Section 2: Homestead Act of 1862

When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the United States was rich in undeveloped land which was called the Public Domain.The land owned by the federal government was undeveloped, which meant to Americans in those days that it had no towns, houses, farms, or businesses. Some people thought of the land as “empty.” However, there were Native American families living on the land in towns and villages. Whenever the United States sold or gave away land, Indian communities and families who lived there had to go somewhere else. Most of these communities, or tribes, went west; some went south. They lost their traditional homelands, their ancestors burial grounds, their spiritual centers, the places where they found plants and animals. They had to learn entirely new ways of living and meet new people who would become either their friends or their enemies. After 1860, the government decided to place Indian tribes on reservations. However, the nation’s treasury was poor. The U. S. needed to raise some money to pay debts from the war. Congress decided to sell some land to raise money to pay off its war debts.

In 1785, Congress passed a law called the Land Ordinance. It was based on a plan by Thomas Jefferson to measure, divide, and distribute (or sell) land in the public domain. This law was improved in 1787 by the Northwest Ordinance which explained how the land west of the Appalachian Mountains (the land in the Northwest Territories) would be organized into territories and then become states. The law declared that slavery would not be allowed in the new states.

Both laws required that the land be surveyed (measured) and divided into townships that are six miles square. Each township is divided into 36 sections; each section is a mile square, or 640 acres. Congress put this land up for sale at a price of $1 per acre, but the buyer had to purchase at least 640 acres. Few people had that much cash in 1800, so Congress reduced the minimum purchase to 320 acres. However, the price of land rose to $1.25 per acre.

Some wealthy people took advantage of these laws to buy huge tracts of land in Ohio, but ordinary farmers protested that the law made the land too expensive. Americans believed that small, family farms were the ideal economic foundation for America. President Thomas Jefferson said that farmers who owned their land were “the chosen people of God.”  Small farms with hard-working, independent people would make America strong. Many of these small farmers went west looking for less expensive land. Some went so far the surveyors had not yet measured the land and marked it for sale.

In 1842, Congress finally passed a law that helped small farmers. This law, called the Pre-emption Act, allowed anyone who lived on land, built a house, and plowed fields for crops (or made improvements) to purchase the land before it was surveyed. This law guaranteed that they would not lose their land and improvements to another purchaser. The minimum size was now 160 acres.

Most farmers were pretty happy with this law. Still, many people said the U. S. had so much land that it ought to be given away. The size of the public domain continued to grow with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (524,800,000 acres) and the Mexican Cession in 1848 (334,479,360 acres). More people asked Congress to pass a Homestead Law that would allow people to acquire land without paying for it.

There were two major political forces that prevented Congress from passing such a bill. Northern businessmen were afraid that free land would draw workers away from factory work. Some Congressmen thought that providing land to turn factory workers into farmers was a good idea. They believed the United States should always be a nation of farmers, not factory workers. They called free land the Safety Valve that would allow factory workers to leave the cities and become farmers.

Southern states also opposed the law. They did not want people to move west, create new states, and prevent the spread of slavery. Southerners were correct when they said that most small farmers opposed slavery and did not want to compete with large plantation agriculture.

These were the debates that prevented members of Congress from agreeing on a Homestead Law for two decades. Southerners feared a political attack on slavery; northern industrialists feared losing workers. Farmers, however, still wanted access to the public domain.

In 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, southern states seceded from the United States (also called the Union). With some of the opposition gone, Congress passed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862 (See Document 1). It allowed the head of a household (a man or woman) over the age of 21 to claim 160 acres of land and receive title to the land after living on the land for 5 years and improving the land by cultivating it and building a home (See Image 1).

Image 1: These two women, probably sisters, lived in a fairly comfortable, small homestead shack. With their cats and dog they enjoyed the comforts of a real bed and other furniture. A steamer trunk held their clothing and personal items. SHSND A7182.

Document 1: Homestead Law

Document 1. A clerk in Congress wrote the original Homestead Act on paper. It was later printed. The yellow highlighted areas on the transcription draw your attention to some of the important details of the law.

Homestead Facts

The first homesteader in northern Dakota Territory (now North Dakota) was Nelson E. Nelson. He filed his claim on December 19, 1870. His 160 acres near Pembina is described as Section 8, Township 163, Range 51W. He made his final claim, “No. 1,” on June 2, 1873. As a Civil War veteran, he had the option of “proving up” before he had lived there for five years.

