Gaining More Land

There were several legitimate ways for settlers to increase their land holdings in the West. One of these was "pre-emptions" which means a settler could purchase land outright from the government at $1.25 per acre up to another quarter section of the original 160 acres.

What was wrong with that? Well, the smallest unit that they were allowed to buy was 40 acres plus a registration fee of $50. The 40 acres were consider to small too be of much use and the registration fee killed any other hopes of purchase - just too much money for a small farmer. Most farmers arrived at their new settlements with little else but the bare necessities that they would need for farming. There was no extra money for anything like registration fees.

There was also the "timber claim" which would give the settler another quarter section in exchange for planting 10 acres of timber-producing trees. The problem with this solution was that the plains' soil was so hard packed that most settler's doubted that trees could grow there.

All these ways of getting more land ended up not being benefical to the settlers. With so much land to farm, the single farmer was overwhelmed and his crops suffered.
The smart farmer started out small and farmed just enough to support his family until he could buy land AND the help it required to farm it.

Next time - time to put us up a home!