Sentence:  For less than a dozen miles from the unplowed <WSD>land</WSD> of the dead man lived another settler who had ignored the warnings that his existence might be foreclosed on - a blatant and defiant rustler named Fred Powell . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)