Great_Plains

context: The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian and east of the Rocky Mountains, was not generally used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states. Today the term "High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains.
qas: answers: text: "Great Plains
question: what is the name of the region east of the Rocky Mountains?

answers: text: Nevin Fenneman's
question: who brought the term great plains into widespread usage?

answers: text: 1916
question: what year was Nevin Fenneman's study?

answers: text: the High Plains
question: what was theregion called before "the great plans"? 

context: Much of the Great Plains became open range, or rangeland where cattle roamed free, hosting ranching operations where anyone was theoretically free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. In 1866-95, cowboys herded 10 million cattle north to rail heads such as Dodge City, Kansas and Ogallala, Nebraska; from there, cattle were shipped eastward.
qas: answers: text: open range
question: what type of land is much of the great plans?

answers: text: spring and fall
question: when did ranchers usually have a cattle round up?

answers: text: branded
question: in a cattle round up, what did ranchers do to the new calves?

answers: text: 10 million
question: from 1866-95 about how many cattle did cowboys herd?

context: With the arrival of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, a Spanish conquistador, the first recorded history of encounter between Europeans and Native Americans in the Great Plains occurred in Texas, Kansas and Nebraska from 1540-1542. In that same time period, Hernando de Soto crossed a west-northwest direction in what is now Oklahoma and Texas. Today this is known as the De Soto Trail. The Spanish thought the Great Plains were the location of the mythological Quivira and Cíbola, a place said to be rich in gold.
qas: answers: text: Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
question: who was the spanish conquistador who had encounters with europeans and native americans?

answers: text: Hernando de Soto
question: who crossed a section of oklahoma and texas?

answers: text: the De Soto Trail
question: what is the section of oklahoma and texas that  Hernando de Soto traveled?

answers: text: The Spanish
question: who thought the great plains were the locations of Quivira and Cíbola?

answers: text: gold
question: what did the spanish think the cities of Quivira and Cíbola were rich in?

context: The 100th meridian roughly corresponds with the line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receive 20 inches (510 millimetres) or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than 20 in (510 mm). In this context, the High Plains, as well as Southern Alberta, south-western Saskatchewan and Eastern Montana are mainly semi hot steppe land and are generally characterised by rangeland or marginal farmland. The region (especially the High Plains) is periodically subjected to extended periods of drought; high winds in the region may then generate devastating dust storms. The eastern Great Plains near the eastern boundary falls in the humid subtropical climate zone in the southern areas, and the northern and central areas fall in the humid continental climate.
qas: answers: text: The 100th meridian
question: what is the name of the line that divides the great plains?

answers: text: 20 inches
question: about how much rainfall does the great plains get per year?

answers: text: dust storms
question: what do high winds in the area sometimes cause?

answers: text: humid subtropical climate
question: what type of climate does the eastern great plains fall into?

context: After 1870, the new railroads across the Plains brought hunters who killed off almost all the bison for their hides. The railroads offered attractive packages of land and transportation to European farmers, who rushed to settle the land. They (and Americans as well) also took advantage of the homestead laws to obtain free farms. Land speculators and local boosters identified many potential towns, and those reached by the railroad had a chance, while the others became ghost towns. In Kansas, for example, nearly 5000 towns were mapped out, but by 1970 only 617 were actually operating. In the mid-20th century, closeness to an interstate exchange determined whether a town would flourish or struggle for business.
qas: answers: text: 1870
question: after about what year did railroads bring hunters to the great plains?

answers: text: bison
question: what animal did hunters kill off for their hides?

answers: text: European farmers
question: what farmers rushed in to settle the land with the help of the railroads?

answers: text: packages of land and transportation
question: what did the railroads offer the farmers that rushed in to settle the area?

context: The rural Plains have lost a third of their population since 1920. Several hundred thousand square miles (several hundred thousand square kilometers) of the Great Plains have fewer than 6 inhabitants per square mile (2.3 inhabitants per square kilometer)—the density standard Frederick Jackson Turner used to declare the American frontier "closed" in 1893. Many have fewer than 2 inhabitants per square mile (0.77 inhabitants per square kilometer). There are more than 6,000 ghost towns in the state of Kansas alone, according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald. This problem is often exacerbated by the consolidation of farms and the difficulty of attracting modern industry to the region. In addition, the smaller school-age population has forced the consolidation of school districts and the closure of high schools in some communities. The continuing population loss has led some to suggest that the current use of the drier parts of the Great Plains is not sustainable, and there has been a proposal - the "Buffalo Commons" - to return approximately 139,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of these drier parts to native prairie land.
qas: answers: text: a third
question: how much of the population have the rural plains lost since 1920? 

answers: text: Frederick Jackson Turner
question: who declated the American frontier "closed" in 1893?

answers: text: more than 6,000
question: how many ghost towns are in the state of Kansas?

