Above is a photo of Sadie Marchant’s homesteaded land, which is still owned by her family. The photo below shows some of the family visiting the land in 1973.
Sadie’s Memoir concludes:
I had traveled back to South Dakota for Christmas, on my last leave of absence and returned to Montana in a blizzard. When the train reached Havre, the thermometer had dropped “out of sight” so the conductor told us. I stopped at Great Falls to go to the land office to announce my return then went out to Floweree where I was to pick up some of my belongings that Gertrude Trackwell had borrowed, since she had just filed a claim. They dropped me off me at my cabin and left.
When I went in to make my bed, I discovered someone had entered my cabin and stolen all of my bedding. I had to sit up all night and keep my little stove red hot to keep from freezing to death, as it was bitter cold. I walked to the neighbors the next day and remained there until I could get to Great Falls and purchase more bedding.
I regretted losing my army blankets that kept me so warm no matter how cold it was. Thats was in February and in May of that year, (1914) I “proved up” on my homestead and the land officially became mine. You will remember it was to have been five years, but thanks to new legislation that had been passed, the required residency time was reduced to three years.
The day came when I had to say goodbye to all of the fine friends I had made and we knew that we probably would never see each other again. I returned home to South Dakota to a very proud father. My homesteading experience made all that would later come in my life, easy.
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