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In 1862 (during the Civil War) Congress passed a law called the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act offered free farms in the West to families of settlers. Each homestead consisted of 160 acres of land and all the people had to do was to move onto a piece of public land, live on it for five years and the land became theirs.
To increase their profits transcontinental railroad companies were keen for people to begin farming this land so they advertised for settlers. They did this not only in the eastern United States, but as far away as Europe.
Live wasn't easy for these settlers. The Great Plains had few streams and the rainfall was so low and unreliable that lack of water was a serious problem. Fire was another danger of the long, dry summers. In some years plagues of insects caused even more destruction than fire. The railroads made it possible for the farmers to sell their produce in faraway places, even in Europe. Improved agricultural machines were making their farms more productive every year. This and the fact that farmers were cultivating more land finally caused constant "over-production". The prices for which individual farmers were able to sell their wheat were too low to give them a decent living.
So farmers formed political action groups to try to improve their position. Soon many western states passed laws that set up government bodies to control railroad freight charges and to look after farmers' interests in other matters.
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