The First Americans The Railroad The Homesteaders The Settlers The New Immigrants Promoting the State Reversing Out-Migration

The Settlers According to Plains Folk: North Dakota's Ethnic History, those who remained and truly settled in the region found that life in the Dakotas was destined to be: A Rural way of life-commerce and industry never materialized as early predictions of a "new Chicago" promised. The railroads employeed a number of skilled and unskilled workers, but only comparatively small scale agriculturally related enterprises flourished. A Colonial way of life-without bright lights , diversity, and change. North Dakota's primary task was to provide food, fiber, energy and a constant stream of healthy and hard working young men and women to the eastern and western United States. Anyone who wanted to be in the center of power rather than at the "end of the line" was forced to move away. A Transitory way of life-marked by the impermanence of homes, towns, and any security. Throughout its settlement period, farms were built and abandoned, schools, churches and stores closed. Family and friends gave up and moved away to distant places. North Dakota was not a place for those seeking the contentment of stable and permanent surroundings. An isolated way of life-with schools, churches and trade centers located ten, twenty, or even thirty miles away. Once the excitement of the early homestead days had passed and the reality of dry land farming became apparent, the nearest neighbor lived more than a mile away and the region offered scant opportunity for "belonging" or "community." A life devoid of visual highlights-no mountains, no forests, no lakes and valleys, just an overwhelming sky and an endless horizon. The land was often cold and frighteningly lonely. Thousands found the adjustment too difficult. Some groups took to the prairie with eagerness and their descendants are still here. Some came, set up enclaves, and left within a generation, hardly leaving a trace of their farms and villages remaining to mark their passage. Others took one look and never even attempted to set up residence. The story of settlement is written by those who stayed, who could adapt to the way of life the prairie offered, and who flourished. Far from being a half-savage, frontier environment, when immigrants arrived on the prairies, laws were in force, railroads were often in place, businesses were active and the Yankee work ethic well established. Many problems in adaptation came from the Homestead Act itself, which required homesteaders to reside on their land. Immigrants coming from European agricultural villages where homes and barns were in town with farm land outlying, found the sudden isolation of scattered farmsteads devastating. The short growing season, large distances to trade centers, and heavy startup expenses provided additional handicaps. According to the Grafton News, the estimated costs of homesteading for a person of small means consisted of: House $75 - $150 Stable $40 - $75 Yoke of Oxen $100-$180 Team of Horses $200-$350 Plow $21-$24 Harrow $15-$20 Chains, harness, tools $35-$50 Serviceable wagon $70 Reports from that turn of the century indicate that settlers in much of North Dakota seldom had the thousand dollars purportedly needed to get a start. Sleeping under the wagon, building a dugout, borrowing equipment, sharing a team of oxen, using cow chips and hay for fuel, and other cost savings methods were used. Plains Folk states that, "While adequate finances made the first years a little easier, the will to succeed was of even greater significance."

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