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In the 19th century, the American wild western frontier was a dangerous place to live. Cowboys, guns, cattle, horses, and gunfights consumed the wild terrain. However, the Wild West would also be a home to stalwart pioneers and homesteaders taking advantage of the Homestead Act signed into law in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln.

The provisions of the Homestead Act permitted any family to claim land and farm the land for 5 years before the family could legally own the land. Thousands of European immigrants traveled west using Conestoga wagons to begin a new life on the wild western land. After the abolition of slavery, some newly freed men also sought prairie land to farm and later claim as their own. On January 1, 1863, a farmer named Daniel Freeman was the first to submit a land claim near Beatrice, Nebraska.

After surviving a difficult journey out west, many pioneering families faced other challenges. The new homesteaders learned through trial and error how to produce food by farming the rugged terrain, build a house, protect themselves, and how to build a new life in a wild country. The homesteaders often competed with ranch owners who had previously established cattle ranches.The information party rocks on: Brazil farming revolution may slow Amazon demise