Great Plains: Difference between revisions

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	The '''Great Plains''' or ~~'''High~~ ~~Plains'''~~ ~~are~~ ~~the elevated~~ ~~plains~~ which ~~lie~~ east of the ] in the ] and ], covering the US states of ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] and the Canadian provinces of ] and ].		The '''Great Plains''' is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the ] in the ] and ], covering the US states of ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] and the Canadian provinces of ] and ]. Much of ] and ] also lies in the Great Plains.

	The ~~region~~ is ~~arid~~ ~~and~~ ~~generally~~ ~~characterized~~ by ] or ~~marginal~~ ]. ~~Generally it lies~~ west of the ], which roughly corresponds with the line west of which there is 20 inches (500 mm) of rainfall a year or less. About every 25 years the region is subject to drought and may be subject to devastating ]. The region roughly centered on the ], including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, and extreme northeastern New Mexico was known as the ] during the late ] and early ]. The effect of the drought combined with the effects of the ], and many farmers were forced off the land ~~thoughout~~ the Great Plains. Another drought has struck the area in recent years.		The '''High Plains''' refers to the elevated region of the Great Plains generally west of the ], which roughly corresponds with the line west of which there is 20 inches (500 mm) of rainfall a year or less. The region is arid and generally characterized by ] or marginal ]. About every 25 years the region is subject to drought and may be subject to devastating ]. The region roughly centered on the ], including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, and extreme northeastern New Mexico was known as the ] during the late ] and early ]. The effect of the drought combined with the effects of the ], and many farmers were forced off the land throughout the Great Plains. Another drought has struck the area in recent years.

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	*''Colorado Without Mountains, A High Plains Memoir'', Harold Hamil, The Lowell Press, Kansas City, Missouri, 1976, Hardback, 284 pages, ISBN 0-913504-33-5.		*''Colorado Without Mountains, A High Plains Memoir'', Harold Hamil, The Lowell Press, Kansas City, Missouri, 1976, Hardback, 284 pages, ISBN 0-913504-33-5.
	*''The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression'', Paul Bonnifield, University of New Mexico Press, Alquequerque, New Mexico, 1978, hardcover, ISBN 0-8263-0485-0.		*''The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression'', Paul Bonnifield, University of New Mexico Press, Alquequerque, New Mexico, 1978, hardcover, ISBN 0-8263-0485-0.
			*''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', David J. Wishart, University of Nebraska Press, 2004, ISBN 0803247877.
	*''Woody Landscape Plants for the High Plains'', D. H. Fairchild and J. E. Klete, Colorado State University, 1993, Technical Bulletin LTB93-1 (Contact CSU to buy this).		*''Woody Landscape Plants for the High Plains'', D. H. Fairchild and J. E. Klete, Colorado State University, 1993, Technical Bulletin LTB93-1 (Contact CSU to buy this).
	*''Wolf Willow, A history, a story, and a memory of the last plains frontier'', Wallace Stegner, Viking Compass Book, New York, 1966, trade paperback, ISBN 0-670-00197-X		*''Wolf Willow, A history, a story, and a memory of the last plains frontier'', Wallace Stegner, Viking Compass Book, New York, 1966, trade paperback, ISBN 0-670-00197-X
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	==See also==		==See also==
	* ]		* ]
	* ]		* ] (Australia)

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Revision as of 15:39, 18 January 2005

File:Great plains states.GIF

The Great Plains states.

The Great Plains is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States of America and Canada, covering the US states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Much of Minnesota and Iowa also lies in the Great Plains.

The High Plains refers to the elevated region of the Great Plains generally west of the 100th meridian, which roughly corresponds with the line west of which there is 20 inches (500 mm) of rainfall a year or less. The region is arid and generally characterized by rangeland or marginal farmland. About every 25 years the region is subject to drought and may be subject to devastating duststorms. The region roughly centered on the Oklahoma Panhandle, including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, and extreme northeastern New Mexico was known as the Dust Bowl during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The effect of the drought combined with the effects of the Great Depression, and many farmers were forced off the land throughout the Great Plains. Another drought has struck the area in recent years.

The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground layer of water-bearing strata dating from the last ice age. Center pivot irrigation is used extensively, but the aquifer is being depleted at a rate that is not sustainable.

Historically the Great Plains were the range of the bison and of the Great Plains culture of the Native American tribes of the Blackfeet, Crow, Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche and others.

After the near-extinction of the buffalo and the removal of the Native Americans to Indian reservations, the Great Plains were devoted to ranching and were open range, that is, anyone was theoretically free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, roundups were held and the new calves were branded and the cattle sorted out for sale. Ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. Texas cattle were driven north to the railroad, especially to Dodge City, Kansas, then shipped eastward by rail. Many foreign, especially British, investors financed the great ranches of the era. Overstocking of the range and the terrible winter of 1886 eventually resulted in a disaster with many cattle starved and frozen. From then onward, ranchers generally turned to raising feed in order to winter their cattle over.

