Adventure Economic Opportunity Family Ties Land Freedom Lifestyle Refuge

Adventure While most immigrants came to the northern prairie in search of land, economic opportunity, and freedom from oppression, a number of enterprising individuals came for adventure. These were the early entrepreneurs and risk-takers and "hustlers" who knew that when opportunity knocks it is often disguised as hard work. Early fur trappers and traders fall under this category. They left their families, came to an unknown wilderness, and made a new and productive life. Among these adventurers note the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition who in 1804 set out across the untamed, uncharted prairie and not only blazed the trails, but identified and catalogued hundreds of new species of flora and fauna. The railroad was envisioned and built by a combination of adventurer and entrepreneur who could see the awesome potential of laying hundreds of miles of track across the lonely stretches of prairie to the west coast. While most homesteaders would not view themselves as adventurers, it was the risk takers who moved west and who, in many cases, continued further and further into new territory as each area of land was tamed and civilized and settled. Among those adventurous homesteaders are a hand full of women who exerted their independence at a time when few women acknowledged having even the right to independence, much less the desire to exercise that right. These women gave up their friends and families, moved west, established claims and worked their land for the requisite years. Many stayed. Some "proved up", sold out, and returned to the East where they spent their remaining days telling their tales of adventure and longing. Elaine Lindgren's book Land in her Own Name is an excellent resource to learn more about the adventures, hardships, and triumphs of pioneer women on the prairie.

Related Web Sites Lewis and Clark Pioneer Family Pioneer Trails Regional Museum Prairie Public The American West US Census