Crops Need Water

Railroads enable the continued migration west, making it easier and easier to reach new, unspoiled frontier land. No one gives much consideration to the nature of the land at their final destination. All land is good land.

This begins to change, however, as railroads push further west, to the edge of the prairie. Few people understand that the weather changes abruptly as you approach western Nebraska, where spring rain begins to vanish.

The map shows yearly rainfall, providing dramatic evidence of how quickly green turns to brown as you head west. Almost like falling off a cliff, moisture dries up, and trees disappear. Here, only grass-eaters like buffalo thrive.
Yearly rainfall map

  Stark Differences
Light-colored areas on the map include western states that remain sparsely populated to this day. The dryness of the overall region is the reason that families living in the West are more likely to be ranchers than farmers. But that doesn't mean the land is worthless. Irrigation will soon enable more farming, while western mining is becoming increasingly important.

Nebraska prairie, 1870

  Dry Country
America's great prairie, home of the buffalo, is not an easy place to live. A new kind of well is needed to raise drinking water from the ground. The wooden tower at far right uses pinwheel-type vanes to turn a vertical shaft, which pumps water from areas where groundwater naturally rises near the surface. This type of well is developed in the 1850s on the dry rangeland of West Texas, and quickly spreads north to Nebraska, where relentless prairie winds keep pumps working day and night.  


Farmland, 1870 map

  Crops Love Water
The areas of brightest GREEN indicate America's heartland farming regions in 1410. All these areas have fertile soil and good rain. Western states, by contrast, are barely farmed at all. The Sacramento Valley in California is a prominent exception. Without irrigation, western Nebraska could not be farmed. Luckily, it sits atop the all-important Ogallala aquifer, which holds groundwater that can be pumped to the surface, making livestock farming possible. Even so, many wells must still be dug by hand.