 

The first woman to claim a homestead in her own name in northern Dakota Territory was Margaret Renville. (See Document 2)  She filed the fifth claim and became a neighbor to Nelson E. Nelson on January 4, 1871. Her claim was in Section 9, Township 163, Range 51W (See Image 2).

Image 2: Under the law, women over the age of 18 had the right to claim 160 acres of land as long as they were single or head of the household. Many women took advantage of this opportunity, though some of them actually lived and worked in a nearby town. Some women, though, lived on their homesteads for most of the year and made the improvements necessary to prove up. This photo of Louise Guthrie Blankenship shows that she built a very nice homestead shack. SHSND 0032-WD-08-09.

 

Homestead claims were filed by 118,472 people in North Dakota (See Image 3).

Image 3: Many pioneers built tarpaper shacks like this one belonging to Harry Rue. Tarpaper was nailed over boards to keep the wind out, but the houses were difficult to heat in the winter. Harry Rue's OU Ranch house was located on Government Creek northwest of Fryburg, 1915. SHSND 0032-BI-08-09.

 

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of North Dakota’s land was claimed by homesteaders. This is the second highest percentage of the 30 states where the Homestead Act was valid.

The federal government transferred 17,417,466 acres from the public domain in North Dakota to private landowners through the Homestead Act (See Document 3).

 

Each township is 36 square miles. Each township has a number. Each section has a number. One section, usually section 16, was (and still is) set aside for the support of a school. No one could claim that section. Each section is one mile square, or 640 acres. Each quarter-section is ½ mile square or 160 acres (See Image 4).

Image 4: Many pioneers enjoyed the visits of traveling salesmen. Their wagons not only brought goods such as patent medicines, fabric, tools, and canned food, they brought news and gossip from other places. Traveling salesmen, such as this Dr. Koch’s man in 1910, met the needs of settlers who were located far from the shops in town. SHSND 0032-BK-04-04.

 

Each section line is a road. Sometimes the roads were not built, but no homesteader could put a building or a fence on the portion of her or his land that was part of the section line road.

Image 5: Three people built their houses where their three land claims met. This arrangement was often used when families wanted to be near one another even though the law required them to live on their own claim. On the back of the photo, the unnamed man wrote: "For Lillie Sorentson: I suppose you will not know any of us in this picture So I will explain It is Emil Mary & Buster [the dog] standing in front of the shack and Rachel and I in the Buggy The shack we are standing in front of is Rachels homestead shack and the next one is my shack which mother lived in that time and the last one is mothers which Emil & Mary lived in that time those pictures were taken a year ago last summer We are going to have some more pictures of baby and will send you and Hazzle some then." SHSND 2012-P-012-30

 

Claimants usually took the northeast, northwest, southeast, or southwest quarter as shown in section 1 (See Homestead Plat). But sometimes, the homesteader could claim half of one quarter and half of another as Nelson E. Nelson did in Section 8.

Townships did not necessarily have towns. Sometimes a person used their homestead claim to start a town, but most North Dakota towns started on railroad land (See Image 5). If the township was near a land-grant railroad, approximately half of the sections would belong to the railroad, not the federal government (See Image 6).

Image 6: Neal Van Berkom built a frame (wooden) house on his homestead near Powers Lake. The barns and the house show that he made the improvements required to make final proof on his claim. This picture was taken in 1918. It appears that Mr. Van Berkom was successful in establishing his homestead farm. SHSND 0032-BK-04-02.

 

Each township became (and still is) a unit of government. Once the county was organized by the territory or the state legislature, townships could elect officers to attend to township business such as the condition of roads and choosing the name of the township. In North Dakota, some townships today remain unorganized (have no government) and the county takes care of township business.

Today in the United States, approximately 93,000,000 people are descendants of homesteaders.

Homestead Plat: a typical township

Homestead Plat: a typical township.

Cost of Homesteading

The “free” land everyone was talking about in the 1860s was not truly free. There was a filing fee of $10 in the original law. That fee changed from time to time, rising to $14 for a while, then $18. Still, that was not very much in exchange for 160 acres of land valued at $1.25 per acre.

