Farm Life Isn’t Easy! Life as a farmer was by no means easy. There were a lot
of problems and strains, but it had its good points. The Homestead Act passed in
1862 by Congress gave 160 free acres of prairie land to anyone who would live on
it for five years. A lot of farmers also bought land from the Railroad Company
so they could be close to the transcontinental railroad tracks, which made
transportation better.
Though the land was free, the problems nearly outweighed the
advantages. The first was housing, which gave people two options. One was the
sod house. Strips of sod were plowed and chopped into blocks, then laid down to
start the walls. It was layered up, with packing boxes used for doors and
windows. The sod was good for insulation in the winter, but they leaked badly in
the rain. The second type was the dugout home. They were built exactly as it
sounds.
A space was dug on a bank or into a hill. Then the opening was covered with a
roof of sod. True, people were living underground, but it was good protection.
Other problems in the farm life include raging fires on the prairie, hailstorms
that pounded down with marble-sized stones, and plagues of grasshoppers.
The other strains were emotional, the major one being loneliness. There were
miles between families or signs of civilization, and there was no recreation.
People became crabby and restless while staying indoors for months at a time in
the winter. Very few families could handle this life and moved back east before
the five-year period was up.
Farm life took a turn for the better with the introduction of four new
inventions. The first was barbed wire, which prevented livestock from wandering
off and stray animals from wandering across crops. The next was the steel
windmill. This brought water up from deep underground and helped to relieve
water shortages.
Third, the steel plow made possible the growth of larger quantities of crops.
Then there was the reaper. It cut and threshed wheat so productivity was much
higher. But with these increases in productivity came a higher dependency on
banks and railroads. Overall, farm life was difficult. Those who could handle it
were strong, both physically and in will. Few who tried it stuck with it. If
you’re considering this lifestyle, think long and hard whether it’s worth it.
NOTE: this paper was written like a newspaper article from the 1870’s
