Department of History

Land in the American West was once advertised as free for the taking. Under the Homestead Act nearly two million families came to settle virgin territory-the frontier. Now, three modern families were chosen from thousands of applicants to test themselves. After a rigorous traininig program to learn survival with only the tools and technology of the time, they load their wagons and head back to 1883. Can they carve a community of homesteads out of the Montana wilderness? Soon the three time-traveling families learn what homesteading was all about: earning a living and putting food on the table. They make difficult choices-what kind of animals to raise, how much hay to harvest-and soon discover the consequences for their actions. As the rigors of homesteading life become clear, the families begin to realize the personal costs of the experience-lonliness, lack of romance, and struggling to cope with each other and the small intertwined community. How has each family come together, or been drawn further apart? What is the meaning of frontier family values, as each family must work together for a common goal, and every hand is needed? The final lesson for the families, however, comes as they re-enter their lives in the 21st century, and discover what really mattered in 1883, and what really matters now.