That was minimum size habitable dwelling required for "Prove-Up" if you were homesteading under the (1883) Federal Homesteading Act.
Could your family all live in a Eleven Foot square box.
- Thread starter Sourdough
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2020
- Messages
- 10,937
It did not matter. You could build larger, but if you wanted that land for free, one of the several requirements, was a dwelling 120 square feet.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2020
- Messages
- 1,920
Hey, if you ever get to Nebraska, I highly recommend visiting the Homestead National Historical Park. We did during the 2023 summer trip. It was fantastic.
https://www.nps.gov/home/index.htm
https://www.nps.gov/home/index.htm
NO TAKING THE FREE!! Free = they own you! Stop feeling like you have to take care of everyone else! I don't have kids......I do have my precious animals!! I would never take FREE!! IT'S NOT FREE!!
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 21,289
That was the minimum required size. You could build a larger home. Many people did build a very small home to meet the requirements to prove up on their homestead. Later, when they built a larger home, that small home became a chicken coop.
I've been looking for a Nebraska history story of someone who had a dug out, home dug out of the side of a hill. I think it was 18 by 18 and had about that many people who lived in it over a winter. It didn't have a door! Nebraska can be brutal in the winter.
Last edited:
I've spent months living out of a 10x10 tent with my wife.
We love it
We love it
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2020
- Messages
- 10,937
My mother and her older sister and brother were born in a reclaimed chicken coop.
My family lived in a bedroom in a basement for months while my father and I got a handyman special habitable in Duluth Minn. Two parents and four kids.
I have a fallout shelter room that about 14x11 below ground and sealed up.
It will not be fun but if required.
Ben
This act I believe began just after WWII, in 1945 or 1946. It is a far cry from the earlier Homestead Act of 1862.
The old homestead act in California offered you 5 free acres, provided you built a 10' x 10' structure, and made $500 annual improvements.
120 sq ft is a 10' x 12', so very similar with California Homestead act.
The old homestead act in California offered you 5 free acres, provided you built a 10' x 10' structure, and made $500 annual improvements.
120 sq ft is a 10' x 12', so very similar with California Homestead act.
Here is a previous Act from 1862:
Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence on that land.
Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence on that land.
I would guide hunters for three months continuous with not a single day off, living in an 8'X8' tent deep in Alaska wilderness with one hunter, both of us living in 8'X8' plus all our gear.
Different hunters would be flown in (roughly) every ten days (weather permitting). The season would end in mid November or late October. They come in to extract me with a plane on skis.
Different hunters would be flown in (roughly) every ten days (weather permitting). The season would end in mid November or late October. They come in to extract me with a plane on skis.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 23,360
Our new basement is 25 by 25', no windows, one entry. That's alot bigger and that would be a pain if we were stuck in there with no exiting for a time.
The Little House books, the Ingalls family, I know that they moved a couple of times. Their place was small, but they eventually built on a kitchen. It amazes me around where I live how tiny the kitchen cooking areas were and the families to cook for were so large. Most of the homes in our area are not new, most built in the early 1900's.
But hey, if you're new to the brave new world and need the land to start your homestead, a tiny house to start would be ok. You'd be so busy working the land and getting your animals started, I doubt you would be inside much. That's how it is around here still. Two of our amish neighbors have the tiniest houses, it'd drive me nuts...one just had the 4th baby, the other neighbor has three. They do have big porches, and one has a big outbuilding (shed) that is finished inside.
The Little House books, the Ingalls family, I know that they moved a couple of times. Their place was small, but they eventually built on a kitchen. It amazes me around where I live how tiny the kitchen cooking areas were and the families to cook for were so large. Most of the homes in our area are not new, most built in the early 1900's.
But hey, if you're new to the brave new world and need the land to start your homestead, a tiny house to start would be ok. You'd be so busy working the land and getting your animals started, I doubt you would be inside much. That's how it is around here still. Two of our amish neighbors have the tiniest houses, it'd drive me nuts...one just had the 4th baby, the other neighbor has three. They do have big porches, and one has a big outbuilding (shed) that is finished inside.
I live in a Winnebago, it has only 9'X 12 livable space.
I lived on a 24 ft sailboat for awhile when I was young. Now we can barely survive in a 1,400 sq ft house with a 1,000 sq ft garage! 
