restday: Homestead National Monument

August 27, 2017

A much needed rest day today after cycling since Jefferson City and we appreciate Carol and Mike letting us stay another day. Mike fixed a great breakfast to get the day started. They have a beautiful garden and we saw a Baltimore Oriole at the feeder.

In the afternoon a highlight and something we would have missed otherwise since off the route, the Homestead National Monument outside Beatrice.

We first watch a twenty minute video that is very well done telling the story of the settlement by homesteaders and the Indians who were the original settlers. Between 1785 and 1853, through varies acts such as the Louisiana purchase, acreage was added to the public domain. In 1862, President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act that offers 160 acres of public land to every homesteader mainly in the Great Plains states. Daniel Freeman was the first to file a claim in Nebraska. In 1866, Congress extended homesteading to public lands in the south-Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Later in 1889, Oklahoma opens homesteading with "land grab" to stake claims.

And as the land claims are staked, the Indians become displaced.

That's all that most articles about the Homestead Act usually say about the effect on the Native Americans. The land was not empty, there were estimated 40-50 million Natives. People who did not understand the concept of private ownership of land.

Who are the homesteaders? Twenty five thousand Europeans immigrants, mostly German. By the turn of century, two million Anglo Americans, Swedes, Italians, Danes, Finlanders, Hollanders,Icelanders, Hungarians, Russians, Bohemians, Poles, and Ukrainians. Seeking "free land" and civil freedom and independence. Perhaps because of this history, some people think the Federal government is in a land grab and wants public lands returned to the states.

After viewing the displays, we go back to town and stop at a Dairy Queen for ice cream. In the evening, Mike grills a good Nebraska steak for dinner.

A very good day, back on the road tomorrow.