Homestead Act of 1862 Between 1862 and 1900 nearly 600,000 allowed citizens to claim families claimed homesteads 160 acres for $10.00 filing fee and a pledge to live on and farm the land for five years. Timber Culture Act of Farmers were able to increase their farms 1873 allowed people to to a workable size. claim additional acres of land if they planted trees on one quarter of it within four years. Desert Land Act of 1877 Many false claims made by people who allowed people to buy dumped a bucket of water, claiming they had 640 acres of land in very irrigated the land. dry areas (or $1.25 per acre if they promised to irrigate part of it. The government The building of the transcontinental railroads encouraged completion of became a race between the Central Pacific the transcontinental and Union Pacific railroads. The more track railroads by providing each company built, the more land and loans land and money. it would get. The transcontinental They gave hopeful settlers quicker routes to railroads helped speed homesteads in the West. the settling of the West. The transcontinental Raw materials from mines, ranches, and railroads helped tie the (arms could be shipped to the East, while East and West together. finished goods from the Eastern factories could be more easily shipped to settlers in the West.
Homestead Act of 1862 allowed citizens to claim 160 acres for $10.00 filing fee and a pledge to live on and farm the land for five years. Between 1862 and 1900 nearly 600,000 families claimed homesteads Timber Culture Act of 1873 allowed people to claim additional acres of land if they planted trees on one quarter of it within four years. Farmers were able to increase their farms to a workable size. Desert Land Act of 1877 allowed people to buy 640 acres of land in very dry areas (or $1.25 per acre if they promised to irrigate part of it. Many false claims made by people who dumped a bucket of water, claiming they had irrigated the land. The government encouraged completion of the transcontinental railroads by providing land and money. The building of the transcontinental railroads became a race between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads. The more track each company built, the more land and loans it would get. The transcontinental railroads helped speed the settling of the West. They gave hopeful settlers quicker routes to homesteads in the West. The transcontinental railroads helped tie the East and West together. Raw materials from mines, ranches, and (arms could be shipped to the East, while finished goods from the Eastern factories could be more easily shipped to settlers in the West.