I remember the old homestead cabins out in the Mojave desert around 29 Palms and north to around California City. Pretty tough living.
And those homestead homes still exist. Im guessing maybe one out of 500 are still occupied, and the rest are just abandoned shells.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 21,289
In the desert, they often built with stone or brick. That would last longer than wood. I know that my gg grandparents had a sod home in Nebraska. I drove by their homestead a few years ago, and the sod is gone, probably plowed back into a field, but a wooden home is still there, and the farm is still active with people living there.
I've found the wood structures were dismantled by the nearby residents with cinderblock walls, and used for heating.
I wonder how many returned to their stick built homesteads, only to find everything gone?
Maybe this is an assumption on my part, but as said most of the wooden structures are gone, down to the dirt.
I wonder how many returned to their stick built homesteads, only to find everything gone?
Maybe this is an assumption on my part, but as said most of the wooden structures are gone, down to the dirt.
Your current property was either homesteaded by someone, or it was a "Land Grant" to someone.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 17,900
Our property was originally a homestead, which is why we are 100% inside the National Forest, then it became part of a large ranch. Of course it existed long before there was such a thing as the National Forest.
The original homesteader raised potatoes and sold them to the miners in the area. On our north line was an old mining camp and stage stop. I found the hand dug well, the remains of the log stable and the town dump.
In addition to homesteading people were able to patent mining claims too, up until Bill Clinton put a stop to it. The mining claims had to have sufficient minerals that a prudent man could make a living on. Then he could apply for a patent, usually 20 acres per claim, and if approved he would pay $5.00 per acre to the government and get free title.
The original homesteader raised potatoes and sold them to the miners in the area. On our north line was an old mining camp and stage stop. I found the hand dug well, the remains of the log stable and the town dump.
In addition to homesteading people were able to patent mining claims too, up until Bill Clinton put a stop to it. The mining claims had to have sufficient minerals that a prudent man could make a living on. Then he could apply for a patent, usually 20 acres per claim, and if approved he would pay $5.00 per acre to the government and get free title.
When the Federal Homesteading was closed in the mid 1970's Alaska (the State of) started more State of Alaska homesteading on State land. In many ways it was a better deal than the Federal Act.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 21,289
I sure wish there was land to homestead now, even if it were only a few acres.
my families original land grant was in year 1795 for 75k acres...its on the state books still. much of it is in national forest now.
It was not FREE, you purchased it with very hard and dangerous MANUAL LABOR.
And the raccoons take up half of it
Two things came to mind:
People had a lot less stuff which is something folks today might not really consider.
Also, I’ve read more than once where a husband and wife or husband and son or brothers etc would get side by side claims and build a house on the line so 120sf on one side of the line and 120sf on the other side. Each side had a door but the house was then twice the minimum and only required a single fire etc.
People had a lot less stuff which is something folks today might not really consider.
Also, I’ve read more than once where a husband and wife or husband and son or brothers etc would get side by side claims and build a house on the line so 120sf on one side of the line and 120sf on the other side. Each side had a door but the house was then twice the minimum and only required a single fire etc.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2017
- Messages
- 21,289
I actually think my bathroom is almost this size, 11 by 11 only configured differently. It was once a bedroom, and perhaps the maids quarters in my house. The original bathroom was about 5 by 5, we think, and what was the maid's quarters has been transformed into a bathroom that includes a laundry area. The bathroom is 9 by 13. Eleven by 11 is 121 square feet. 9 by 13 is 117 square feet. The bedroom that I am currently using is about 12 by 12, 144 square feet plus the closet. I do have a larger bedroom and a smaller one.
The thing about these small homes on homesteads is that it didn't take much to heat them. They did not have much in the way of worldly goods. They had an outhouse. On my grandparent's ranch, where there was never a bathroom, we used to bath in a copper, elliptical shaped tub on the then enclosed porch, closest to the well and also where Grandma did the laundry. The tub was also used for laundry.
The thing about these small homes on homesteads is that it didn't take much to heat them. They did not have much in the way of worldly goods. They had an outhouse. On my grandparent's ranch, where there was never a bathroom, we used to bath in a copper, elliptical shaped tub on the then enclosed porch, closest to the well and also where Grandma did the laundry. The tub was also used for laundry.
