The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Four ways in which surviving pioneers in the west adapted to the environment of the Great Plains were the following.
Life in the Great Plains was difficult and Pioneers had to devise a couple of things to make a better living under those difficult conditions.
One of the first things they did was to dig deep to built water wells. Fresh water was of the utmost importance in order to settle in and survive in those territories. Once they had these wells they had to devise ways to built dams to store water during the dry months and have enough water for consumption and irrigation. They started to work the land to grow crops that could feed their families and then trade some of that production. They also were lumberjacks and had to chop wood to built better homes and have enough logs to get fire and endure cold winters.