2. Homestead Act • Signed by President Lincoln in May 1862 • This act allowed any person over 21 who was a citizen or who planned to be a citizen to live on 160 acres of public land for five years and improve it. • They had to build a homestead shack until a permanent structure could be built (an improvement!). • They had to settle the land and support their families successfully (another improvement!). • If settlers were able to do this, the land they settled was theirs.
3. Reclamation Act • Signed in June 1902 • Authorized the government to build irrigation systems in many Western States, like Montana • The Huntley Project became the second irrigation system to be built and made operational in the United States. • A famous landmark on the Huntley Project is Pompey’s Pillar.
8. Charles Stout • ancestors came from Germany and fought in the Revolutionary War • born in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania • family settled near Gettysburg and could hear the cannons during the Civil War
9. • Charles became a clerk in the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C. • He made $1,200 a year - one of the highest paying jobs in the country in the early 1900’s. • Then he went out West on vacation. . .
10. • Charles vacationed in Montana that summer and put his name in the hat for getting one of the lots opening on the Huntley Project. There were 633 lots available - Charlie drew #61. • About 1000 people rode this train on the day of the drawing to watch Secretary of the Interior James R. Garfield turn on the water on the Huntley Project.
11. • This is a picture of Charles Stout that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post. • Charles told the Post that his land was worth $5000 to $10,000. He planned to live on it for awhile and then divide it into smaller lots. He thought he would be rich in a few short years. • But before he could farm the land, Charlie had to. . . • build a house • buy farm machinery • break the sod which was covered with sagebrush • earn some money!
12. Meanwhile. . . • Down the road from Charlie’s homestead was the homestead of some good people named Bryson. They had come West from Nebraska and had also had their names drawn on that day in July 1907. • They had five children. One was a lovely daughter named Re Anna, who was a school teacher in Nebraska. She decided to join her family in the summer of 1908.
13. • Re Anna was one of the first two school teachers in Ballantine School - a two room building with a large coal stove, good blackboards, and an outhouse in the back!
14. • Re taught the first four grades - she had 48 children in her class! • Re’s salary was $65 a month. • Everybody ate cold lunch - brought to school in a tin pail. • There was no playground equipment - children played ball, Dare Base or Run-Sheep-Run.
15. Re Anna Bryson Charles Oren Stout And then it happened - Charles met Re Anna - they fell in love and were married on January 4, 1911.
16. This is the home to which Charles brought his new bride. It wasn’t this big to start with, but it grew as their family grew. It still stands today.
17. Barns were always lots bigger than homes in those days. This is the big red barn on Charlie’s place. This picture was taken long ago - notice the dirt road that runs in front of the house and barn.
18. This is the Stout family. Can you guess which one is my mom?
