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crops are burned in a wild fire
My name is Edmund Huber. I am a German farmer who was pulled into America by the Homestead Act. For an extended period of time, there was extremly dry weather where i lived in Germany. Eventually, there was a lightning storm, and my crops caught fire. There was no way that i could stop this fire and there was nobody in the area that could help me. Once the fire finally died i was left with minimal belongings, some farming gear and some small possesions. I had to find new land. -
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Immigration and Westward Expansion
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the boat to America
Ever since the fire had left me with close to nothing, i knew that i had to find new land. I searched for what seemed forever but there was no land to buy in Germany. Someone had recently told me that in America there is something called the Homestead Act that give you 160 acres of land for free. I figured that was my only choice. I packed some essential farm equipment and some possesions that i could trade for money and traveled to the boat. To be continued... -
the boat to America (cont.)
After a few days on the boat I met a small group of young farmers also going to America for 160 acres. We found that what we grew was almost identical and we were good friends already so we decided to start a farm together. Weeks later, we arrived in America. -
Boston
While in Boston, i traded many of my possesions for money. My new friends and i combined our funds to live in a hotel for as long as it takes to gather supplies for the west. We lived in hotel for about a month. Eventually, we collected enough money to buy essential supplies such as food, clothes, horses, and of course a wagon. Throughout the time we were there we met a gang of 4 farmers who joined our group. -
traveling to the west (cont.)
To get more food we traded some of our supplies with other groups that were traveling nearby. Eventually we got enough that we could survive until we got to the new land. Still we had close to no idea how far we still had to go. -
Traveling to the west
We left Boston on October 8th. The group of 4 that joined us brought a good amount of supplies with them and more horses. While on the trail they imformed us more about the Homestead Act with important details such as you have live on the land for 5 years and you have to race for the land. Along the way we faced many tragidies. 3 people died including 2 friends from the boat and 1 friend from Boston. A long way through the journey we started to run low on food. To be continued... -
160 acres
We finally arrived at the new land on January 14th, 1862. 2 other friends and i decide thaat we are going to be the ones to race for the land. The race took place on January 19. We found a great looking area before the race and we were going to try to get it. I was the first there of the three and claimed the land. Later on, i discovered that one of my friends had been severly injured during the race. My 6 friends and i go to our newly claimed land and began to plan our set up for our new farm. -
starting a farm
In close to a month, we had planted our crops and set up a farming system. We figured that the only way to make money here was to sell our crops. This was going to be difficult considering there was an ongoing drought. For a peirod of time our crops could not grow and we were stuck with no way to make money. The lack of production put us at dangerouly low amount of both food and money. Through good care of our fields and a lot of patience our crops began to grow and we were back in bussiess.