The Homestead Act of 1862 provided that a settler could claim up to 160 acres (650,000 m&sup2) of land provided he lived on it for a period of years and cultivated it. This was later expanded to include a homestead of an entire section. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and immigrants proved up homesteads, sometimes building sod houses out of the very turf of their land. Many of them were not skilled dryland farmers and failures were frequent. Germans from Russia who had previously farmed in similar circumstances in what is now Ukraine were marginally more successful than the average homesteader. The Dominion Lands act of 1871 served a similar function in Canada.

In the last half of the 20th century, much of the Great Plains in U.S. began to experience a steepening population loss, especially in the most rural areas. The population loss in rural counties in Nebraska and Kansas has come to threaten the future of many small towns, threatening to turn them into modern ghost towns. This problem is often exacerbated by the consolidation of farms and the difficulty of attracting modern industry to the region. In other cases, the introduction of large retail stores such as Wal-Mart in the larger towns has devastated the retail base of smaller outlying towns, since residents of the region often readily travel longer distances to shop at the newer facilities. The loss of local businesses has in turn often led to the loss of local advertising revenue for small-town newspapers, many of which have ceased publication in recent years. In addition, the smaller school-age population has forced the consolidation of school districts and the closure of high schools in some communities.

External link

The Geologic Story of The Great Plains

Units	U.S. state District of Columbia Territory Insular area Minor Outlying Island Tribal domestic dependent nations Maritime territory
Time zones	Chamorro Samoa Hawaii–Aleutian Alaska Pacific Mountain Central Eastern Atlantic
Census	West Pacific Mountain Midwest E N Central W N Central Northeast New England Middle Atlantic South S Atlantic E S Central W S Central
Courts of appeals	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

Physical

Physiographic	Pacific Mountain Intermontane Plateaus Rocky Mountains Laurentian Upland Interior Plains Interior Highlands Appalachian Highlands Atlantic Plain Tidewater
Coastal	Arctic West Great Lakes Gulf East

Historical

Acquisitions

Civil War

Divided

Other

Earth's primary regions and subregions

Africa	Mediterranean Saharan Northern Maghreb Mashriq Middle East Middle East and North Africa Sub-Saharan Central East Horn Great Lakes Southern Western
Antarctica	East Antarctica Antarctic Plateau Transantarctic Mountains West Antarctica Antarctic Peninsula
Asia	Asia–Pacific Central Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Eastern Inner Asia Greater Central Asia Northeastern Far East Pacific Asia Russian Far East Northern Siberia Ural Southeastern Mainland Maritime Southern Himalayan states Indian subcontinent Subregions Western Arabian Peninsula Caucasus South Caucasus Greater Iran Iranian plateau Levant Dead Sea Levantine Sea Middle East Mashriq Middle East and North Africa Near East
Europe	Central Eastern Balkans Caucasus North Caucasus South Caucasus Southern Russia European Russia Southeastern Northern Baltic British Isles Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Southern Mediterranean Middle East Italy Italian Peninsula South-eastern Balkan Peninsula South-western Iberian Peninsula Western Atlantic Low Countries Northwestern Celtic Germanic Romance Slavic
North America	Aridoamerica Caribbean Central Mesoamerica Middle Northern Appalachia Bible Belt East Coast Great Lakes Mid-Atlantic Midwest Mountain states New England Northeastern United States Pacific Northwest Southern United States Southwest West Coast West South Central United States Western United States Atlantic Canada Canadian Prairies Central Canada Eastern Canada Northern Canada Western Canada Northern Mexico West Indies Anglo French Latin Ibero Hispanic Portuguese Latin America and the Caribbean
Oceania	Australasia Australia Mainland Australia New Guinea Tasmania Zealandia Melanesia Island Melanesia Micronesia Near Oceania Polynesia Remote Oceania
South America	Amazon Plain Amazon Basin Amazon Rainforest Andean States Brazilian Highlands Caribbean South America The Guianas Latin America and the Caribbean Southern Cone Patagonia

Islands

By continent	Africa America North America Caribbean Central America South America Antarctica Asia Europe by area by population Oceania Australia New Zealand
By ocean	Arctic Ocean Atlantic Ocean Baltic Sea Black Sea Caribbean Sea Irish Sea Mediterranean Sea Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Ionian Sea Indian Ocean Persian Gulf Pacific Ocean East China Sea South China Sea Southern Ocean

Other waterbodies

Continents of Earth / List of seas / Physical Earth

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