Busting sod

This week marks  the  151st anniversary of the passage of the Homestead Act  on May 20, 1862.  Homesteaders were allotted 160 acres of land.   They had  to  live on their  land and make improvements within six months, including building a home.   After 5 years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property after paying  a small registration fee.  On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman met some local Land Office officials and convinced a clerk to open the office shortly after midnight in order to file a land claim.   Freeman became one of the first to file a claim.    160 acres proved to be too small for the arid parts of Nebraska.  The Kinkaid Act of 1904, authored by Nebraska Congressman Moses P. Kinkaid, increased the allotment to 640 acres in western and central portions of Nebraska, primarily in the Sandhills. Trees were in short supply , and  the   tough sod being  “busted” for crop production became  Mundshaw 3 building blocks for homes, barns, and even schools. Several Nebraska Memories participants have contributed photos depicting  homesteaders. The house in this  photo of the Mundshaw’s Sod House   from the Cheyenne County Historical Society collection looks quite substantial, with a durable roof and glass windows.   It probably had a wood floor as well.   District 68 1Cheyenne county also boasted a Sod School  in District #68 .   It actually had a stone foundation.  Eight of the  children in this 1904-05  picture are named Olsen, with photographer Otto Olsen using a string to snap the photo so that he could be in it.   Other parts of Nebraska had trees for lumber. James Cornell 3 Mr. and Mrs. James Cornell and their children stand in front of a wood frame house in Butler County in this photograph from the Boston Studio Project collection, taken in the late 1890s. dry land 1There was no Kingsley Dam or  Tri-County irrigation canal holding and diverting water from the Platte River into parched fields in Phelps County in  those early days.  It’s hard to imagine how the family  in the 1880’s photo of their Dry land farm, Phelps County, Nebraska  survived.    The rows of corn look dried up.  Perhaps the windmill behind the house provided enough water for the crop. Visit Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials. Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact Beth Goble, Historical Services Librarian, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
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