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What is a homesteader? Well, a homesteader was a person like you or me. They were not cowboys like many people say. Homesteaders left their homes for a specific reason. These reasons are looked at on page 3. But no matter what their reason, the main thing is they were leaving their homes.
They went on a very long and hard journey, and many did not make it to their destination. Homesteaders were people who left their homes. They were people like you or me, not cowboys like movies make them out to be. They could be bankers, farmers, or anyone else who wanted to leave their homes for the west. It didnt matter if they were rich or poor. Everyone had a reason to be on the wagon train heading for the West.
Homesteaders left for many reasons. These could be personal or physical. It may be something like the person had a sick aunt in the west and they were going to live with her. Or a person may have went bankrupt and went to the west to seek a fortune. Many people left because the west had good farmlands. Or blacks left to escape the laws of the south.
The next two pages describe two major reasons people left. One of the main reasons many homesteaders left was because of the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act said that the government would give away 160 acres of land away to people for free. The only catch was the people had to pay a small registration fee and live and work the land for about 5 years.
Another reason was because of gold. Miners left their homes in the other parts of the US to go to the West. Many gold rushes were going on there. When the miners got there they set up boomtown's.
Boomtowns were small towns that were built in 3 - 5 days so the miners had a place to stay. They consisted mainly of shacks and tents. Many boomtown's were abandoned soon after they were built. They were then called ghost towns. Some boomtown's stayed towns and are now major cities.
Homesteaders did not take many things on their journey. Only things that could keep them alive were brought with them. Things likes stoves and tables were the greatest luxury they usually had. They filled their wagons with food, clothes, weapons, and cattle feed. It was not comfortable in a wagon train, and people usually preferred walking next to the wagon train due to the bumps the wagons went over. Homesteaders lives were very hard.
Not only did they have to survive droughts and storms, but there were also Indian attacks. Indians believed that the homesteaders were trespassers on their land, and this made them angry. They would attack wayward wagon trains. They would kill the people on the trains. Of course, the US government fought this. Homesteaders who made it to the west of course had to make a house.
They had many different types of houses to choose from. In the next 3 pages I will talk about 3 commonly used houses. These are the sod house, dugout, and log cabin. A sod house, or "soddy" as it was commonly called, was made from mud. First the homesteaders built a wooden frame. The house was then formed by packing sod around the frame.
The houses had 1 room and was very cozy. A dugout was usually not a permanent dwelling. It was usually a temporary shelter while a family was building a bigger house. A family would dig a room into a hill. It would have a window and a door. A disadvantage of this design was the fact that heavy animals could fall through the roof!
A log cabin was a basic house. It was made of lumber that was chopped. Have you ever played with Lincoln Logs? These houses were built in the same way you might build a Lincoln Log cabin. They were larger than a soddy and took much more time. It took weeks alone to cut the lumber!
You may be wondering, when the homesteaders had a house what did they do? Well, they settled down and found a job. Many became farmers, some went back to the job they had before they left. Some became blacksmiths, bankers, chefs, conductors for a train, or anything else. The Exodusters were former slaves.
They were black homesteaders who named themselves after the Bible chapter Exodus. They were exactly like the other homesteaders, other than their color. Many of them left because of the Jim Crow laws in the south. The Jim Crow laws forced black people to have separate things from the whites, such as restaurants, schools, or even water fountains. Who was Jim Bridger? Many people do not know who he is.
Jim Bridger was a famous homesteader. When he got to the West he started hunting and trapping. He was one of the best hunters and trappers ever. He built Fort Bridger which was a place for homesteaders to stay for the winter or just to get some rest. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Jim Crow Laws Log Cabin
