free if farmed for five years.
Each acre was sold for $1.25 if not farmed for five years.
Settlers build homes made of sod, or dirt with grassroots.
Steel plows, windmills, barbed wire, and the Transcontinental Railroad made this migration of Americans easier.