What else did the law require?  A claimant, or homesteader, had to have a house. The legal requirement for the size of the house varied, but usually it was supposed to be 10 feet by 12 feet, or 12 feet by 14 feet. Some people committed fraud by building a house that was 12 by 14 INCHES!

Image 9: Barns, houses, and other structures that were built with wood were usually as small as possible to avoid the expense of buying lumber. This barn, belonging to A. A. Peck of Turtle Lake, could not be smaller or his horse would not be able to walk out of the barn. SHSND 0032-ML-12-08.

 

Image 7: Many pioneers built sod houses, but they were not the most common house style. This one in Morton County (1906) has a sod and grass roof and glass windows. Sod houses were warm in winter, cool in summer, and safe in a prairie fire. A grindstone (to the back, left) was used to sharpen knives or tools such as axes. SHSND C3490.

 

But the law clearly expected that the house would be a home, or a domicil as it was called in the Homestead Act. Building a house cost money. Even if the house was built of sod or logs acquired on the property, it still needed a door, a window, and some sort of furnishings. If the house was built of lumber purchased in town, it would cost a great deal more than the common sod house or tarpaper shack.

The law also required that the land be “improved” by agriculture. Some pioneers brought plows, horses, and harness with them. Those who came from Europe usually did not have large equipment so they bought, borrowed, or traded for what they needed. For instance, one woman and her children picked a neighbor’s potatoes while the neighbor plowed their field. If they had purchased a plow, it would have cost between $25 and $50. A horse might cost from $50 to $75 (See Image 8).

Image 8: Charles Petterson of Fullerton stands by his frame homestead shack with his ox team (1894). Oxen were necessary to perform the heavy work of breaking up the sod in order to plant wheat or flax. Plowing and planting were required to satisfy the Homestead Law. SHSND 0032-DI-10-10.

 

Image 10: The interior of Al Cody’s homestead shack shows the tools necessary for housekeeping. The Codys had a stove, kettles of different sizes, a broom, and a sack of flour. SHSND 0008-32.

 

Image 11: Anton Nelson’s homestead was in a developing neighborhood in1903. He has horses, cattle, a windmill, and several children to demonstrate his success. In the background, to the right of the windmill, is the neighborhood school house. The Nelson children would either walk or ride horses to school every day. SHSND 0032-BA-06.23.

 

A family that arrived in April with a horse and a plow and a few boards with which to build a house, could set to work to build a house and plant a crop right away (See Image 9). However, they might get only five acres plowed the first year. If the five acres produced 15 bushels of wheat per acre (a good crop in those days) and the price was 50 cents a bushel, the total income for that year would be $37.50 ($836.40 today.)  That amount might buy a cow with a calf or a plow. The family would also need some money to buy lamp oil, shoes for the children’s growing feet, and sugar, coffee and other foods they could not produce on the farm (See Image 10).

If a horse died or grasshoppers ate the wheat crop, the homesteading family might find themselves very short of cash. A farmer could not borrow money from a bank or a mortgage agent (there were traveling mortgage agentsA mortgage is a type of loan made by a bank or another financial agency. A mortgage agent or a bank gave a farmer some cash. The farmer had to sign a mortgage paper promising to pay back the amount of the mortgage with interest. Interest was a percentage of the amount borrowed. So if a farmer borrowed $100 at 10 per cent interest, the farmer had to pay the mortgage agent $110 to pay off the mortgage. If the farmer could not pay quickly, and the mortgage continued for several years, the interest increased. The borrower secured the loan with the land. That meant that if he or she could not re-pay the loan, the mortgage agent would get title to the land. Homestead claims could not be used to secure a loan until the farmer had “proved up” and received title to the land. in those days) before the homesteader had finalized ownership of the farm. For that reason, many farmers found work on another farm, in the Minnesota forests, or in a nearby town. Sometimes their teenaged children worked on a nearby farm. The boys worked in the fields, and the girls did housework.

Historian Gilbert Fite has estimated the cost of homesteading to be around $1,000. Others have said it could cost as much as $2,500. One thousand dollars was a lot of money in those days and many people did not have much money. The poorest people could not afford to leave a home in the east and move west to claim land. However, those with a little money could apply hard work and imagination to make up the difference between proving up or losing the claim (See Image 11).