Question

Which statement explains how a factor in the natural environment affected the efforts of farmers attempting to
move to the Central and Great Plains in the 1870s and 1880s? (1 point)

Regional flooding in these years made western rivers unnavigable for steamboats, making it impossible for western
farmers to ship their crops to market.

O These years received more rainfall than usual, making it easier for farmers to grow on the western Plains.

O These years experienced an extreme drought that made it harder for farmers to raise crops on the western Plains.

The boll weevil first appeared in Texas and spread across the state in these decades, destroying the cotton fields that
farmers had begun cultivating on the western Plains.

O

Answer 1

These years experienced an extreme drought that made it harder for farmers to raise crops on the western Plains.

Explanation: Severe droughts in the 1870s–1880s reduced rainfall, caused crop failures and grassland degradation, and made farming on the Plains much more difficult.