About the Great Plains

The Great Plains, also known as the Great American Dessert, is located in the United States, Canada, and North America. There are thirteen states in the United States that lie on the Great Plains. Those including; Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. It is often thought the Plains contain things such as canyons, a variety of landscapes, forest, isolated mountains. A variety of the Plains is actually primarily made up several types of grasslands. A majority of the grassland was prairie grasses which were used for natural grazing lands for animals like buffalo, sheep, and cattle.

The Great Plains contain a type of soil with an alkaline substance called calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is a mineral salt formed by the sun filtering into areas with little rainfall. This results in the plants not being able to take hold due to the lack of rainwater that is unable to reach the earth below. However, when the soil is moist it contains rich minerals that prevent wind from blowing soil and wind away.

In the late nineteenth century, pioneers began settling in the Great Plains. The vast land soon became occupied with small, individual farms. Wherever people settled down, the grasses were plowed down and replaced with plants instead. Approximatly eighty-five percent of the grassland was plowed over. The previous grasslands were rich in nutrients and anchored to the ground, however, as the wheat fields were planted the roots were not as strong and were left exposed to a variety of elements.

In 1919, the wheat farms were making their highest yields and greatest profits ever. That year, 952 , million bushels and 74 milion scres of wheat were produced. Unlike farmers from before little manpower was required now due to mechanization. Gas-powered tractors and plows were invented which resulted in dropping the amount of labor needed by one-third. This new mechanization allowed farmers to exceed greater profits and have more freedom and control. In Harper's Magazine described the transformation of farming as, a clod into an operator; from a dumb brute into a mechanic.

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