Survivors: Western America

After the civil war, the white settlers started moving towards the western part of America in pursuits for wealth and better lives. The settlers were divided into two groups. Those who worked on agriculture were farmers while the latter, worked on herding cattle and selling them for meat were ranchers. Both groups faced hardships and obstacles while trying to make a living in the hot sunny West. However the real question is, who survived? Who did not?

Farmers, they went to the west to claim lands for farming. The farmers were given 160 acres according to the Homestead Act of 1862 and they had to work on the same land for 5 years to officially own it. Farmers must also pay off their debts and loans to the government. However alot of farmers failed to claim their lands because of poor harvest and lack of rain during the years thus couldn't make any money to pay off debts and loans to the government nor had money for themselves. As the result, farmers left homes to find better lands and ways to make money.

While farmers went to the west for agriculture, ranchers went there for cattle grazing and selling the cattle for meat. There were plenty of open lands in the West for the ranchers to use. Ranchers also encountered obstacles while trying to build lives there. Ranchers had to graze the cattle and herd them on a long walk to their destination. It would take days and days and days to finally reach their destination. By that time, the cattle would be very thin and unhealthy due to lack of water and from being in the sun. Thus the meat wouldn't be very healthy and good enough to sell and the ranchers would lose money.

All of these continued to happen until the advancement of technology improved. Railroads made things alot easier for the ranchers since they can transport the cattle easily and quickly and the use of barbed wires to keep the cattle where they were and prevent any outsiders. For farmers, the improvement in farm machinary helped to reduce time and effort to work on the land like grain spreaders, steam powered threshers, cornhuskers and cornbinders, and more efficient plows. Farmers became more aware of the unpredictability of rainful in the west and started to use crop rotation, hybridization and preservation of water and topsoil.

Famers and ranchers had to face alot of hardships and obstacles but they both succeeded. However in my opinion, it were the ranchers that succeeded the most. It is because they didn't invest in as many machinary as the farmers did. So whenever the prices of the machinary dipped, they hurt the farmers more than they did to the ranchers. Plus farmers had to grow crops in which the machines were designed for. The ranchers didn't have to pay off loans or debts to the government. They created more money prior to the destruction of buffalos and the removal of Native Americans. Thus the ranchers survived...

If you have a different opinion or feel strongly about this, please do tell me. I am open to all views and opinions.