Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-02
Pioneers
Praised
By STEWART L. UDALL
Secretary of the Interior

SeCEStoII OF tne interior
President John F. Kennedy
recently wrote America wa;
an invention of the pioneer
ing spirit" a tribute that en-
comprised the Americans
who flowed westward tc
homestead on the public
lands of the United States.
Hope. tenacity, courage
and a great deal of optimism
were the price of a new home
in the West under the pro-
visions of the Homestead Act
That distinctly American
document, the Homestead
Law, signed by President
Abraham Lincoln just 100
years ago on May 20, 1862, is
a unique Invention" of the
pioneering spirit of this
Nation.
The law allowed:
". any person who is the
head Of a family, or who
has arrived at the age of
twenty-one years. and is a
citizen of the United States,
or who shall have filed his
declaration of intention to
become such and who
has never borne arms
against the United States
Government or given aid
and comfort to its enemies,
shall from and after the
first January. eighteen
hundred and sixty-thre, be
entitled to enter one
quarter section or a less
quantity of unappropriated
public lands :"
During the last century,
1.6 million individuals moved
westward, each family settling
on 100 acres of free publicly
owned land. Those rugged
individualists who chose to
risk the uncertainties of the
frontier claimed 270.2 million
acres.
Instrument Of Hope
The Homestead Law an
nounced to the people of the
world that in America there
was a new instrument of
hope. In this respect the Law
was revolutionary.
No nation in the history of
the world had ever before, or
since, attempted a land dis
tribution program on such a
large scale. 1t attracted the
homeless, oppressed, and
prosecuted to our shores for
it established the means
whereby they could make a
new start.
Perhaps, the most impor-
tant aspect of the law was
the part it played in the de-
velopment Of what we now
know as modern America.
The people who homesteaded
the West became instruments
of a number of remarkable
economic, political and social
changes in this country.
New Services
Their very presence in the
West prompted the develop
ment of a host of new serv-
ices ranging from farm i'm
plementS and improved trans
portation facilities to milling
and processing plants for the
products of their 160-acre
farms. States like Montana
and North Dakota were liter
ally settled by homesteaders.
Today the dreams of Amer
lea are directed towards the
moon and space while just a
century ago the ideal of the
American people was conferred
in the setting sun of the
wild lands" of Western
United States.
To the Americans of 1862
somewhere in those prairies
and wilderness was 100 acres
that they could call home
II they were willing to risk
the uncertainties of a new
land and were willing to work
hard enough.
Same Qualities Needed
We Americans of today
might well learn a lesson
from the homeSteaders who
braved the frontier conditions
of 100 years ago.
We, as they did, are chart
ing unknown trails. It is
imperative that we devotion
the qualities of courage
tenacity, hope and eternal
optimism that characterized
the homeSteaders.
The rugged adventurous
individualism that became a
part of the westward move
ment must be rekindled as
we move ahead to new
frontiers.
This accomplished, we will
nave earned the accolade
given our forefathers BY
William Jennings Bryan:
The pioneers endured
hardships and made thei,
homes on the lonely prairie
Iney were men and Womer
VINO gave the world more
Than they took from it."
ESSS
n NAXEcT@AE