• Infertile soil

• Loneliness

• Extreme weather

• Plagues of insects / locusts

• Substitute items

• Lack of clean water

• Lack of medical care

• Lack of education

• Lack of jobs

• Hard ground

• Changes in technology:

• John Deere

• Machines

• Turkey Red Wheat

• Barbed wire

• Windpump

• Changes in method:

•Wheat not Maize / Corn

•Livestock on high plains

Better

Worse

1840 -First Homesteaders – 1860s 1870s Later Homesteaders – 1890s

What part did new technology play in solving the problems of farming the Plains? Explain your answer.