Western Farmers

Western Farmers

I lived on the farm my whole life and never had I seen my father so happy when he spent his hard earned 10 dollars on something he thought would be the investment of a lifetime. The Homestead act said that each family could buy 160 acres of land for 10 dollars. We had moved to the plains not too long ago and with our newly purchased land we could profit greatly. My father being an honest man did not try to corrupt the system but other did. Many people took advantage of the Homestead act and got much more land then they should have. We wanted to buy our land near the railroad but we were unable to because apparently the railroad companies were in control of that land.

The environment was very different here in the plains, water was scarce and wood for fires or building houses was hard to come by. My father still wanted to live here and insisted that it was better for everybody if we did. He was very excited when he bought his first mechanical binder, which enabled us to tie the grain faster. He spent most of our money on it but thought it would be the best investment for our land.

Our house was made of sod and I did not like this for where we were from it was made of wood. My mother was never happy she never smiled and looked ill. She did