The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862-1865 chartered the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads to build the transcontinental railroad. The railroads received loans of $16,000-$48,000 per mile of track laid and 10 square miles of land for each mile built. The railroad was completed in 1869, connecting the eastern and western United States by rail and enabling the transport of cattle from Texas to markets in the central plains. Ranchers began fencing in their land with barbed wire and raising more docile breeds of cattle as long cattle drives became impractical. Farming technologies like steel plows, mechanical reapers, and grain drills helped make farming the prairie lands viable.

1. section 13.2

2. 
 Without the Southern states in Congress, a northern
route for the transcontinental railroad is decided
 In all, 170,000,000 acres of land are granted
 Pacific Railroad Acts (1862-1865)
 Charters Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads
 $16,000 - $48,000 loans for each mile of track laid
 10 mi2 of land granted to Railways for each mile of
track laid
 Transcontinental Railroad completed at Promontory
Point, Utah, May 10, 1869.
Railroads

3. 
Transcontinental
Railroad

4. 
 More cities meant more demand for beef
 Cowhands drove cattle from Texas to the rail lines of
the central plains
 Longhorns were difficult cattle to maintain over the
long drive
Long Drive

5. 
 Invention of Barbed Wire (Joseph F. Glidden) made
it possible for farmers to prevent cattle drives from
crossing their lands
 The Long Drive made cattle more muscular,
therefore the beef more chewy and tough
 Ranchers would begin to fence in their land and raise
more docile varieties of cattle
End of the Open Range

6. 
 Homestead Act (1862)
 Land grants to families to settle in the Great Plains
 Not all land was equal, some states were more difficult
to farm and the weather more treacherous
 Morrill Act (1862 and 1890)
 Granted 30,000 acres per member of Congress to each
state to sell
 Profits from land sales to finance colleges of
“agricultural and mechanical arts.”
 Most colleges and universities that are “State,” “A&M,”
“A&T,” and “Tech” got their funding from this program
Settling the Plains

7. 
 Much of the Great Plains was hard soil
 Sporadic rains made farming difficult
 New technologies would be necessary to make
farming work
Farming the Prairie

8. 
Technology of Farming

9. Steel Plow
Sturdier and stronger than the wooden plow
(John Deere, 1837)

10. Mechanical Reaper
Cuts grasses and grains
(Cyrus McCormick, 1847)

11. Spring Tooth Harrow
Break up and smooth packed earth
(1869)

12. Grain Drill
Mechanically plant seeds IN the ground instead of on top
(1841)

13. Grain Drill
Mechanically plant seeds IN the ground instead of on top
(1841)

14. Barbed Wire
Cordoned off land discouraging livestock to cross