Populating the Prairie

Homestead Act

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The Homestead Act of 1862 has been called one of the most important pieces of Legislation in the history of the United States. Signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln after the secession of southern states, this Act turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens. 270 million acres, or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act.

Free Land for Everyone

The Homestead Act offered an incredible opportunity to the entire world; American citizenship was not a requirement to claim free land, only the intent to become a citizen. European peasants whose families had worked under a landlord for generations, farmers from the East without land of their own, single women and former slaves all came to meet the challenge. A homesteader had only to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. All the filing fees totaled $18, but the non-monetary cost was usually extremely high.

Filing a claim

People wanting to claim land had to file their intentions at the nearest Land Office. A brief check for previous ownership claims was made for the plot of land in question, usually described by its survey coordinates. The prospective homesteader paid a filing fee of $10 to claim the land temporarily, as well as a $2 commission to the land agent. In addition to the homestead application, other documents were required, including sworn statements of identity, statement of marital status, statements that the land was non-mineral-bearing, and many more. The homestead documentation for Charles Ingalls’ claim near DeSmet, Dakota Territory, comprises twenty-four pages in the National Archives.

The Catch

The claimant did not automatically receive title to the land upon filing. In order to “prove up”, homesteaders had to farm the land, build a house, and live on the land for five years. At the end of that period, an intent to file proof was published, and the claimant filed sworn documents testifying that he or she had fulfilled the requirements. Sworn testimony of witnesses was also required before the land office issued the homestead certificate. The actual title, called a patent and signed by the president, arrived later. This document was sometimes framed and proudly displayed in the home. Earning this document usually proved to be difficult; less than half of those filing homestead applications actually fulfilled the requirements and proved up.

The Real Cost

It was the land itself that extracted the highest price from the homesteaders, a price paid in sweat, blood, broken dreams, and sometimes lives. Challenges were numerous. Just building the required house could present a challenge of its own. On a timbered claim, a log cabin was the easiest solution, but on the treeless plains, options were limited. Most often the first dwelling was a dugout excavated into a hillside or a soddy built of huge slabs cut from the tough prairie grass and earth. Crops could be destroyed by drought, flood, hail, wind, or even grasshopper infestations of biblical proportions. Drought, heat, blizzards or cold could kill livestock or even the settlers themselves. Epidemics of disease took their toll, but for some, the sheer isolation and loneliness of life on the frontier was enough to drive them back to the cities and towns. Settlers could be misled by promoters exaggerating the potential of their regions, and many claims were staked on land unsuited for farming, making failure inevitable.

Native Losses

In order to open land to homesteading, the government had to acquire it from the American Indians who inhabited it. Tribes were pressured into signing treaties, turning their territories over to the government and committing themselves to reservations. Cultures clashed, and resistance was crushed with military force. Hunter-gatherer lifestyles collapsed with the demise of the bison, replaced by a dependence on government goods. Traditional cultures were suppressed in response to widespread public fear and racism.

Continuing Changes

Even after a family had proved up, they were still vulnerable to the whims of nature and the follies of mankind. Weather was a constant concern, but even limited success could make homesteaders vulnerable to other threats. Land could be used as collateral to purchase farm equipment, but one or two years of crop failures would lead to default, foreclosure and loss of all a family had worked for. Those who failed learned a bitter lesson on the powers of nature and an unforgiving land. Those who succeeded proved the strength of the American work ethic and confirmed Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of the free farmer as the foundation of democracy.