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Content: The Great Plains were known as the "Great American Desert." The land was dry and had few trees. Even so, farmers began to settle there in the late 1860s. There were several reasons. Lots of rain, free land, and easy travel on the railroads encouraged people to move west to farm the land in the 1860s and 1870s. Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862. To 
homesteadmeans to earn ownership of land by settling on it. The Homestead Act helped people to settle the Great Plains. The act gave free land to anyone who paid a $10 fee and lived on the land for five years. A settler could get up to 160 acres (65 hectares) of land.