I couldn't find anything specific from IA to MT however: This site at: http://visitmt.com/categories/city.asp?SiteID=1&CityID=272 says there was a homesteading boom from 1908-15 A book was written about the homesteaders: Ronish, Henry G. "HOMESTEADERS IN THE JUDITH BASIN" (unpublished?: H. Ronish, 1974). This one appears to have the best information on the how's and why's of homesteading in Central Montana. http://www.rootsweb.com/~mtfergus/homestead/eh02.htm Hope this helps, Catherine ----- Original Message ----- From: <farwellwalter@hotmail.com> To: <IAFREMON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 2:13 PM Subject: Emigration from Fremont to Judith Basin, Montana > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Surnames: Rowe, Martin, Mossey, Culley, Mitzner, Inman, Young > Classification: Immigration > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/1952 > > Message Board Post: > > > While I was rereading some of my notes, I noticed a relationship between them which I had never noticed before--a flurry of emigration to Judith Basin, Montana: (1) Nov. 12, 1909.--S.W. S. Rowe had recently procured farm land in Judith Basin, Montana. (2) March 18, 1910.--Perry Martin (who had lived three miles south of Sidney) and G. H. Mossey were leaving for Judith Basin in Montana; (3) July 8, 1910.--Harve Culley's daughter and family, Mrs. W. A. Mitzner, were living at Lone Tree, Judith Basin, Montana. Bert Inman was also there, having left a couple of months ago. Frank Young and family from Knox were also living there. > > I'm betting that all of these former Fremont county people just didn't happen to end up in the same county in Montana. I'm suspecting that someone engineered this interest. I am wondering who, or what group, it was, and just how did they pull it off, evidently quite sucessfully. > > Had there been some king of an excursion to that part of the country? Maybe some land opened up for settlement by whites--like the Oklahoma Strip? Had homesteading claims just been accepted for this county? > > Does anyone know, or at least have a clue? > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237