Homesteads and Ranches

Homesteads and Ranches. . , Homesteaders poured into the Badlands when the Milwaukee Railroad completed track through the White River Valley in 1907., "Visualize if you can," one observer wrote, "a tar paper shack, tent, or dugout on every quarter section of land... and you will have a minds' eye picture of what the community looked like..." A checker-board pattern was created, bearing little relationship to the natural lay of the land., And bearing little relationship to the productivity of the land. Most of the homesteads turned out to be "Starvation Claims" and were abandoned or sold., Starved-out homesteaders moved on to build towns and cities, or to seek another homestead in a land less harsh., Today the ranches of this valley are measured in thousands of acres, and heavy equipment does most of the work once done by callused hands Even so, unpredicable [sic] drought and economic crisis test ranchers today as severely as they tested homesteaders yesterday.