CHAPTER III. 



COMING OF THE SETTLER. 



Coming of the Settler. With the close of the civil 

 war the settlement of the region west of the Mississippi 

 and Missouri rivers really began in earnest. The pre- 

 emption law of 1841 and the homestead law of 1862 

 offered great inducements to men to move out onto the 

 prairies and take up homes. Later on came the various 

 soldiers' scrip laws, which gave to veterans of the war a 

 certain amount of land without residence of any great 

 length of time or other delays. 



Extension of Holdings. Still later came the timber 

 culture bill and the measure for settling up desert lands, 

 known as the desert land law, which allowed every per- 

 son an additional 640 acres, making a total of about 1,200 

 acres of land which under the law one man could legally 

 obtain from the government. Besides these the stone 

 and timber act, the various land and scrip laws and the 

 mining laws offered any one all the land he could afford 

 to buy at a very low price, seldom above $2.50 and much 

 of it at $1.25 per acre. 



Displacing Stockmen. The whole West was prac- 

 tically before them. The stockmen who were the pio- 

 neers in the country had done very little towards ob- 

 taining permanent homes, contenting themselves with 

 taking up a ranch here and there, which offered a good 



