Provin' Up

Book excerpt: You think you have seen true love and amazing grit and determination? Compare it to that of George Young and his fiancée, Marie Forbes, in the true-life saga of their adventures from 1909 through World War I on a South Dakota homestead. The young college couple invested in homesteads for money to get married and send George to medical college. They would live on their claims for fourteen months and make improvements. After proving up, they would sell for a profit. Two years of drought changed their plans and their lives. There was no market for their land. George had to learn to farm to make a living. A neighbor with agricultural college training and immigrant neighbors helped them cope. After ten difficult years and a delayed marriage, the Youngs sold out, realizing a substantial wartime profit on their investment. They moved, with their two children, to an 800-acre farm in a warmer climate, near a thriving town in Kansas. George was a successful farmer and cattle rancher. Marie brought music and delicious bread to their neighborhood gatherings. Like many early settlers, the Youngs chose to raise their family in a rural community and looked forward to new adventures on the land.