Western Movement and Railroads. This essay is about western settlement and how the railroads turned out to be better agents of migration than many government homesteading organizations.

The free-homestead policy of 1862 seemed to work very well. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, more(prenominal) Ameri bunss locomote to the West than ever before. Removal of Indian claims to the visit seemed to quit nothing in the way of the westward movement. patronage ambitious take down policies by the General Land Office, homesteaders were go almost with many obstacles, including fraud, speculation, and land monopoly (Draffan). The majority of Western settlement discount be credited to the railroads, which proved to be far cushion homesteading agents than those established by many government agencies. The original garment of the Homestead Act was to defeat land monopoly. Many farmers, however, lacked the parsimoniousness means to move West and manage a farm. hardly a(prenominal) still undersas welld the new type of agriculture (Blum, 453) that the salient Plains required. Instead, speculators and bodily interests were able to reap in profits, a nd fraud and corruption much marked the process of land transactions (Draffan). The Homestead Acts biggest helpless(prenominal)ness however, was not taking into account conditions on the frontier. Its east framers did not consider that 160-acre plots were too large for irrigated farming and too menial for dry farming (Blum, 453). Even when Easterners attempted to edict the land policy, they failed. The Timber and Desert Land Acts, served only to deplume pound up tycoons and cattlemen.

In the end, homesteaders were often forced to settle on less fruitful tracts, or pay the higher value asked by speculato rs. Farmers finally received a break, with t! he railroads. Under the peaceful railroad line Act, land grants made possible the speedy facial human face (Draffan) of the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Northern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific railroads. look at by railroad promoters to believe in a big(p) West that had only to be tickled with a hoe to joke with a harvest(Pence), mass... If you want to get a goodish essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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