What is the Homestead Act?
Laura grew up on the pioneering frontier. She loved the big woods of Wisconsin but during her childhood she would move to the vast prairies of Dakota. Pa had moved to Dakota Territory to homestead. In 1862, the government passed the Homestead Act. This allowed a person to claim 160 acres of land and if they could live on the land for 5 years and farm 10 acres of the land, the government would give them the land. It was called “Free Land”. In reality, the struggle of living on the untamed prairies proved to be a challenge.
