Your task is to find out as much as you can about the homesteader's journey to find and stake a claim in the 1800's, Dakota Territory.

Use the Web sites below to start gathering material for your story. Use your favorite search engine to expand your search. Once you have all the information you need, start putting your project together.

Web Sites for Westward Expansion Projects:

1800 Newspaper Resources

• Sample front pages
• Civil War Era News
• History of the Camera

Research homesteader experiences:

• Memories & Stories Settlement Era Tour
• Settler Image Collections about: Food, Housing, Transportation, Technology
• The Northern Great Plains 1880-1920
• Images of sod homes
• Sod Houses
• Women Pioneers of the Northern Great Plains
• Pictures of Pioneer Families 

Take a real world field trip to:

• The State Historical Society of North Dakota, or your local history museum. Talk to your librarian or local historians for other contacts.

Things to Try and Learn

• Science of the Camera
• Making a Camera