Homestead Spirit

'The Homestead Years: Hoping for Miracles, praying for rain'. DVD documentary. Available at the public library.

Some sappy narration but told by the grandson of an original homesteader. The pictures of the dugouts and sod houses shows the bleak reality these folks lived with, complete with mentions of rattlesnakes that crawled out of the walls and into the homes. Most were given the land by the government but received no further support after that. They either survived on their own or they didn't. Two million came and only eighty thousand made a go of it. Most were immigrants from Europe escaping political or religious oppression lured here by false promises of how rich and fertile the land was by DC politicians. The reminders of the difficult life they lead are shown in stories like a farmer walking fifteen miles to town and back to buy corn feed for his starving horses who were too weak to carry him on the errand - one bag at a time. Or the woman who gave premature birth and the mid-wife put the three pound baby in a shoe box and placed the infant in the fire to keep it warm. Unthinkable now a days, but every day happenings back then. The farmers buried their children on a regular basis due to illness or injury. Both cause public outcry today. From viewing this documentary, it is time to get back to the US's roots and remember life has not always been easy or fair.  A must see for the pioneering soul.