Farming
Farming on the plains was tough. The soil was tough which made it hard to plant and grow crops. So they decided to fix that problem by inventing a new steel plow. Which would dig through the tough sod. Another problem was the lack of water. They had to dig deep into the ground to get moist soil. Another way that they could fix that problem was by making a wind mill. They would make a windmill, which would harness the winds power and use it to get water out of the ground. Other than those problems farming was a pretty strong and important part of westward expansion.