By the Shores of Silver Lake

I liked this book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 1879, Pa Ingalls heads west to the unsettled wilderness of the Dakota Territory to claim 160 acres of undeveloped land through the Homestead Act. When Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and baby Grace join him, they become the first settlers in the town of De Smet. Pa begins work on the first building in what will soon be a brand-new town on the shores of Silver Lake.

This is the fifth book in the Little House on the Prairie series and was written in 1939. A section was 1-square-mile, and a claim was ¼ of a section. 36 sections made a township. By paying $10.00 plus other filing fees, a man could get 160 acres of land for his use if he could live on it for 5 years and not give up to go back east. Walter Breuning, who is currently the oldest living man and the fourth oldest person, grew up in De Smet, South Dakota.