answers: text: 139,000 square miles
question: how much prarie land does the "Buffalo Commons" want to return?

context: Although the eastern image of farm life in the prairies emphasized the isolation of the lonely farmer and wife, plains residents created busy social lives for themselves. They often sponsored activities that combined work, food and entertainment such as barn raisings, corn huskings, quilting bees, Grange meetings, church activities and school functions. Women organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as extended visits between families. The Grange was a nationwide farmers' organization, they reserved high offices for women, and gave them a voice in public affairs.
qas: answers: text: Women
question: who usually organized shared meals and potluck events?

context: From the 1950s on, many areas of the Great Plains have become productive crop-growing areas because of extensive irrigation on large landholdings. The United States is a major exporter of agricultural products. The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground layer of water-bearing strata dating from the last ice age. Center pivot irrigation is used extensively in drier sections of the Great Plains, resulting in aquifer depletion at a rate that is greater than the ground's ability to recharge.
qas: answers: text: 1950s
question: around when did the great plains become productive for crop growing

answers: text: Ogallala Aquifer
question: what is the large underground layer of water in the great plains called?

answers: text: Center pivot irrigation
question: what type of irrigation is used in the great plains?

context: The Great Plains is the broad expanse of flat land (a plain), much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River tallgrass prairie states and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts, but not all, of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming.
qas: answers: text: broad expanse of flat land
question: what is the great plains?

answers: text: west of the Mississippi River
question: where does the great plains lie?

answers: text: extensive cattle ranching
question: what is the region known for?

context: The North American Environmental Atlas, produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican, American, and Canadian governments uses the "Great Plains" as an ecoregion synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, and Tamaulipus-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations.
qas: answers: text: Commission for Environmental Cooperation
question: who is the North American Environmental Atlas made by?

answers: text: Mexican, American, and Canadian governments
question: what countries is the Commission for Environmental Cooperation made up of?

context: The railroads opened up the Great Plains for settlement, for now it was possible to ship wheat and other crops at low cost to the urban markets in the East, and Europe. Homestead land was free for American settlers. Railroads sold their land at cheap rates to immigrants in expectation they would generate traffic as soon as farms were established. Immigrants poured in, especially from Germany and Scandinavia. On the plains, very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch by themselves; they clearly understood the need for a hard-working wife, and numerous children, to handle the many chores, including child-rearing, feeding and clothing the family, managing the housework, feeding the hired hands, and, especially after the 1930s, handling paperwork and financial details. During the early years of settlement, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After approximately one generation, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New technology including sewing and washing machines encouraged women to turn to domestic roles. The scientific housekeeping movement, promoted across the land by the media and government extension agents, as well as county fairs which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women regarding farm bookkeeping, and home economics courses in the schools.
qas: answers: text: railroads
question: what mainly opened the great plains for settlement?

answers: text: ship wheat and other crops
question: what did the railroads make it easy to do?

answers: text: immigrants
question: who did the railroads sell cheap lands to?

answers: text: sewing and washing machines
question: who two new technologies were introducted in the 1930s?

context: During the Cenozoic era, specifically about 25 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, the continental climate became favorable to the evolution of grasslands. Existing forest biomes declined and grasslands became much more widespread. The grasslands provided a new niche for mammals, including many ungulates and glires, that switched from browsing diets to grazing diets. Traditionally, the spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. However, an examination of mammalian teeth suggests that it is the open, gritty habitat and not the grass itself which is linked to diet changes in mammals, giving rise to the "grit, not grass" hypothesis.
qas: answers: text: about 25 million years ago
question: about how long ago did the climate become favorable?

answers: text: mammals
question: what animals did the grasslands provide a new home for?

answers: text: grazing diets
question: what diet did the mammals switch to from browsing diets?

answers: text: development of grazers
question: the spread of grasslands and what have been strongly linked?

context: To allow for agricultural development of the Great Plains and house a growing population, the US passed the Homestead Acts of 1862: it allowed a settler to claim up to 160 acres (65 ha) of land, provided that he lived on it for a period of five years and cultivated it. The provisions were expanded under the Kinkaid Act of 1904 to include a homestead of an entire section. Hundreds of thousands of people claimed such 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. Much of the Plains were settled during relatively wet years. Government experts did not understand how farmers should cultivate the prairies and gave advice counter to what would have worked[citation needed]. Germans from Russia who had previously farmed, under similar circumstances, in what is now Ukraine were marginally more successful than other homesteaders. The Dominion Lands Act of 1871 served a similar function for establishing homesteads on the prairies in Canada.
qas: answers: text: 1862
question: when did the US pass the Homestead ACt?

answers: text: up to 160 acres
question: how much land did the Homestead Act allow a person to claim?

answers: text: five years
question: how long did the person have to live on the land?

answers: text: 1904
question: when was the Kinkaid Act brought about? 

answers: text: 1871
question: the dominion act was passed in what year