HARDSHIPS experienced by the homesteaders

-finding drinking water and water for washing and cooking
(hauling water if there was no water nearby, digging a well)

-making most of their clothing and other items needed
(it took a lot of time to make everything)

-walking or travelling great distances to school, to town, to church
(lack of roads, difficulty crossing creeks, rivers)

-finding enough firewood for heating and cooking
(having enough wood to last the winter)

-finding materials for a home and other buildings
(forced to live in sod homes if no trees were nearby)

-sod homes were very uncomfortable
(dirty, leaked, damp, drafty, insects)

-families lived in a small one room house
(crowded, no privacy)

-clearing the land so they could plant crops
(cutting down trees, digging up roots, picking rocks)

-crops and gardens were destroyed
(drought, prairie fires, hail, floods, early frost, grasshoppers, prairie fires)

-not used to the harsh weather
(long cold winters, hot dry summers)

-a lot of hard work to produce a small amount of grain
(work was very time-consuming)

-getting help for harvesting
(entire family had to help)

-lack of money to buy equipment and tools for farming
(machinery and tools were expensive)

-hunger or starvation
(had to grow enough food to last for the winter)

-fishing, hunting and trapping for meat to eat
(had to store and preserve food so it would not spoil)

-not enough money so men had to leave home to work elsewhere
(work : mining, building the railroad, building roads)

-women were left at home to do all the work
(caring for the children, planting crops, tending to farm animals)

-caring for farm animals, keeping livestock safe from wild animals
(providing food, shelter and water)

-annoying biting insects like mosquitoes and black flies
(bug bites were unbearable for people and animals)

-farm accidents, illness, home remedies were used if a doctor wasn't nearby
(there were no hospitals and very few doctors)

-loneliness, missed family and friends in their homeland
(nearest neighbours were several miles away)

-winter blizzards, heavy snowfall, very cold temperatures
(couldn't go out, forced to stay at home, livestock died)

-fear of getting lost, especially during winter blizzards
(no landmarks, roads, or fences to follow)

-difficulty communicating with others
(people came from many countries, spoke different languages)